We all get them. Those multiple-addressee email from the guy you met on the flight from Athens five years ago -- and, in a moment of weakness, gave him your email address.
They almost always arrive in batches. Ten or fifteen at a time. Filled with jokes of indifferent taste and wit. Or, often, merely, a link to an article with a cryptic "this says everything" or something equally noncommittal on the part of the sender.
I have several good friends who send me the "link" emails. Because I know them well, I usually understand exactly why the link came my way.
For some reason, I am starting to receive similar messages in my blog "comments" section. Four of them showed up today and yesterday. Two to the same link with almost exactly the same cryptic note.
I have not published any of the four. And this is why.
The comment section is for people who want to have a conversation about their reactions to the topic of a post. This is a First Amendment free speech spot.
But we are all interested in what readers have to say. Not what some editorial writer in Baltimore has to say or what two spinsters in Omaha rattle on about.
Readers should feel free to incorporate the thoughts of others with their own. We all do that. Some people, like Joe Biden, seem to forget that the thoughts came from someone else. But readers need to put their own arguments out there on the firing line for people to discuss without hiding behind the shield of a third person's opinion.
Of course, there are rules of etiquette to follow here. We discuss issues, not personalities -- despite my cheap shot at Joe Biden. Issues are open to all forms of polite discourse. Attacking personalities with emotion-laden labels is simply an admission of running out of reason.
There is another reason to minimize links in comments. They are perfect Trojan horses for bad cookies. To mix my electronic metaphors.
Let me pile on one more reason. I have worked on enough "letter to the editor" committees in political campaigns to know the source of many of these "link" posts. This blog has little interest in becoming just another message board for campaign-directed propaganda. We like to generate our own political propaganda.
So, here is the deal. Political posts will undoubtedly appear on mexpatriate between now and the American elections in November. Feel free to support your respective candidates and issues with your own rational arguments and Marquess of Queensberry rules.
Because I undoubtedly will do the same.
They almost always arrive in batches. Ten or fifteen at a time. Filled with jokes of indifferent taste and wit. Or, often, merely, a link to an article with a cryptic "this says everything" or something equally noncommittal on the part of the sender.
I have several good friends who send me the "link" emails. Because I know them well, I usually understand exactly why the link came my way.
For some reason, I am starting to receive similar messages in my blog "comments" section. Four of them showed up today and yesterday. Two to the same link with almost exactly the same cryptic note.
I have not published any of the four. And this is why.
The comment section is for people who want to have a conversation about their reactions to the topic of a post. This is a First Amendment free speech spot.
But we are all interested in what readers have to say. Not what some editorial writer in Baltimore has to say or what two spinsters in Omaha rattle on about.
Readers should feel free to incorporate the thoughts of others with their own. We all do that. Some people, like Joe Biden, seem to forget that the thoughts came from someone else. But readers need to put their own arguments out there on the firing line for people to discuss without hiding behind the shield of a third person's opinion.
Of course, there are rules of etiquette to follow here. We discuss issues, not personalities -- despite my cheap shot at Joe Biden. Issues are open to all forms of polite discourse. Attacking personalities with emotion-laden labels is simply an admission of running out of reason.
There is another reason to minimize links in comments. They are perfect Trojan horses for bad cookies. To mix my electronic metaphors.
Let me pile on one more reason. I have worked on enough "letter to the editor" committees in political campaigns to know the source of many of these "link" posts. This blog has little interest in becoming just another message board for campaign-directed propaganda. We like to generate our own political propaganda.
So, here is the deal. Political posts will undoubtedly appear on mexpatriate between now and the American elections in November. Feel free to support your respective candidates and issues with your own rational arguments and Marquess of Queensberry rules.
Because I undoubtedly will do the same.
