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278 days since 16/02/2008
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Back in the days when USENET was fun and alt.fan.eddings had a pulse, the one thing that would annoy me was the Dear John post. The post in which the writer would signal their intention to leave. Now. As soon as this last post is finished. And here’s why. A transparent means of garnering as much last minute attention as possible before flouncing off into a period of lurking to see if anyone rent their shirt and wept for a return, we’re sorry, we’ll be more deferential from now on.
I have only just now had to stop myself from depositing an equivalent comment in a blog thread elsewhere. The blog has, in the last twenty-four hours, decided to enforce registration by commenters due to a handful of persistent trolls. Initially I was neutral to the idea. It’s their blog, they can do what they like and I already have a profile to use – it is a Wordpress blog and I have left comments on other WP blogs that required registration.
This morning I thought again. I decided that I don’t like requiring registration to comment. I had been in the midst of vandalising Franklin’s aphorism on Liberty and Security, substituting those with Anonymity and Civility, in response to a supportive comment on the annoucement post when it struck me that I didn’t actually what I was about to post was all that banal. I don’t like enforcing a forgoing anonymity in a futile effort to guarantee a level of civility. I decide to supply information, but I shouldn’t have to if I decide I want to remain dark. The authors of the blog are well aware they are engaging in a futile act; they could not be blind to the complete failure of required registration to maintain any civility on a peer of their own blog.
Whether I cared enough was in question briefly. I could have just gone along. Then D mentioned that she was having a caramelatte,which reminded me that last night I had spotted an empty cup from Gloria Jeans in the kitchen bin. I don’t really mind terribly much if she goes there. I’d prefer she didn’t but it’s her choice. I won’t though. At the risk of banality, if I can’t be bothered keeping to principles as simple as not handing over money to death cults and shunning anonymity-unfriendly websites, particularly when the stakes are so very low, what is the point of having the principles in the first place. I already feel enough like an empty vessel as is.
The bargain I made with myself when I started writing this post rather than commenting on the (now) registration-required blog was that if I could actually complete a post it would mean that it was important enough an issue to me. So many times I start writing a post here and decide halfway through that I have nothing to say, can’t speak cogently enough on the idea, or don’t feel strongly enough to actually put together thoughts on the idea. If I completed this post it meant I did feel strongly enough and should do something about it. So I will. Nothing as childish as actually going through with posting a comment on that other blog. I decided I just won’t comment or post at blogs that require registration. I’ll just lurk. I can’t actually delete the WP profile, but I can do the next best thing; I can change the email address to something bogus – gilmae@seeking.privacy.org will do nicely – and flail wildly at the keyboard in GEdit to generate an unguessable password and paste that into both Change Password dialogs.
And then, immediately after, I am going to have ‘principal/principle’ tattooed on my arm next to ‘they’re/there/their’ and ‘bought/brought’.
I should of course point out that any such Dear John comment from me on any blog in all of the internets would, at best, engender a muted ‘Who?’