8.10.2005

Dear Ropes of Sand

I tried to comment on Artie Writewell's hilarious post re: those meddling crime-solving cheerleaders, but was denied! Then I recalled the earlier post about copying Earth Goat's posting policy, and I wonder if you didn't go a step too far. True, on EG only contributors can make an original post -- but anybody registered on Blogger can post a comment. What we did was disallow anonymous comments. I hope you'll hear my goat cries and make an adjustment. Of course, if you have come to a different policy decision, so be it. But note that it effectively locks the rest of us out.

9 comments:

Grendel said...

Yeah, it sucks. Thanks for explaining. We went through a similar period back in ... I dunno, a while ago anyway. Disruptive, unhelpful, uninteresting rants and pot shots every other day. But it did end, and lately not much problem at all. It took a lot of energy and hand-wringing and soul searching to weather it. There is no good solution when you're under attack other than the one you've just implemented. Hope it goes away so you can open up again one day.

SER said...

Oh, Sanders, you should have seen the behind-the-scenes emails that went a-flyin' between the Goats and the Babies re: abusive quotes. I should have saved them for the archives! Indeed, there was soul-searching. In the end, we came to the no-anonymous-posts policy, which seems to work pretty well, although someone could just have a Blogger ID and continue posting as if he/she were anonymous, which is to say: in a cowardly manner and without compunction.

Another thing that has happened is that I just care less if someone posts something lame. I just sigh and perhaps emit un petit "pffft!" at the screen, and move on. It is liberating for someone as sensitive (ie, easily wounded) as I am.

cfp said...

One thing you could do is create a couple dummy member accounts ("EarthGoat," "Babies are Fireproof," etc.). If you gave the passwords to Grendel and I, I'm pretty sure we could be trusted only to distribute them to our own contributors. Frankly, I can't tell if that is more trouble than it is worth, but it is a solution.

cfp said...

Grendel and me, that is. Actually, let's be honest. Grendel and SER. I probably can't be trusted.

Grendel said...

That's an innovative idea, Pete. Each person could just sign the comment at the end so we know whom to blame. If the SandRopes are game, I am. Then again, it may be more trouble than it's worth as you mention, and they should of course do whatever they want.

Grendel said...

I got the invite, and clicked the link, but I was already logged into Blogger as Grendel -- and so I believe it may just have added me to your contributors as Grendel.

Sorry for the hassle, but I would suggest:

1. Delete Grendel as a contributor once that comes through.

2. Send another invite to earthgoat@gmail.com.

3. I won't click the link until I'm logged out of Blogger and will create another EarthGoat Blogger ID and go from there.

SAS said...

Hmmm. Not so fast.
Grendel has successfully been removed from the team, but remains on the contributor's list. Any ideas on how to remove entirely? It strikes me that you may be able to simply change the name on the profile on your end. I know I've seen that happen, though I don't know what that would do to your profile in other contexts.

Grendel said...

I was able to re-register by using another machine that did not have Blogger cookies on it -- dunno if I really needed to be that drastic. But Earth Goat should now be registered. As for how to delete Grendel.. let me think for a minute.

cfp said...

sometimes it is just a question of when blogger decides to make updates. Give it a few hours and see if Grendel is still on the list.