I never… not once… considered how I would deal with hate mail from this blog. I assumed, I think, that most people reading knew me personally and, if they had anything awful to say would say it to my face. Not to mention the fact that they would know me well enough to know my “tone” which is always hard to convey electronically.
So these few weeks have been a shock. The comments and emails I’ve gotten have affected me in a very weird way, physically and emotionally. I want to write to all of my favorite bloggers and ask how they do it??? And does it get any easier? It never ceases to amaze me what awful things human beings will do, say, write to one another… even to perfect strangers.
Of course I have options. 1) Close the bog down right away. 2) Start a new blog, giving the address to people I know I can trust to be, at the least, respectful of the medium and the messenger. 3) Practice censorship. Delete comments I don’t like, limit comments to people who give a valid email address or join the blog, moderate comments on a case by case basis. 3) Keep going as is, ignoring comments or emails rendered in a spirit of hate or disrespect. 4) Keep going as is, responding to everyone regardless.
It is all just to weird for me at the moment to make a good decision, but if anyone reading this has an opinion, FEEL FREE. Everyone else does. I’ve bumped the comments security level up one notch, and for that I apologize, but that’s the deal for now.
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January 31, 2008 at 5:11 pm
re:patrick
read through your last couple of posts–good stuff.
re: religion and politics. i always find you well informed on both counts and enjoy your thinking, whether or not i agree with it.
re: john edwards. I TOTALLY AGREE. Gah. I know he was poor. I do. It still doesn’t work for me though.
re: Obama. Inspiring hope is a very real need. We’re a bunch of cynical people and if he can help us remember to hope and work for change, that is a plus. But I just have this feeling I can’t shake. . .
re: Trolls. Assholes.
If you can deal with trolls and just laugh at their narrowmindedness and pitful lives (i mean, it really makes them feel better to yell at someone else, that’s pretty sad), I’d say keep on keeping on. But that’s up to you, of course. 
January 31, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Spaghetti Monster
Well you clearly said something powerful to elicit such a response from this Ciao person . It’s not uncommon for those who aren’t able to provide an intelligent response to seek other means to silence someone who offers an opinion they don’t like. Her attempt is to try and intimidate you by implying that the mere offering of your opinions on your own blog is somehow a negative character trait. Her attempt is rather sadistic, and I suspect you’re only one of many victims who have had to face her emotional and mental abuse. She’s probably scoured the web and found someone else to attack by now, so let it go and give us more of your note worthy musings, and if Dog Ciao or someone similar stumbles upon your blog, we’ll all enjoy the brief entertainment these kind of reactionaries provide.
And I agree with you about Edwards. The “I’m just the son of a poor dirt farmer” speeches don’t go very far when you live in a 20,000 square foot house. Go Osama!
January 31, 2008 at 6:17 pm
amanda
THANK YOU to both of you. You’ve no idea how much I need to hear these things.
Spaghetti Monster: You are officially my first POSITIVE anonymous comment. TWEEEE! (Imagine, with me, that there is confetti falling on your head and kazoos cheering you on.)