I must confess that I'm getting increasingly frustrated with commenters who comment only as "Anonymous," not only because there's no way of knowing which particular "Anonymous" one is replying to, but because most anonymous comments aren't worth the electrons it takes to display them.
Even a nickname gives you something on which to build a reputation for intelligent or at least entertaining commentary.
So might I politely request all commenters to give themselves a name. It's not difficult.
When you comment here, you'll see a layout like the one displayed on the right.
If you insist on using the 'Anonymous' button -- and there's really no need to - but if you do, then at least leave a name at the bottom of the posts.
But far better to use the button marked "Name/URL," and give yourself a name. That's all it takes, and once you've done that your same name comes up on your comment each time you publish here.
Just try it, huh, and make reading and replying to comments easier.
UPDATE: By the way, if you post anonymously with a contribution little more than "Vote XYZ Party" you'll be deleted. If you're going to have spam, at least make it colourful.
7 comments:
Done. (Not that I ever leave anonymous comments anywhere, but I understand your frustration. :)
Love your blog, BTW. I put a link to it on mine. It's new: The Four Rs
Amen to that! Some blogs are infested with Anons and it makes discussion very difficult indeed.
Ditto. I detest those who are so lazy they can't be bothered coming up with even a pseudonym. My personal preference is for real names: it's the most professional approach.
If you feel like reading some polite biffo I discuss the issue here with Lynn Prentice of The Standard.
Simply delete all Anon's untill they learn the lesson. If nothing else, the average post quality will increase remarkably.
I am one of the offenders.
I do not visit here often, but come to enjoy your architectural postings, as well as your reasoned political thoughts. Thank you for that opportunity.
I have, on two or three occasions, offered comments anonymously. Of one of those, you felt the comment was of sufficent merit that you quoted from it in an update on your original posting.
I comment anonymously, not to create mischief or spam, nor out of laziness, but to allow the argument to speak for itself rather than for any extra weight (or not) that my reputation might carry. Too often, in public debate, I have seen good ideas spurned on the one hand, and poor ideas lauded on the other, according to who has addressed the issue. Both have had detrimental effects on the good governance of the entities involved.
Newstalkzb this week carried a US reporters interviews of Barack Obama's supporters endorsing Sarah Palin as an excellent Obama VP running mate. They also strongly supported Obama's (quoted Republican) policies.
On some other blogs, where some identities follow an established pattern of illogical comment, it is easier sometimes to skip over those, although in doing so the "thread" can be harder to follow.
I am not concealing an identity that would be known to anyone on any of the blogs where I sometimes comment, but consider the message more important than the messenger.
However, in deference to your polite request, I will add an "identifier".
kurt s.e.
Hi Kurt.
Good to know you. :-)
I can relate to what Kurt is saying, however, I still use my name because I choose to stand against the attack the person ignore the argument game.
If someone ignores my argument by virtue of the face that I wrote it then they are stupid.
That said there are times when it might be more appropriate to be anonymous, in such cases, which I think are rare, the right thing to do might be to create one nickname that you use consistently for the reasons PC outlined.
We recently had a really aggressive ranting anonymous and then some other anonymous postings that seemed to be of a completely different tone still we were never sure just how many people make up the posts left by anonymous so I would agree that if you cannot face using your real name then create a handle and stick with it - there are some very cool and funny ones about!
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