My comment section

I've decided to tackle some of the prompts for this month's Comment theme.

First, Do I have commenting guidelines for my readers?

Not really, although I detest spam and will generally delete it after mocking it.  However, I do have a comment that is the current gold standard at this blog, the first one left at The collapse of cursive by Kate.  It prompted me to respond rapturously.

This is the kind of comment I dream about--on-topic, well written, informative, and with a clear point of view. I wish all those who left comments were as good as you.

And, yes, I know this is really very high quality spam. If all spam were like this, I would enjoy it, just like the Vikings!

The last comment that entry received was more garden variety unpaid advertising, which elicited my scorn.

Spammer, I'm keeping your comment up so that stands in sad contrast with Kate's. Yours is typical spam. Hers is a thing of beauty. May traffic to your site suffer in comparison with hers.

Next, Who owns the comment section: the blog writer or the blog readers?  Actually, Blogspot owns this space, not me or the commenters; I merely possess it.  That written, it depends on the blog.  At my blog, the readers have a weak presence in comments, so I own it.  Other places, the readers have taken over.  This has long been the case over at Kunstler's blog, although the quality of comments has improved since Kunstler started throwing people out for flagrant bigotry, blatant flamebaiting, excessive stupidy, and posting "First!"  Welcome to Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking.  In contrast, Greer owns his comment section.  Nothing gets posted without his approval.

Finally, Have I ever deleted a comment? What would make me delete a comment?  Yes, dozens of them over the past three years.  All of them have been spam of one kind or another.  Most of them are off-topic and poorly-written.  One that I canned wasn't either, but I found it in extremely bad taste--it was an add for a casual sex site left as a comment to an entry about revenge porn.  I didn't care how on-topic it was, I was too offended by the juxtaposition to let it stay.  Here's my response to it.

You're advertising this service via a comment on an entry about revenge porn? I think you have terrible marketing sense, or you think your target demographic are fools who are gluttons for punishment. Either way, I'm not letting your ad remain here, as much as I think it hurts you.

On the other hand, sometimes I'll leave spam comments just to make an example of them.  This is what I thought of an ad for a Detroit taxi service.

You want to advertise on an entry making fun of Detroit's Bankruptcy? HAHAHAHAHA! Be my guest!

So, that's what passes for what I like and dislike in comments.  My advice to all of you who want to write comments, strive to be like Kate.  Otherwise, no spammers!