October 24, 2005
Commenters.
Have you noticed what a wonderful group of commenters hangs out at this blog? Well, anyone that answers is going to be a commenter, so that might not work as a question. How about have you noticed what distinctive personas some of the commenters have? It's easier to make yourself into a distinctive character as a blogger than as a commenter, isn't it? (Maybe not!) I'm impressed by the cast of characters we've got here. Comments?
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38 comments:
I'm awesome, but this is only my first comment on the site.
Why yes...we are wonderful, aren't we? As James Brown would say, "Jump back, kiss myself!"
Well, if so, we merely reflect the blogger whose writtings intrigue and amuse us nearly every day! And this remark from someone whose interest in law only slightly exceeds my interest in clog dancing! Now that's mighty fine bloggage!
Your posts alone, Ann, raise the bar for us groundlings...
Today it's all about the love at the House of Alt!
Not enough references to genitals.
J.bro: Nice debut!
I agree - your commenters are hard to keep up with. How about a nickname contest for us? Lurkers has been used in the comment above.
In the spirit of the season, I will suggest the nickkname have a tagline like "It's fun to haunt the Althouse!"
Verily for thee would'st I bake'th a sweetened pie
Alas! T'would evoke the only sigh
of Love my paltry verse and purse e'r could'st buy
O! Naught but with sugar for thy affections can'st I vie
LDM
What a terrific opportunity for self congratulation and self promotion, but I will resist.
I refuse to remind everyone how terrific, insightful, and thought-provoking my previous comments have been (or alternately, infuriating, facile, and ill-conceived).
Further, I refuse to encourage other commenters, lurkers, and observers to follow the link to my profile and then follow the link within the profile to my own modest blog (immodestly titled, immodest proposals) which according to sitemeter has yet to receive a single visitor.
(if a blog falls in the blogosphere with noone linking, does it make a sound?)
I am so proud of myself for avoiding such crass self love (now time to log in to the aforementioned blog and make it look as if I've been posting to it actively, cause really I mean to, but it's hard to get excited about it when you feel as if you are only talking to yourself)
also, I find it interesting thus far, that this thread brought out more infrequent or first time commenters rather than regulars.
Larry: I just Googled "Amidol," thinking, what is it, some drug? When did I write about that? But if it were a drug, it would be the opposite of "Midol," which doesn't seem desirable.
I think he means "American Idol."
Yeah, Google told me that.
AJ Lynch: I've suggested the term "Alt-homers" for those who practically live at the House of Alt. I just don't like "lurkers"--sounds too nefarious.
How about shortening it to "Homers"? You could go the Simpson route or classical Greek, depending on your preferences.
I also agree that the quality of the original blog is what brings out the best in the comments. Reminds me of the old Shake 'n Bake ad: "And we helped!!"
I only come here for the pantherine aviatrixes.
I sort of like "Denizen" as a name though I'm not sure why. I hear Homer saying "Mmmmmmmmmm! Deer meat!"
Your name tempts to puns on alternative or house/home, etc....
We could just rip off Monty Python and call ourselves "Bruce". Or classical like Xenophon's "The Ten Thousand" or we could go biblical and call ourselves "Legion" though the connotation is not pleasant to say the least.
Ann: We generally are a respectful group, but when you leave us alone for awhile, we will misbehave, go off topic, and even question each other's sensibilities. But overall its nice to have a calm and reasonable conversation even when we don't agree, that alone makes it a good place to spend time, no matter the topic.
About 20 minutes ago (before I read this post) I included this URL in my comments at another blog as an example of a blog with a comment section that discusses politics in an interesting, engaging and (usually) courteous way.
Ann: Maybe have a one day logo change on the 31st for Ann "Haunted" House day...(pumpkins with SCOTUS faces? or Amarosa? or RLC? the possibilities...)...maybe only blog about things that go bump in the night, like squirrels...
Oh yeah you’re all brilliant. When you pigs are done humping Chimpster’s greasy leg, you might – hold on. Sorry. That was my tiny internal leftist snapping his tether.
(But have you noticed the weird sexual insults that pepper that kind of left-retort in other places? Or do only I inspire that?)
This blog does something odd to me. I can't make a serious comment on any other blog but on this one it's as if butter wouldn't melt in my mouth.
Ron: Hard for me to see the difference between a small and a large "i" in the middle of a word.
You have referred to turning off the comments in the past and it always surprised me--must have been quite a different group then?
Ann,
You must give 'good party' in real life. Your blog is just the right mix of fun, seriousness and pithy arguments.
paul--yes horrific sexual insults and astonishingly poor grammar and writing!
Knoxgirl: Yes. When I filled out the Normblog survey a while back, I put comments as the worst experience I'd had in blogging. It seems that making people register has changed the dynamic a lot. Back in the spring of 2004, the comments were just a lot of insults against me, mainly people denouncing me for not opposing the war -- on every post!
Somross: Yes, I had the lead. I should scan in some photos from the yearbook.
Oh dear. You're still here. We thought you had gone. I'm afraid we need to ask you to leave...
When I've been asked (and believe it or not, I have a number of times) to give an example of a civilized blog, yours is the first I mention, because of the tone of your posts and also your commenters.
As to the distinctive character question, I imagine it depends. In real life, I have an odd and very fast speech pattern, so I have a feeling I might be more distinctive there. Then again, perhaps I'm not the best judge.
It really IS a privilege to be here, Ann AND folks.
Thanks for the great blog, Ann. You're always a good read and, as Patca wrote, your mix of topics is just about right.
You keep blogging and we'll keep yapping about it all.
alt.house
Tbere's a very good young blogger, Chris Hallquist, The Uncredible Hallq, who's actually a freshman at UWis Madison. He wrote a post recently worrying about the lack of dialogue between people of different views in the blogosphere.
I wrote back to him, the action's in the comments! Bloggers only provide the occasion, or the provocation, or the topic. Well, not "only." To kick off a good conversation, they have to do it with style and with a canny or instinctive sense of what subjects touch people's nerves -- probably because those same subjects touch their own. Ann's mix of constitutional law, fashion, rock'n'roll, politics and sexual politics, art, TV, and oddball digression, and her provocative and unsentimental angle on it all, is very inviting.
Aren't we all Alt-Houseguests?
Why yes! You have the most fantastic commenters!! With your pleasant slew of extreme right wing..ites (sloanasaurus, dirty harry, sippician cottage, beldar!!), and those extreme left wing-ites that oppose them (brando, quxxo) so obnoxiously. Then there's the really obnoxious Lonely Donut Man and his horrible poems. Lo! Verily I doth hate him or something. And Eddie! And Troy! And VICTORIA!! God your commenters are so lovely.
I bet you missed me! :>
Cheers, eps, dun.
pLoOpUsGiRl
DRJ: you nailed the title for us.
Amba: Doing a slight twist on your idea, I mentioned "alt-house" as a possible musical genre a few months ago (a cross between alternative and house).
Ann: This is a great comment section on a great blog, although Althouse comment thread-reading isn't a habit I can indulge every day (lest an hour or more go by in what seemed to be a minute's time). Perhaps it could be called the Godiva chocolate of blog comments.
I so enjoy the dynamics of this blog's comments. I like not being in an echo chamber of a blog where everyone has the same point of view. It's taken a while for good left/progressive/liberal commenters to provide counterweight to the largely right/retrograde/conservative commenters that flocked here early, probably when Anne endorsed Bush last year. I've been a little lonely now and then, but the range of views among those conservative commenters kept it interesting, and most folks I've tangled with over the past few months have been congenial, and if not that, many have at least had a good sense of humor, which goes a long way with me.
I read a lot of blogs, but this is the only one where I bother joining the comments. Thanks for this uniquely vital place, Anne.
Glad to see that you're alive, Elizabeth. I've missed seeing your comments. Still in New Orleans?
Peter,
Thanks for your concern; I've missed having the time and broadband to be here! I have been in and out of New Orleans to clean up our home. That needs a new roof, and some other work, and my workplace is closed by the EPA for now. We'll be back in December, when the online class I'm teaching wraps up and New Orleans living won't be quite as much like roughing it.
Meanwhile, I'm in a cabin in the Berkshires, wondering why hurricanes have followed me to Texas (Rita) and now here (Wilma has combined with Alpha and whipping up a noreaster heading my way.)
Elizabeth,
We are not retrograde -- merely progressing along a different path.
Welcome back glad to hear you're all right.
Troy,
Right! I get that confused sometimes. Thanks.
Elizabeth,
I, too, was wondering where you were... glad you're safe & sound.
knoxgirl, thanks. I'm safe, sound, and warmly welcomed back here. What could be better? Now here's hoping Victoria comes through well in Florida.
knoxgirl, thanks. I'm safe, sound, and warmly welcomed back here. What could be better? Now here's hoping Victoria comes through well in Florida.
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