And it’s time again for my reader mailbag, always enlightening if somewhat less than thrilling.

Greenfield:

I leave comments for you all the time.  Almost every day.  And you never respond.  No “good idea.”  No “I never thought of that.”  Not even “thanks for the comment.”  Nothing.  Zero, zippo, nada.  You respond to other people, even those who call you names and tell you that you are the devil incarnate.  Why not me?

Sigh.  This is a tough one, and one that has bothered me for a long time.  The reason it bothers me is that your comments show that your heart is in the right place.  The problem is that your head is somewhere else, likely a dark, moist location with an unpleasant odor. 

Comments that repeat what’s already said, state the obvious as if it’s an epiphany or just totally miss the point, often wandering off to some strange place where there’s no intelligent life, present a problem.  You see, I don’t want to attack a commenter for vapidity when they’ve done nothing to deserve attack.  But on the other hand, I can’t agree with a comment that’s vapid either.  I’m in a quandary.

I enjoy comments.  I really do appreciate the challenge of different ideas, and believe that discussion and disagreement test our thoughts.  But your comments bring absolutely nothing to discussion.  They add nothing.  They detract nothing.  They reflect the absence of thought.  I can’t figure out why you bother, since they say nothing.  And yet there you are, regularly posting a comment.

I’m frequently left with the impression that you didn’t bother to read the post, or you just don’t have a clue what the post was about.  But then, why bother to comment?  Perhaps your purpose is to promote yourself, to obtain what little recognition one can from commenting on a blawg.  Perhaps you do it here and elsewhere as well, spreading your words across the blawgosphere.  I don’t know.

But my failure to respond to your comments makes me feel badly as well.  I see them.  I know you’re there.  I just can’t figure out what to say in response to comments that say nothing.

Greenfield:

I’m smarter than you.  Ha!  I can toy with you at will, writing my little comments that highlight your idiocy and knowing with certainty that you will fall into my trap by trying in your pathetic little way to keep up with me.  And I am better looking than you too.

An interesting phenomenon happens when you have a blawg.  People read it.  If it sucks, people stop reading it.  It’s one of the great beauties of the blawgosphere: It’s ultimately the writing and ideas that make it worthy of some other person’s time and attention.  So if someone stops by Simple Justice, it’s not because I, personally, carry such great weight, but that there’s something that I’ve written that makes another person decide to spend a few minutes of their time.

And this, obviously, brings you.  You may indeed be smarter than me.  You are likely better looking than me (like that’s a big deal).  But you’ve come to Simple Justice.  I didn’t come to you.  Neither did any other reader here. 

I respond to most comments left at SJ (with the notable exception above).  You really didn’t quite trap me into taking the bait.  I take the bait willingly, because this is my blawg.  It’s not just about pontificating, but about taking it to the next step, discussion.  I’ll discuss things with pretty much anybody (with the notable exception above).  Even you. 

But if you sincerely believe that you are scoring points, you’re probably wasting your time.  I don’t consider the size of my genitalia to be at stake, and I happily concede that I am not ultimate arbiter of anything.  You can be smarter than me anytime you want.  But you have to do it through ideas.

On the other hand, if you really want to test how much others admire your genius, why not start your own blawg rather than waste your time messing with me.  If you are as brilliant as you think, then others (including me) will flock to your blawg and devour your every word. 

But if you’re going to waste your time coming to my blawg, then bear in mind that it’s mine.  Feel free to show your brilliance whenever you would like, but trying to “one-up” me is silly waste of bandwidth (which I control here, by the way).  Rather than brilliant, it comes off as obnoxious and childish, and tends to give rise to complaints from other readers about why I allow rude and annoying comments. 

I try to let people, even obnoxious people (and you aren’t the first and won’t be the last) have an opportunity to get it out in the hope that they will calm down and become contributing readers rather than trolls.  Most have. Some haven’t.  And it’s up to me to decide who stays and who goes.  You know why?  Because it’s my blawg.