Comment on Comments

When I woke up my computer this morning and looked at email (which I don't usually do until later in the morning, so as not to start the day in reaction mode), I noticed a whole slew of spam comments on more than a dozen posts. This is the second such occurrence this week. My apologies if you were greeted by any of that if and when you tried to post a comment. No really raunchy stuff, at least, though I did notice the word "SEX" embedded in the thick of one comment that was in non-English characters (Korean? Chinese? I should have consulted Anna, our resident Chinese scholar)!

I think I've cleaned them up, and I've changed some settings so that I will be able to moderate comments and reject those that are spam or in some way offensive to the spirit of my blog (while of course still allowing for difference of opinion). This means that when you submit a comment, it won't appear right away on the blog, unless I just happen to be checking my email at the time I get told it's there.

For the time being I am keeping the comments option as open as possible, but if I find that the spammish comments keep multiplying and I have to spend more and more time monitoring them, I may decide to choose a fussier comment option.

As I am delighted by the comment conversation that is developing, I hope to keep the lines as open as possible! Thanks for joining the conversation in whatever way appeals to you, whether by comment or by silent appreciation or by sharing posts with friends and family.

Thanks!