Talking heads

A few readers have sent me messages criticising my moderation policy on the blog. Some find it scary or intimidating to have their comments subject to scrutiny first.

I welcome hearing what readers have to say, as I think this blog is a much better place when readers respond to the posts.

However, I am not prepared to accept comments which are negative for the sake of it. Most unpleasant comments are written about Maiyuu, by people who know him only through this blog.

If those comments provoked debate among followers of this blog about Maiyuu's actions or my response, they wouldn’t be so bad; but most tend to ignore negative comments posted under the anonymous label, which raises the question of what they add to the blog or why I should bother publishing them.

As I have said before, I am constantly surprised at how unpleasant some readers can be. It is as if they have an axe to grind, or are bitter about their own experiences in Thailand and wish everyone else shared their misery.

Another factor which makes it difficult to lift the moderation bar is the amount of spam which this blog gets. I would rather stop the spam when it gets to my mailbox, not when it has already appeared on the blog, as no one wants to read spam either.

Having said all the above, most reader reaction – even the critical stuff – does get published. One anonymous critic posted unfavourably about Maiyuu the other day. I did not approve it straight away, but eventually it did go up.

I can’t help but noticing that when Maiyuu does something right, the anonymous critics who are so quick to savage him when he slips up stay remarkably quiet. I wonder why?

The next time one of Maiyuu's critics has something to say, perhaps he'd like to tell us why it should be published. What is the purpose it is trying to achieve?

I may well approve it anyway, but it will an interesting exercise in flushing out his own motives, should he be willing to oblige.