I couldn’t help but wince when I read Alan’s recent post on comment-free weblogs…
I understand fully the bloggers who have dealt a blow by spam. I have too dealt with the scourge of blog spam, but rather than quitting and cutting of others, I researched, experimented, and found solutions to the problem.
It is an excuse that does not wash, and it is giving in to spammers.
But I see it more problematic- if you publish a weblog without a comment feature, you are using software just for cranking out web pages, and you might was well be using FrontPage, DreamWeaver, or GeoCities for that matter because it is just web content.
[Warning: defensive self-justification ahead]
I winced because I removed the comments field from this weblog last week. The culmination of a series of a events triggered by my host’s quite reasonable decision to cease support of the service. Without the protection of the MT-Blacklist shield, a plague of spam-locusts had been feeding ravenously on this space. I could live with the intrusion of the online pharmacies and Asian ISP’s, but the spam started mingling with my own words in ways that did not strike me as delightful serendipity.
When I looked at my site statistics and realized that a significant portion my readership was looking for “how-to
