A first step towards civilization.
I have been silent for a week, as I said I would be. I write now, not out of any particular motive to write, but because I promised to have a decision in a week - so a decision I must post.
I have decided to take an interim step towards improving the experience of writing this blog. From this moment forth, there shall be no anonymous comments on my blog. It is my hope that this step, alone, will be enough to restore sufficient civility to the comments I have been receiving. Should it not do so, I will strengthen the limitations on who can post, on my blog, and even who can read it.
From now on, anyone with a blogger account or an OpenID can post on this blog. I am sorry if you have neither and you wish to post - you will just have to get an ID. For four years, I allowed all readers the privilege - and it is a privilege - of posting anonymously, out of a misguided belief that some people might have sensitive things to say, that required them to protect themselves with anonymity. However, the opposite thing happened. People with INSENSITIVE things to say, abused the privilege to hurl invective, spite and sheer nastiness whenever I wrote something they disagreed with. So, it has to stop. If you have something to say...you must now do so, in the open, with a name and an ID.
Now, should the unpleasant remarks not stop with Open ID and blogger, I will restrict the permissions further, to just blogger members. If that doesn't work, then I will restrict the READERSHIP, to invited people only. If that doesn't work, I will have a private blog, readable only by the author.
I am tired of reading abusive comments from often less than perfectly sane readers - or less than perfectly pleasant, anyway. I hope that this first step towards achieving a civil blogging experience will be enough to attain it. If not, I have already outlined the successive steps I will take to gradually restrict access to commenting on this blog and eventually to even reading the blog. I would prefer not to have to restrict the blog further, but I shall do so, if the net nastiness continues.
I hope to have a better blogging experience, from now on. We shall see.
Thank you to all those who wrote letters expressing appreciation of my writing (under the previous post) and asking me to continue. I have weighed those words and decided that I should take this minimal first step towards restoring "civilization" to my blog, before taking any more drastic steps. Let's hope it works. Thanks.
(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html
I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.
My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
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Labels: a more civilized world, anonymity, blogging, civility, comment control, hate mail
8 Comments:
I hope the step you're taking is enough to stop the inappropriate comments, because I really enjoy reading your blog.
It would be a shame having to stop writing because some people don't seem to grasp the concept of respect.
You have my full support and thank you for sharing your views of the world with us.
Thank you Casandra for your support and many stimulating comments, since you became a reader.
I hope that I shall be able to resume writing in my regular fashion, soon enough. I only need to overcome the remnants of ill feeling the unposted comments I have been dealing with, have left me.
Kind regards.
Dear Valentine,
I wish I could find the words to help disspel the ill feelings you still harbour. As much as I am glad that you have been able to temper your response, mostly I feel for the benefit of the readers who do appreciate your writing, it is a shame that your focus has been blunted and your writing remains affected.
Even without having read the actual comments that triggered this stunned pause I am left in awe of the power that words have to shape our world. And I am reminded of Helen Keller and how her world took took form and came alive for her when she discovered language. Seems to me that the space these comments have put you in is not a pleasant one, if ever I could understate it more, or one that is easily given up. Your command of language, the rigour with which you wield it and the overall mastery which I have come to admire make me wonder why is it that you have not gone on to recreate the world that would leave at peace.
Perhaps our world does not come into being for us as a function of our language after all.
PS. My motives are somewhat selfish. I would miss your writing.
Dear Slawek, I find your remark today, both interesting and oblique. Its ambiguity is a little puzzling. Do you mean that you wonder at why I do not weave words to make myself a peaceful idyll, apart from it all...or do you mean, why I don't weave my words into a creative work that reflects my world view?
I shall answer both. Firstly, while words may bring ease and comfort, they cannot entirely erase the wounding traces of a life. So their power is not all embracing on that front. Or at least, they would take time to accomplish that.
On the second front, I have actually created such a work. It is quite lengthy - 742,000 words or so...and I am considering how to publish it.
Thanks for all your reading. I hope to place many more words before you, to enjoy.
I'm glad you've decided to continue your blog. When I read for enjoyment and interest, I rarely venture outside of the classics. Even though your blog wasn't written hundreds and thousands of years ago, somehow it's managed to find a place in my regular reading. I too would miss your writing. Thanks for all of the wisdom and knowledge that you have so generously shared over the years.
Kind Regards,
Shannon
I am touched by your words, Shannon and the implication that my writing is worthy of the attention of one enamoured of the classics.
Perhaps this is because I don't follow the "fashions" of the day, when it comes to the use of the word. I try to write, not to be stylish, glossy or impressive, but to actually SAY something. I think, perhaps, that might be something you value. After all, I think that is the quality in the classics, that you so love, that makes them worthy of our attention today...they wrote with something to say.
Thanks for your thanks, therefore...it is heartening to read.
Best wishes.
I am sorry for the confusion. I did not explain adequately. In fact now that I think about it, my comment was out of place. Perhaps when I have had a chance to live out the ideas I was alluding to I will be able to express them better.
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