As commenters here know, there is an email that comes verifying the commenter’s email address before your comment will be posted.  No big deal, and those who leave bogus email addresses may be surprised when their piece of genius fails to see daylight.

But today was a first.  A comment was left by a lawyer using the name, John Doe.  I suspect the name to be a pseudonym.  He left a message on July 2, 2009. on a post entitled What the Trial or Plea Issue Shows About Sentencing Disparities (Update).  It was a fine post, but nothing earthshattering.

Today, more than 14 months later, I received notification that Mr. Doe (which I still don’t believe to be his true name) has responded to the verification email.  There have been occasional delays in responding in the past.  A couple days. A week.  Maybe 10 days once.  But never, ever has there been a delay of this length of time.

Dear Mr. Doe. You need to make a serious effort to stay on top of your email.  Really, 14 months is too long.