lo-rez | Main | Dear Diary: Connectedness, Housekeeping, Categories, Blogcation

January 3, 2005

Comments Going Dark

The last time I wrote about comment spam in depth, I was pretty depressed and angry about it. It's been almost exactly six months, and not a lot has changed:

• The spam keeps flooding in.
• Dealing with the mail comment notifications alone generate is a pain in the ass.
• I'm missing moderation of legitimate comments because they're buried in the middle of torrents of spam comments.

I've held on with comments for some time now, mainly because I really like hearing from most of the people who comment on Puddingtime!, especially the ones who don't write that often. But it's sort of past the tipping point now: not enough will to deal with it, even with generally solid tools; and a general drift lately toward paying attention to other parts of my life when I've got a spare moment.

I'm mildly vulnerable to abuse on this score, which is why I'm taking the time to write about why I'm shutting comments & trackback down.

It's about the spam, it's not about fear of dissent or confrontation. It's also about getting a chunk of my time back, freeing up a little mental space, and having one less thing to worry about (like whether sociopaths have trashed a page or two when I'm away for the weekend).

So thanks to everyone who has taken the time to contribute something here. Please don't be strangers to my inbox. Blogging is about keeping in touch, in some ways, so if you read something here that moves you to write, please do. I'm pretty sure I speak for Puddingtime! collaborator pk when I say that, too.