On Comments

My father suggested I write a blog about the comments I get. Dad is a dedicated reader, albeit a lurker, so I guess I owe him one. He says that he enjoys reading the comments as much as he does my blog.

Dad says he is waiting for one of my blogs to draw at least 15 comments.
Whereupon I replied, “If you go back, I think you’ll see some of my blogs have 15 comments or better. Sometimes people comment on the older . . . “

“No, no, no. I don’t count it when you comment on your own blog. Or when people comment twice.”

Okay, so he’s going technical on me. He didn’t say that spam comments don’t count. But I imagine they can’t. My “Why I Need Viagra Blog” drew 25 comments, my record. Most of those comments, however, were spam with links to various products and services. Of course, I wrote that blog deliberately as an experiment to see if I could attract spammers. I did. Successful test.

In fact, I was so successful at attracting spam that I eventually had to use “word verification” to stop the spam. That worked, but word verification makes it more difficult to comment, so when Bornfool suggested that spammers had cooled it for now, I de-activated word verification last week.

So what happened? Some stupid spammer went right to my “Why I Need Viagra Blog” this past weekend and added his own comment with a link to a champions-on-ice ticket site. Now, never mind that this Viagra blog is buried in my archives, almost five months old. Why would anyone think that someone interested in Viagra might also be interested in figure skating? You have to have a pretty dirty mind to conjure up a link between the two.

Hmmmm, I don’t know if this is the kind of blog my dad envisioned me writing here. I know he’s pondered things like whether Bonnie has a dual personality since she sometimes comments as Bonnie, sometimes as Bernadette. I don’t know. Maybe something to do with her being a Michigan State alumnus.

We’ve both wondered about the anonymous comments I sometimes get. We think they come from family members, maybe even disgruntled ones, perhaps irked over a humorous birthday card I sent (it was funny, though).

I do appreciate the comments. To all who have lended their time to write--anonymously or not--something funny, informative or supportive . . . thanks! Maybe that's all my father wanted me to say afterall.