Post-it Notes…
In case anyone was wondering what happened to the “comments” section of this site I had decided – during my time away from here – that there were a couple of things that made me rethink the whole concept.
First and foremost the time it takes to read and comment back. Don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed the positive responses that I received from people visiting here. I mean who wouldn’t? If I didn’t have so much stuff going on with my life I would happily reply to everyone but the trouble is that I just don’t have the time to. Already I have to plow through over 1000 emails a week and respond to several dozen of them. Thankfully though most of the emails are spam and can be quickly discarded with but I feel I still need to look through my auto-junk folder to make sure nothing important gets through. friends and family realize that it can sometimes take several weeks – even months – for me to respond…..and these are people I know and like! Although I only had to answer a few comments each post I could imagine that it would virtually be a full-time job for some of the bigger blogs such as Dooce and Wil Weaton!
On top of that I administer several websites which take up quite a bit of my time – especially this year with the major updates I’ve been doing! I also have a few big projects that I’m currently working on, web wise, my book writing and a musical instrument or two in the works – All of which will be talked about in more depth on this site in the new year. It’s a busy and exciting time on the work front.
The second reason for not having comments anymore is that I quickly grew tired of the trolling that happened here earlier this year. While most of the people were appreciative of the site there were a few with very differing opinions who felt it necessary to attack my character and motives over something that I had considered to be little more than a game. The comments and the emails (including a death threat which I laughed off. Wow, it all sounds so big and mean when it’s coming from an anonymous dolt on the other side of the world). True, I got myself into that mess initially but that doesn’t mean I have to read the vitriolic responses of a chosen few each and every day! Especially considering that the various arguments for and against were perpetrated – in my opinion – by people with little more than grade school mentality. Sure, you might have a valid point – just like I do – but that doesn’t mean other people want to hear it. Write about it on your own site, not mine. Make sure you get the linkback right though so you can send more traffic my way. 
Likewise I wouldn’t want anyone else to have to read that sort of stuff either. I might be different from most people but when I end up at a site that I don’t think too highly about I just move along to the next site rather than bitch about it and try to take a moral high ground. Life is way too short to get caught up in negatives so I try to concentrate on the positive, wherever possible. I found a similar situation the other day when this blog won a $10,000 prize for being the best blog in Australia. It seemed to really piss off a lot of people and for what? Who cares? If you don’t like it, move on.
For me it’s more important to actually do something productive rather than denigrate someone else for not doing it the way you think it should be done. I’ll leave that to the try-hard wannabes!
