Complaint Department

Last night and today were spent in a foggy TylenolCold-induced haze. I still feel like something someone wrapped up in a burrito, stepped on and left out in the rain somewhere, and I am finding it hard to believe I still possess a left nostril, since I haven’t breathed out of it for a long time, but at least I can sit up.
Today I decided to climb from my sickbed long enough to open up a Complaint Department Ticket in the hopes of providing clues to those who may be lacking.
While blog surfing a few days ago I came upon someone who seems to have issues with the way other people run the comments on their sites. I can’t recall what the site was now, but I still felt that a response might be helpful.
The person in question seems to have issues with sites that either require registration or moderate comments. These could be any type of sites, from Blogger sites that don’t allow anonymous comments, to PMachine and ExpressionEngine sites that either invite or require registration, to MovableType sites like this one that strictly moderate all comments unless the commenter is TypeKey registered. Apparently having to wait to be approved or having to take 2 minutes to register or having to type in dumb numbers in order to post is too much for this person. It isn’t any ‘fun’ and restricts their sense of instant gratification, since they can’t see their comment right away.
Complaint Department Response:
Let’s take you up on your point about registering for yet another site. It takes a lot of time, you have to share your e-mail address, and you might be spammed. Stop right there. :whatever: Spammed, you say? Did you ever even think that this spam thing you mention might be the very reason people are forced to make you jump through extra hoops to comment on their site? Have YOU ever received 271 comment spams in less than 3 hours? I have. Not my idea of a fun afternoon spent clearing those out of the system, let me tell you.
And really, registering at most blog sites doesn’t open you up to spam or anything malicious. If you are really worried about it, last time I checked there were many many MANY free email services out there. Hell, I still have FOUR GMail invites left, PLEASE take them off my hands by leaving your name and a valid email address for me! Set one up, hey, they can even be configured to forward right to your own personal mail. Then you can use that one email to register all over the place and never fear nasty nonexistent spam-from-blogs where you don’t wish it to be. Signing up for a TypeKey identity ONCE enables you to post on ALL MovableType blogs that have TypeKey enabled. Signing up for a Blogger account ONCE allows you to post on all those wonderful BlogExplosion Blogger accounts you happen by (heck, I even got a Blogger account just so I could do that). If you make sure you register using your website address, your email never even shows up on most places, in any case.
Now, as to not having the patience to wait a few minutes or hours or maybe even days for your comment to show up, well, if it’s that much trouble for you, then perhaps what you had to say wasn’t that important after all. So why are you even commenting, then? Most blogs that I have been to (with a few exceptions) don’t have any type of ongoing conversation in the comments, and any replies are generally made directly to the commenter via email. So what, exactly, are you waiting for? More hits for your site? Attention? Kudos? If that’s what you are after by commenting, then just move on by and don’t bother, because if you don’t have enough respect on OUR sites to attempt to understand our privacy and spam counteraction practices, then we probably don’t much care what you have to say anyway. Kthxbi!!!
I, for one, am SO grateful for the friends I have already and the new friends I have been meeting on BlogExplosion and elsewhere. If I go to their sites, and I have to register, I have something I would like to say, and I feel it is meaningful, and I respect their space enough to follow their rules on their playground. Thanks to those of you who take the time to do the same on mine. 🙂
[EDIT] Please take a moment to go visit Michele and leave a comment. For every comment she receives, a donation of $1 will be made to Oxfam International for the tsunami relief effort. Tell her I sent you! [/EDIT]