Pardon the Interruption

31 July 2017

After five and a half years of daily posting on various platforms, blogging began to feel like burden rather than a labor of love. I was feeling drained both physically and inspirationally. Hence, I took a break. One could rationalize that little typically happens in the District of Calamity during the summer. 

Well, these are not ordinary times and there is plenty of important things to share pearls of wisdom. Figuratively, my batteries are recharged from the respite.  And fortunately, I am once again hearing the sweet songs from the Muse of Inspiration.

When I started blogging, I operated under the premise that those engaged in ideas would look to worthy websites as home pages to start their daily reading, much as people started their days with the morning newspaper and possibly engage with other readers in a chautauqua.  Little did I realize that social media platforms would serve as the herald of the headlines as well as a medium for sharing and snarking.   

Alas, many busy people rarely get beyond the headlines, so persistently penning prolonged in-depth pieces can seem Sisyphian. Thus, my instinct was to develop pearls of wisdom using narrative graphics with tersely cogent quotations. If these "pearls of wisdom" are posted in a timely and thoughtful man, they can influence and augment the body politic. It is gratifying to know that one is making even a small contribution to civil civic and societal discourse.

Even though quotidian quotations may not be sine qua non for attracting eyeballs, I have discerned that these daily dishes are personally engaging and stoke the fire between extended articles. While I am dubious if regular readers were “jonesing” for their daily fix from the District of Calamity, I beg your pardon for the interruption. 

Editor's Note: On Internet Argy Bargys and Charitable Commenting

Writing is an avocation for most who have blogs. Without the resources of a Madison Avenue magazine, a blogger is writer, editor and publicist. When a blogger shares his thoughts with the world, it can be a cathartic, but it also a desire to engage others with one’s thoughts. This desire to be read and engage readers can be likened to the philosophical conundrum: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, did it make a sound?” 

 In the era of dead tree editions (traditional publishing), a commenter would have to go through the bother of putting a pen to paper and then mailing it to a publication. The editors sifted through the correspondences, selecting the best of the bunch and often editing them for space and content for publication in a future edition. This could take weeks to transpire. 

 Things move much more rapidly in the internet age. One can hurriedly compose a comment and immediately share it with the cyber world. Sometimes vexed writers rush to publish a poison pen reply to a piece before applying common sense and civil decorum. Or an impassioned commenter pushes “Enter” without spell checking or editing a response. 

 As one who writes and maintains a website, I appreciate engaging with readers. Feedback can be useful (and is often incorporated without fanfare). I prize having civil exchanges, even with those whom I do not see eye to eye. However, I believe that in social media that the veil of absolute immunity often brings out the worst in people. From my perspective, it’s fine to use a handle when responding. But a site which allows for unmoderated and anonymous comments tend to quickly degenerate into crude, ad-hominem snark fests which are far afield from the original point. I have no desire to let the lunatics run the asylum, so to speak. 

 When comments are on point, they move the chautauqua of ideas forward. Disagreement can allow for a refining of ideas, even if the internet interlocutors ultimately retain their original positions. I have friends with whom I strongly disagree and can keep honest by exchanging challenging comments. Yet I do neither hold it against them that we differ nor do I fixate on the disagreement. 

 In my experience, when comments amount to a prolonged back and forth between two posters, it loses the rest of their audience as they become indulgent and unfocused. Thus their dialogue should be taken “off line”. So after couple of volleys over an issue when there is an impasse of views, I act as an editor and end the exchanges. 

 Some over-eager commenters perseverate and want to continue “sharing”. I am of the belief that it is preferable to chastise in private. Thus, I will send an email as a courtesy to let the riled up reader why continued comments restating the points will not be published. 

 Another sort of commenter thinks that it is sufficient to damn the published viewpoint and then simply redirect readers to another site. It can be a courtesy to include source material via hyperlink at the end of an argument. But a one word response and a hyperlink is not argument, it’s crass marketing. If you want to promulgate a position and not engage on topic, attract your own eyeballs. 

 Then there are the self important commenters who thinks that they can dictate how someone else should run his site. Good for them. They can do what they want on their own blogs. So there is no confusion, let me state my editorial rules for comments: 
1) No ad hominen attacks (gratuitous personal attacks without reason for those in Rio Linda) 
2) No profanity 
3) Stay on point