Blog comments: the good and the bilge.

To post a comment to this blog, look for this form at the bottom of the blog post you wish to comment on.

You'll have to sign in with your Google ID, Wordpress ID, or with a name and URL, or several other choices, including anonymously.

Your comment, however will not be automatically published. I need to 'approve' (of) it first. Why?

Some comments express views contrary views to mine. (Gasp!) I publish those. Some are corrections to mistakes I've made. I publish those. Some are hilarious put-downs. Ditto.

Then, there are some comments that are off-topic or nonsensical, and there are others that are commercial or spammy. I publish neither. And, regrettably, there are some comments that are profane in word or putrid in message. Those, I simply refuse to publish.

I received a repugnant, unattributed, comment in response to my New Year's Day post on the Emancipation Proclamation.

Use of "anonymous" might be an invocation of privacy. A writer might have need to protect his or her job, for example. But anonymity can also be a marker of cowardice. In this case, it was the latter. I did not publish the comment. QED.