I would love to leave the comment section after every post.
There is something rather comforting in the idea that people leave nice remarks or suggestions. Possibly, a discussion opens up, sparking ideas, enthusiasm and energy.
But it’s not like that. Anyone who has ever built a website, especially if they’re a bit amateur like me (and probably just about understanding WordPress), will know; the comments are always SPAM!
Eric Clapton
It reminds me of a story Eric Clapton included in his autobiography a few years back (the story was from way back, before he gave up drinking).
He was driving through the Surrey countryside near his home on a sunny afternoon when he chanced upon a lovely Olde England pub. People were sitting outside, probably near the cricket green, and the sunlight was highlighting the gold of their beer glasses. Eric thought, ‘Surely it would be OK to have just ONE beer!’ so he went inside. He stayed for three days.
That’s what the comments section does. You have this rather joyous idea about it but it never works out. Before you know it, WordPress are emailing you with, ‘You have 647 unanswered comments on your page.’ You go to the page and they are all spam. All trying to sell you something.
Love your site
The nicest of these are fairly polite. You want to believe them but you know they’re not true.
I got one of these the other day. It started, ‘I really love your blogs but I was wondering if you had an audio option as I’d like to listen to them on my commute.’ It goes on to advertise where I can find such a device.
But many don’t even bother pretending. They may even be written in Russian. It’s the fact they contain links that is important. If they can get their product onto millions of sites, they’re happy.
So as much as I’d like to include the comments box, I’m afraid it is so much easier to disable it.
If anyone knows a way of getting around the spam nonsense, I’d love to hear about it.
Why not leave a comment in the… oh… oh yeah.
Update
In for a penny…
I’ve spent a lot of money putting this site together so I have decided to go that extra mile and install Akismet. This SHOULD eliminate all spam, making my post redundant. Rather ironic if I install a comments box here and end up with more spam.
Time will tell. Here goes…