Comment on comments

Hi folks,

I have to admit to having a very wide streak of naivete. Part of my worldview includes the assumption that people are honest and good until proven otherwise. As a result of that, I have not paid sufficient attention to the content of comments posted to this blog and approved by yours truly. The specific content in question is the hidden links contained in a line of periods. Seems innocuous, right? I thought so too, and it never occurred to me that these dots contained links to other websites until I happened to stumble across them and was horrified and disgusted by what I found. So this morning I did some housecleaning of my blog, going back through and permanently deleting any posts containing hidden website links. While I would be very happy if my blog attracted an audience and functioned as the starting point for enlightened discussion, it is not my intention to provide free advertising space for websites so off-color that they must be disguised. Consider this a warning: attempting to place these ads on my blog will be futile, so save your time and energy and go elsewhere. I would rather have zero readers and let this blog be an open online diary, than allow my own reputation to be tarnished by association.

Okay, this has obviously hit a nerve with me. Perhaps my actions seem a bit hypocritical since I have advocated for freedom of speech right here on this blog, and now I'm censoring comments. Here's my rationale: It's my blog, and as such I am responsible for any content - posts or comments - that this blog contains. I am not willing to assume responsibility for promoting websites with content so questionable that they have to be presented in hidden form. And yes, most of them were porn sites, but I'm not even getting into my philosophical objections to pornography as a form of exploitation and marginalization of women. This is about my responsibilities as the author of this blog. And from now on I will be paying much closer attention to better fulfil those responsibilities.

AuntieM