PSA

[marcmagus]

This probably won't be read by the people it's directed at, but it's on my mind, and I'd like to get it out there.

I'm thinking about comments. Specifically, anonymous comments. Without contact information. Which raise an interesting point or ask a question. Responding to old posts.

I like comments. I like giving people the option to comment anonymously, although I'm not generally a fan of doing so. When people ask a question or say something interesting, I try to respond. Responding seems rather futile, however, if it seems unlikely anybody is going to read my response.

So, what am I supposed to do when someone comes along two months after a post of mine and anonymously comments asking if I'd tried one of the games I got yet, and whether I liked it? They might check back for my response, I suppose, but I have no way to let them know there is one.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I think that anonymous commenting is really obnoxious. That's why I disabled it on my LJ during my poetry war a few years back.

[marcmagus]

*laugh* I want to allow people without LJs to post, although I'd prefer that they identify themselves (and leave some sort of contact information if they want me to reply)

[soulchanger.livejournal.com]

True, and I did feel sort of bad about it, especially since someone, I think diogenesna, pointed out that the person who made the anonymous comment would not be able to identify him or herself.

But now I feel less bad, what with OpenID, and with LJ being free and not requiring invite codes. I know people who have LJ accounts just to post comments on other LJs (and I have a blogger account for the same reason).

[beyonder.livejournal.com]

A lot of people have their lj set to email them whenever someone replies to one of their comments on any journal.

[marcmagus]

Which doesn't help people who comment anonymously to receive a notification when I reply to their comment. *grin*

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

I agree in that it's highly obnoxious to leave comments that completely fail to identify who someone is (which is part of the reason why I log ip addies), especially if you're trying to ask questions. I'm a firm believer in elljay accounts for all, and long, looooong comment threads.

Ok, methinks I'm babbling now. Maybe I *can't* run on threeish hours of sleep. Meh.

~Sor