One of the great things about having a blog that has a microscopic audience and that I’m self-publishing (instead of using Facebook or Tumblr or something) is I can look at every single comment someone tries to make and personally approve it before it gets posted. If it’s positive, benign, or even thoughtful but negative, I’ll let it through. But if you just post cranky garbage (like a comment someone tried to post here today), it’ll go straight to the spam folder and no one will ever see it. No visibility, no response, just a quick trip to nowhere, with the email address marked as spam so I never have to manually filter it again.
And that’s how the web used to be: lots of sites full of moderated communities that were bound to no rules other than their own. If that sounds nice to you, start a web site! You won’t get that endorphin hit from a bunch of para-social friends clicking a little heart next to your comment, but if you’re lucky you’ll find people who appreciate what you do. And you can filter out jerks!
Also: I still post elsewhere. I use Tumblr. I’m on Bluesky, and I’m on a Mastodon instance. I’m not saying you should quit posting in larger social media spaces. But it’s mighty refreshing to have a space online that I actually have some control of.
And if you’re leaving a comment or a post somewhere, try to avoid being a jerk.
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