Filler 35

After a fair amount of -- well, soul-searching would be an overstatement, but let's say consideration -- I've disabled trackbacks on WT and closed comments on most entries. The process is not, for the time being, automated, so the comment horizon is likely to be pretty stuttery. In theory it should be roughly coincident with what appears on the main index page; in practice, who knows?

This is, as if I need to say it, an anti-spam measure; and the very idea of that makes me despair for the human race -- but the sad fact is that some examples of humanity are, after all, despair-inducing. Fortunately, my despair shields are pretty sturdy, and I know enough members of our species are worthwhile to make the others, however numerous they may prove, irrelevant. Wonder and beauty will always win out over avarice and contempt in my eyes. I know, I know, I'm such a sad old romantic.

Headline entries (where, what, why, etc) will remain open, as will the entries in the photo album. There's no real logic behind this, except that those may be the places real people are marginally more likely to wind up than bots. Certainly the when sub-blog seems to have been much less prone to spam attacks over the last couple of years than its more promiscuous progenitor.

I'm not sure if this is merely a tactical decision or a strategic one. Either way, I can't pretend to be happy about it. Probably the only thing that has ever made Walky Talky worthwhile is the two-way communication it affords with you, its readers. I get more from that interaction than I do from having an output channel for any old nonsense I churn out, delightful though the latter facility may be. To curtail the return side in any way, in the words of David Lo Pan, really pisses me off no end.

Nevertheless, I haven't gone anywhere, and -- I hope -- neither have you. Most of the communication that goes on here occurs within the month or so that I expect to leave commenting open, and if some thread happens to outlast that, well, we'll just go with the flow. If you have anything to say to me, or to the world, chances are you'll still be able to. If the comments are closed, email me.

Just don't don't try to sell me Viagra, a fake Rolex, or the affections of a woman called Julie.
Posted by matt at August 19, 2005 11:11 PM