What I hate about blog comments

Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study.  Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life.  ~Henry L. Doherty

Whenever I write a blog post, I place links to it on Twitter and Facebook and all the usual suspects. I imagine that all other bloggers do the same. Sometimes, though, placing links on Facebook can be a real exercise in Zen Buddhism (er, I mean, in learning patience).

THE MUSIC MACHINE - TALK TALK

I can often place a short comment about a controversial subject on Facebook with a link to my blog concerning the subject. If it is a dicey subject that many people will have opinions on, then I will get many opinions....


That's great. Unfortunately, the purpose of the link is to get people to go to the article or post and read it before they comment. Many will just comment without reading.


It really dumbfounds me that so many people will make ignorant comments on Facebook concerning some subject without at least having the courtesy of taking a few moments to look over the material! .....


I mean, seriously folks, when a link is provided that gives information then shouldn't a reader at least have the courtesy to the writer (and the other readers on Facebook) to have at least read the material before giving a comment? Isn't that just common courtesy to everyone?

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.  ~Mark Twain

Shouldn't we all at least deserve to read intelligent opinions when someone writes? Or are we all to tolerate stereotypes and ancient ideas that these people have held since they were kids? I'd hope that, as we get older, we study more and get smarter. It seems too many people don't want to read and think that, without further study, they have all the answers. 

I knew a guy who, at 40, would got really pissy at work to everyone when the Tokyo Giants baseball team would lose. Whenever the Giants lost, he'd come to work in a surly mood. Really. I'm not making this up.


One day, I got irritated at him for such and complained to him about it. He said, "But you don't understand, Mike. I've been a hard core Giants fans since 3rd grade!" 


To which I replied, "Oh? So what you are saying is that at 40-years-old, you still think and act like an 8-year-old?"


That shut him up really quick.


It's a sad day when an adult doesn't take time every once in a while to consider the way they think and act. It's pathetic when an adult decides that s/he already knows all the facets of an issue and that learning or hearing contrary views is no longer necessary.....

People have two ears and one mouth, but they continually strive to use that one mouth twice as much (more?) than their ears.

I am learning all the time.  The tombstone will be my diploma.  ~Eartha Kitt

I've already commented many times about the sorry state of today's society adult population not reading books...


What's the difference between some illiterate native living in the mountains of Afghanistan who cannot read and a westerner who can read, but doesn't? Nothing. Neither of them read.


Or am I just being an old grouch again to expect that people read or to have an educated opinion before they torture the rest of us with their nonsense?

Writing My Own Blog Comments!?

"You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life." - Winston Churchill

I just had one of the best laughs I've had in a long time. Thanks to a reader. I think this guy might be pulling my leg and is hilariously funny. If so, thanks! One the other hand, he could be doing too many drugs to be having a logical thought... Which, in my sick, cynical mind could also be too funny! Read on!




This guy actually accuses me of writing my own comments on my blog! Seriously! My comment section is full of "Anonymous" people insulting me, calling me, "Sh*thead!" (worse) etc., etc., or threatening that they will stop reading my blog (besides the really bad ones full of profanity insulting other reader's who write comments that I have to delete everyday!) and this guy accuses me of writing these comments? Now that is a new one!


Anyone who blogs knows that it's hard enough forcing yourself to write stuff for your blog everyday, do we also have to do all the reading and commenting too? Dude! You are kidding, right? If you are, I need to buy you and beer and we can have some laughs.

NOT A PAID ADVERTISEMENT:

On the other hand, and quite off the subject, I assure you, some people really should look into that rehab plan they offer in the neighborhood.... Try it. Rehab is not so bad. I even wrote about it years ago at Lew Rockwell.


You can tell the truth about yourself when you own your own businesses and are 100% self-employed.


Funny thing about self-employment and owning your own business; they sure do take up a lot of one's time. Let me brag; I own not two, but three businesses that, while small, still employ 9 people full time and several part-timers. (It's great owning your own business... I wish one of mine would make some money someday!) One of the businesses is expanding (a rough time to do so, but expand we will). And, on top of that, I write for Lew Rockwell and others; religiously spend 30 minutes time everyday with my 7-year-old reading books with him (we have no TV and he jumped from 1st grade to 2nd grade mid-year and I expect him to jump to 4th grade next year); I go to bed at 8:30 pm every night (get up at 3:50 am or so) do a bunch of work before everyone else wakes up; read books everyday; of course I  actually have to actually go to work and do something. 


I am also a member of the school PTA and am preparing to be vice president of PTA in September (if they would accept a poor father like me). I run my own and host charity events, shoot charity videos and produce videos productions and besides that, I cook breakfast for my wife and son everyday and cook or go out to dinner about 5 nights a week with family and friends.


Not to brag, but I am a great cook too.... 


And, on top of all this, I still find the time to pound my pud at the computer like 97% of all guys have admitted to doing in the past - the other 3% are liars.


Here's are my blog stats. I am proud of them and thank all my readers. I don't post stuff like this to brag (oh, well, yeah, there's some of that too) but to show you the silliness that bloggers have to put up with. I can't believe that other bloggers don't get the same sort of nonsense from readers. Any other blogger's who care to share some fun stories? Maybe we can join together to write a 50's style horror book and call it something silly like, "I was a Teenage Were-Blogger!"

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW

This blog started in mid-May of 2010. This chart is from April, 30, 2011. Thanks to good readers like you folks, the monthly trend has gone very well. I've shown this to outside company president's and executives and they were floored at the growth rate. Thank you.

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW

The above is a screen capture of this blog's performance taken just a moment ago. The readers over the last two days are actually down over the trend of the last two weeks. I attribute this to the fact that Japan is now in the middle of Golden Week (a 10-day holiday that started last week Friday). As you can see, coincidentally, my monthly readers numbers were 135,000 as of 6 am this morning. That is an average of 4,500 readers per day. It will be higher by 8:59 am, the cutoff point for the day. 

I love this blog (of course, it's mine!) I have no advertising so I can write whatever I like! I really do wish there were more intelligent commenting, but, I guess that takes several years to foster. I thank all readers and all supporters. 

Once again, this post's purpose is to: 

1) Totally destroy some nonsense comments by people (or should we say "Comment-tormentors") make to all blogs and have made to this very blog.

2) To show other bloggers that I get this crap too and can't imagine that other's don't also.

3) To ask that we bloggers (seriously) get together and consider a publication (or blog posting) that deals with this sort of subject - it could be hilarious.

4) To show blogger's that they shouldn't give up if, after three months, they get few readers. This is a high mountain to climb and a consistent effort is important. 

5) Blogging is not a popularity contest. Write what you like and damn the torpedoes (and the clowns!)

Remember what Winston Churchill said above. I would recommend that bloggers remember that, when they get silly or insulting comments that they recall that far too many people have much free time and are doing the usual "surfing" (Do they still call it that?) Keeping that in mind I gather that means that these people have much free time. You re,member what the old saying was about free time and idle minds?

On the other hand, some readers need to read more books. Judging from the quality of many comments I get (usually ones I delete so that reader never sees them), I think too many readers have some other, more pressing matters to attend to first before they can patiently sit down and read a book and a have serious, straight and logical thinking process.... But, then again, I don't think bonging makes for a good reading partner.

Like I said, a funny or great idea when you are high is usually not all that great or funny when you are sober.

UPDATE: One more reason why women are so much smarter than men! I mentioned this subject to my wife this morning. She said, "Well, you have to expect this. As you get more and more readers to the blog, you will, of course, get more and more crazies." That's true. I know from my experience at radio & TV, that people with free time are more likely to respond to on-air promotions. 

She added, "The world is not filled with serious level-headed successful people."

Damn! She's right. See? Women are smarter then men. I just spent 15 minutes writing a few dozen paragraphs about this nonsense and my wife sums it all up in 3 sentences. 

Now you tell me if men are smarter then women! (and ask why I cook breakfast and dinner!) 

Why I Delete Reader's Comments with Utmost Predjudice

A good friend who has just started blogging asked me what to do about point of view and reader's comments. All I could say is to do what you want. A blog is yours. It is your personality and creativity. You shouldn't try to please everyone and you shouldn't wear a "mask."

ISLEY BROTHERS - IT'S YOUR THING

Say what you want. Be consistent in your beliefs and try to stick to subjects that you know what you are talking about and are expert in. 


I am an expert in media, thank you very much. That's why I often rail on the mass media.


People come to these things because they want to hear an opinion or be entertained by someone who knows what they are talking about so say your opinion and stick with it. Of course, as facts become available, they can change opinions and outlooks, but don't forget this is your blog and you can do with it as you please.


A blog is not a popularity contest. Remember when you were a junior high school kid and you tried to make friends by pleasing everyone? It didn't work. Well, it certainly didn't work for me. I started getting friends when I realized that I couldn't please everyone so I had to please myself.... Okay, well, it was only two friends, but two is better than none.


It was then, and only then, after I stopped trying to be so nice, that I started making really good friends. 

I am an extremely handsome and very popular guy.... 
Oh, and I have a big gun too!

Writing a blog like this can be such a chore. The only people who could relate to the nonsense that one has to put up with in doing so would be someone who writes a blog, and has consistently done so, for many months.


I try to update this blog at least once a day. Twice or three times if I have the time. Unfortunately, recently, I've been so busy that it is all I can do to handle updating once a day.


An angry and irrational reader wrote into me the other day and said something silly like, "I noticed that you started moderating your comments section. I suppose you do that because many people have written in and are disagreeing with you." 


Wrong!


This person used to write to me a lot. But I found that I was deleting his comments often because he would often insult other readers (besides being incredibly illogical). I don't really care if readers insult me. Hell, I insult idiot politicians and the like all the time (idiot politicians? Oh, but I repeat myself). 


But the difference between me and this guy - who would always insult others readers - is that he is always wrong, rude and out of line with his comments. I, on the other hand, am always right and, in spite of myself, try to stay civil and watch my manners. 


Oh, how hard that can be sometimes! (I mean, being right all the time. I have good manners because of good upbringing).


I've written before that I would like for this blog to be a pleasant experience for those who visit and I thank them for doing so. In doing so, I must be a baby-sitter when it comes to comments. In a blog post entitled To Comment or Not to Comment? That is the Question! I wrote:

Insults are OK in a public forum if they funny and are not personal nor directed at a certain individual

- snip -

Think about a blog or a news site as an experience for visitors. Do you think people enjoy going to Internet sites and see/reading negative or insulting remarks? (A blog can be different as it should appeal to a focused group). 

I think it is a special group of people who do enjoy getting frustrated and writing vitriol to blow off their stress. They have earned the special moniker of "troll." I think people who are busy, enjoy life, and have discretionary income generally do not hand out invective at the readers comments sections; they do not earn the title of troll. The people who do take the time to add value are appreciated, the ones who hurl invective - the trolls - are probably very frustrated people.

Now why does anyone want to come to a comments section and read low-level vitriol and comments whereby one reader insults other readers and the best argument they can conjure up is to call them "idiot"? I don't want to read that. This is my blog and I won't allow it.


I place a visitor counter on my blog for everyone to see. It has been there since the start in mid-May 2010. It was there when my daily readership count was 10 a day (six of those were mine!) I put it there to show people that I didn't care what they thought, this is my blog, for all its warts, and I do this for me and no one else. If someone likes what they read here, then I am happy. If they don't, see my guidelines in my comments section. It says; 


"...If you don't like what you have read here then, just like when you go into a restaurant or bar that allows smoking, if you don't like it, there's something at the front that has hinges on it and it is called a 'door.'"


I removed the comment moderation function from this blog yesterday and, of course, today I had to immediately delete more moronic commentary from the peanut gallery and some crazies - usually named "Anonymous" - that bother to write in.


I won't bore you with details and a repetition of the profanity and comments about how much of an a*shole some reader thinks I am, etc. etc....  But I will quote word for word from one reader's "Anonymous" comments that just had to be deleted.


In the comments section of the blog post, The Heaviest Video of the Tsunami You'll Ever See, one reader wrote after watching the video carnage and catastrophe;


"It's hard to believe that after watching the mighty hand of God, How these people still reject and rebel against him and refuse to accept his salvation that Jesus paid on the cross!!!!  


Sure. And New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina because God was mad at that cities rampant sexual promiscuity, drug use and homo-sexuality? ....Riiiiiiight...... 


I think what's hard to believe is that security is so lax at these lunatic asylums that a guy like that could get actually get out and be a danger to himself and the public at large. 


This guy deserves scorn and my "Idiot of the Day" award. So, Mr. Fool, you actually think that God caused this damage because these people refuse to accept the salvation that Jesus paid on the cross? What a moron! What about all the Christians who died in this disaster? What was their sin?

Riiiiiiiiight!

There are plenty of comments critical of my point of view on this blog. But I certainly don't write this blog to make friends. The vast majority of comments seem to be favorable. For that, I am happy. The one's that get deleted are not deleted because of my vanity.

These comments are deleted, as they should be, because of their failure in logic, rudeness or idiocy.

If people don't like it, I think I already mentioned about the door.

To Comment or Not To Comment? That is the Question

Just a short article today about my thoughts on allowing comments to your blog.


There are several news and information sites about Japan that have a comments section that is full of, well, what I consider foolish and often rude comments from frustrated readers. I think these sites do a great service for us English speakers and I wish they would quit being so amateurish and "up" their game and get to world class.


Compare say, News On Japan (what I consider to be the best English news site for Japan) to, say, what I think is Singapore's best English news site, the Straits Times. 


There is no comparison to style and flair. There is also no comparison to the quality level of sponsors. 


All three of the "big" English news for Japan sites are this way. I know most Japanese do not understand the importance of image and branding, but you'd think the foreigners would...


There was a time a few years ago when the guy who owned one of these sites asked me if I would run it for him. He also asked, if I ran his site, how I would reform it in order to get more and better paying sponsors?

Insults are OK in a public forum if they funny and are not 

personal nor directed at a certain individual

I had lots of ideas, but the first was that I told him to reform or get rid of the comments section.


He wouldn't even consider it. He said that he needed the comments section in order to get readers to come to his site. Well, it's his site, he can do as he wishes, but I think he is completely wrong and short sighted. Here's why:


Think about a blog or a news site as an experience for visitors. Do you think people enjoy going to Internet sites and see/reading negative or insulting remarks? (A blog can be different as it should appeal to a focused group). 


I think it is a special group of people who do enjoy getting frustrated and writing vitriol to blow off their stress. They have earned the special moniker of "troll." I think people who are busy, enjoy life, and have discretionary income generally do not hand out invective at the readers comments sections; they do not earn the title of troll. The people who do take the time to add value are appreciated, the ones who hurl invective - the trolls - are probably very frustrated people.


But this is conjecture on my part.


I especially don't think potential sponsors want to be associated with anything that could be construed as insulting to people and/or a bad or negative experience. I believe that reputable companies who understand branding will not spend their money in places where negativity is promoted.


I sometimes visit sites like Japan Today. I used to visit everyday. But not anymore. The readers comments are quite unsatisfying and sometimes painful. I don't like that part at all.


I do not write this to insult anyone. I write this because I can see where they can better their business. I think the management of sites like that (while being hard-working and good people) are missing the boat if they think great sponsors are going to pay good money to sponsor their site when amateurs and rookies make ill conceived and rude remarks towards Japan and each other. Here's why:


It lessens and cheapens the experience. Great sponsors want to sponsor things other great sponsors support. Who wants to be associated with cat-fights and arguments? 


Think about it.


I do not write this to insult publications like the one I mentioned above, but to help them see their potential.


Let me give you a good example of a company that understands completely what I'm talking about: Have you ever been to an Apple Store? That is usually a good experience for me. It is a good experience for most people, I imagine. The staff are polite, knowledgeable, and friendly. The place is clean and has a good "groove" and atmosphere. Those first three words are important words in building what is a good experience. Let me repeat those words for you again:


Polite
Knowledgeable
Friendly


How do those three words stack up against a reader comment sections whereby some rude people are making nasty remarks and insulting each other in a very disagreeable manner? Granted not everyone is doing this, but does this make for a good and feel-good experience? I do not think so.


I, myself, do get irritated at some people's foolish remarks (I have an article at Lew Rockwell out about that read it here). and I find myself getting irritated, but I try to refrain from writing back some insulting diatribe. Though I do need to be much more diligent in my self-control.


But I do wonder why some people have to write personal invective towards others and use profanity? Gee, hate to sound like a kid, but I don't think that's fun.


Do not get me wrong. I am not saying to eliminate reader's comments. Mish Shedlock allows them. Mish gets over 1.8 million unique users a month. He has a comments section, but his, like this blog's comment section, has to be clicked to be accessed. 


It does not sit open at the end of a news article. The comments are separated. 


Comments can be useful. But make people click through to see them and moderate your comments section. 


I think this is important: A news article is just that; news. Comment's by amateurs is just that; amateur commentary. They should not be one on top of the other...


Like I said, the amateur comments directly below the "real" article cheapens the experience for me. I'll bet it does for most people, it's just that most people haven't thought deeply about why they find the experience distasteful. Here I am putting it into words. 


Anyway, I cannot control what goes on at other Internet sites, but I can control what goes on here at this blog. In my very possibly confused thinking, I'd like for this blog to be a fun and pleasant experience for everyone, so I ask that readers not stop commenting, but please refrain from the personal insults.


If you want to insult others for dumb remarks they make, there's other places that allow you to do so; or, heck, start your own blog.


But this is my blog and, as such, I just want everyone to know that I reserve the right to refuse service to customers as this is a privately owned blog.


I may delete insulting and rude readers comments. I may also delete remarks made by people who write nonsense.


I deleted one the other day when someone took me to task and wrote, "...Japan has one of the most repressive and dictatorial regimes in the world..." Uh, I think this guy was confusing us with North Korea... If his comments were funny, I would have kept them. But they were insulting, so they were deleted.  


Pardon me for being possibly anal retentive but I don't appreciate people - especially people I don't know (named "anonymous") - insulting my guests at my party.


So, I announce that I will probably, from now on delete all insulting and uncivil commentary from this blog's reader's comments. I think that, if you run a blog too, depending on what you are trying to accomplish, you might want to consider doing the same.


No, this blog is never even close to the cool experience of visiting an Apple store, I do not imply that, but I do not want people who do visit the be insulted.


Call me an oldie and/or a prude. I hope you are here to have fun. I am. I will not allow you to be insulted. I've often read, "Do not feed the trolls." OK, I will do my best. To not only not feed the, but to block their admittance.


I think if you run a blog or a news site, you'd be wise to consider this as part of strategic policy.


UPDATE:


This just in from viral marketing guru Seth Godin,


Strategy is worth thinking about if it causes you to make difficult or non-intuitive decisions. And so you have to test your commitment. "Are you saying that we have to cancel this product line?" is the sort of reaction your strategy statements ought to generate.
If you can't put an example on the table, a concrete manifestation of the action being 
discussed, then you're just prattling on, you're not actually serious about strategy.


UPDATE 2:


Tom Boushel adds: "Drink deep, or touch not at all; a little bit of knowledge is a very dangerous thing"