It doesn\’t happen often.
But it does happen. And when it does, I have to shake my head and wonder what some people are thinking.
What am I talking about?
Well, let me set the stage for you with a little anecdote.
You have a place of residence. It may be a house, a condo, an apartment, a townhouse, whatever…
It\’s the place where you keep your stuff.
More importantly, it\’s the place where you find your loved ones, be that people or pets.
It\’s your pad. Your crib. Your home.
Let\’s say you open up your home for a gathering of some kind. It may be a party or some other event.
On rare occasion, someone will show uninvited.
If you have a party, you may have a surprise guest or two.
Imagine if one of those guests began verbally abusing you, calling you names and taking you to task for some supposed offenses.
What would you do? Would you kick them out or let them continue with their tirade?
I\’m sure you would show them the door and tell them that they are not welcome in your home!
My blog is like my home.
It is my place to share my thoughts, feelings and experiences.
Sometimes I use it to post movies reviews. Other times I use it to share my travel experiences.
Sometimes I write articles to help others with their online business. And other times I will promote a useful product and insert an affiliate link.
I open up comments so that my readers can enter into dialogue with me by leaving feedback, asking questions and interacting with other readers.
The point is, my blog belongs to me.
But on rare occasion, a \”guest\” to my blog will take it upon themselves to curse at me. They will call me names and insist that my address is 667. (That would make me the neighbor of the beast)
It\’s a pretty amazing thing, really. I can\’t imagine posting stuff like this even on the blog of someone who deserves it, let alone an average guy like me.
Yet, it does happen.
And when it does, I do what any self-respecting homeowner would do. I show them the door.
That\’s what the DELETE function is for in my Movable Type install. Yes, it comes with WordPress as well.
And inevitably, within 24 hours of deleting the rude offender\’s post, they come back to publicly state that I delete comments and censor my blog.
DELETE.
Guess what? On your blog, First Amendment rights do not apply. It is a privately-owned entity and you have the right to publish or not publish whatever you want.
That doesn\’t give you the right to slander other people or infringe on anyone\’s copyright, but it does give you the authority to allow or disallow comments.
It\’s said that if you delete comments off your blog that you are discouraging discourse from other readers.
In this case, I would state that I see no constructive reason to leave abusive or profane comments on your blog. Believe me, you won\’t lose any readers by deleting these kinds of comments. Your real readers will probably appreciate you for it.
Welcome to my home on the web. I\’ve created pages and pages of content intended to entertain and teach.
I hope you enjoy your stay. :-)