Comments on Comments

I like using Blogger for posting my blog. One of the things I like about it is the enormous flexibility it gives me in designing, posting, and editing. Blogger is also very accommodating when it comes to allowing to me to customize how I would like to receive comments. Not only can I choose between no "comments at all allowed" or "post every comment", but I can choose to moderate comments so that I can preview them to ascertain their appropriateness for posting. Anyone who sends a comment can either fully identify themselves, just give a user name, or select the self-designation "anonymous". I wish that Blogger accorded me the choice of rejecting the so-called "anonymous" submissions out of hand for three reasons. First of all, a critical comment about one of my articles that has the tag "anonymous" attached to it comes out sounding (unfairly, I am sure) like the sender is only interested in pushing his or her own viewpoint on me and not at all interested in my blog. Second, any call-in talk show host will tell you that he or she is not interested in the identity of the callers, but needs to be able to use first names (or some kind of tag) in order to establish a true on-the-air dialogue. And if I receive comments expressing criticism of some entry I've made, then, when writing responses, I'd like to be accorded the dignity of being able to address them to "somebody", even if it is only to an assumed or user name. After all, I'm not in the least bit interested in the true identity of those reading and commenting on this blog. Finally, putting a user name on one's comments is in itself an act of anonymity. So to me, there is no need anyway for anyone to click the "anonymous" bubble in the comments window. And if they expect me to take some of my time to read their comments, then they can at least take a moment to enter some kind of user name.

If any of my readers has sent one of those "anonymous" comments to me and is disappointed that I haven't posted them, I would respectfully suggest that they re-post them and use some kind of tag that I can, in turn, respectfully refer to in any response I make. I'm just not going to publish them otherwise.

One other note about comments: if you send a comment that you would like posted, please do not include your e-mail address within the body of the comment. I want to respect the privacy of those sending comments and do not want their e-mail addresses exposed on my blog.