Okay, I forgive you for pwning me on the 'meddlesome priest' thing. I'll go donate.
Just paid up. Thanks for posting this. As Saiselgy says, one thing incumbent state senators really don't want is a ton of out of state money flooding in for recall petitions.
Will put some money in when I get home.
I'm in.
The orange post title is very fetching, it turns out.
Holy crap, when will I be able to resist dipping into sausagely's comment threads? Urgh.
Holy crap, when will I be able to resist dipping into sausagely's comment threads?
Gah, I just did the same. Horrible, horrible mistake. Best to leave that door closed.
You guys are kind of tempting me to check it out.
As soon as I see the name Morgan Warstler, I remember that there's no profit in reading Sausagely's comment section. In this case, that meant one comment and out.
Are there comment sections anywhere that are worth reading? Present comment section excepted, of course.
What do you know—I didn't enjoy that.
Are there comment sections anywhere that are worth reading?
An und für sich.
7, 8: I tried to make it more stupid, just for you guys, but apparently they need to require user accounts to get that level of discourse and I wasn't willing to go through that many steps to make a Total Recall joke.
As soon as I see the name Morgan Warstler
Organ Wrassler would be great.
Ta-Nehisi Coates has a pretty good comment section. Not that I actually read it.
Ta-Nehisi Coates has a pretty good comment section.
Yeah, I remember that being the case. But, having forsworn all blogs (except TPM, sort of), I'm not going back. I find that I have much more time these days to ride my bike, write some words, and read about fucksaws.
I shy away from comments elsewhere these days, but I recall MY's commenters being united at least in adolescent contempt for him, his misspellings and his taste in music, while TNC's commenters seemed to share a taste for TNC's flattery.
Genesis 18:25
It is silly and mean-spirited to despise that many commenters. I just like people more than that. And I remember this attitude when people criticize my comments, and so have less trouble ignoring my critics.
Eh. TNC's commenters are fawning in exactly the manner that led me to ban compliments from my own blog. He should have more pride, and make them stop.
That was a brilliant thing you did, banning compliments from your blog. Also, you're beautiful and witty.
I don't mind that since you're so genuine and we're just peers who admire each other so very much. But in the blogger-reader context it becomes annoying noise that gets in the way of real signal, like content and making fun of each other.
Yeah. That's my real objection. Dilutes the signal to noise ratio, and comment sections are already high on noise.
(sits very still and stays silent.)
And if you trust your internal ear, you shouldn't need otherwise contentless praise. If you aren't sure it is solid, don't hit Post. If you are sure, praise is redundant.
"It's pretty big, it's pretty thick," Cavallari said. "It may even reach 15 to 20 cm in length."
You're the best at what you do, apostropher.
25: It won't hold up to 2,500 stroke/minute.
24: Megan, most of us are never sure.
Me -- I like posting stupid jokes on Na-Tehisi's blog, because they often get "liked", which gives me a moment or two of feeling slightly less worthless.
Were I to follow the advice in 24, I would never comment on Unfogged again.
Oh, I see.
Hmmm. I'm always sure, but sometimes wrong. Doesn't change how sure I am the next time, though.
TNC and Marcotte, in nearly opposite ways, have styles that discourage disputation. With TNC, it's "How can I argue with that?*" with Marcotte "How would I dare argue with that?"
Yglesias has endured and prospered because he always tries and manages to start conversations and arguments. He seems to think his job is to write the precis for his commenter's papers.
*There's more, I think a faux vulnerability in TNC's posts that guarantees a fawning commentariat. The "almost threw a punch because I'm black but now I'm better" is classic.
32: Maybe you could be a pundit on TV then.
But you already have a good job.
34 gets it right. With the new "Jane Austen is brilliant, dawg" project, there will be ever more commenters for whom TNC is their dream boy.
36: Like me! I do have a soft spot for people finding old novels as a straightforward pleasure. Not that that's hard, with Austen, but I'm still charmed.
(Am I the only modern reader who likes Fanny Price just fine?)
TNC's blog is where the centre-centre-American-left and centre-centre-American-right go to disagree with each other collegially. His commenters mostly suck.
36 is correct, but also merely jealous. Right?
If you aren't sure it is solid, don't hit Post.
Oh please. My entire drive to post would shrivel up and die. It's more like "If the impulse strikes, you'd better post as quick as you can."
My entire drive to post would shrivel up and die.
Yep. That's about how it works.
No one ever changes her mind about anything she cares about. She may be a sap, but she's dogged. I like that in a fictional character.
Thought about that more over the afternoon. By "sure", I mean that the words convey my thought accurately and the thought adds something to the conversation. I'll say stuff I'm not positive about, with qualifications. But (maybe) y'all would be surprised; I type out and cancel about a quarter of my comments.
I type out and cancel about a quarter of my comments.
Hm, so do I. I actually find it worthwhile to write an unsure, sloppy (but headed in the right direction) comment from time to time, though. Keeps a person humble.
Wow. I'm afraid I don't have much of a filter.
47: yeah, I've typed comments I didn't end up submitting before, but it's pretty rare. I hear people also use preview!
Also, I of course agree with Megan that you should be 100% sure of yourself before making a statement on your blog, but the comments are important to let you gauge the humiliation when you sober up.
A lot of the time I delete comments because they're too late for wherever the thread has gone, and the mood has changed. Or I decide that people may yell at me, and I'm not up for that.
Hell, I cancel or abandon half my comments, at least.
I probably don't post maybe 1 in 10 of my comments. Usually because I've realized I don't know what I'm talking about.
51: And I've certainly never let that stop me.
I just deleted a comment I was writing about TNC's comments section because I got bored writing it.
Back when I read Atlantic blogs, I remember TNC taking a lot of care to encourage a non-ugly comments section, so even if it was never great, people were less likely to engage in repeated drive by awful trolling.
Not the safest thing for the office.
because I got bored writing it
Oh, yeah, that's also a reason to delete a comment-in-progress. Happens all the time.
Unfortunately the murder-worthy darlings generally reveal themselves too late.
I don't understand the details of US political organisations. Which outfit should I donate to, or should I take the split option?
Imagine alterna-Unfogged in which everything typed in the comment box (or perhaps everything submitted for Preview but never Posted) was secretly saved to a thread of the insecure, the second-guessers, the hyper-curatorial. (In fact for all we know this may be happening.)
60: Oh, come on, ursyne. That's nonsense. [looks around, shifty-eyed]