Someone wrote that and emailed it to me. It's not a name I recognize, just an email address that's a stray collection of numbers and letters.
I laughed out loud at "I wish to stay informed, not play clever head games." People read this blog to "stay informed"? That seems ill-informed. And as for that "judge and jury" and "Contempt/Case dismissed" business — that can't be a lawyer. Must just be someone cranked up about my being a (former) law professor and thinking I'm vulnerable to criticisms containing legalistic lingo.
But you need a specific charge if you want to find me guilty, and what is it? Failure to keep you informed? Not having something to say and just saying it? The crime of playing clever head games? The infliction of silly exercises? Cryptic expression?
Oh, there I go, asking questions when I don't allow comments. Oddly enough, the complaint you see above never mentions the abolition of comments. Is it possible the person thinks the blog "has become a waste of time" because there are no comments anymore — that the comments used to help him understand what I was cryptically expressing? Ha ha — I can't understand what the emailer is cryptically expressing. And now here I am imposing it on you!
FROM THE EMAIL: Mary writes:
Um, that sounds like Trump! lol, too funny. With the exception of all caps, that could be a Trump twitter rant. And he’s a man that’s been more than knee deep in court cases his whole life so it kinda fits him. “waste of time”, that’s straight up Trump! What do you think?
Yeah, complete with the stray capitalization.
btw, your blog is 1000% better now, so much more interesting with curated comments.
Thanks!
And AZ Bob writes:
I've always liked your blogging style. It reminds me of being in law school many years ago. You frame the topic in a way that provokes a wide-open discussion. The comments provide much entertainment, if not insight. This may not be what the commenter was trying to say but I do miss reading the comments. The comments had a way of making the post complete.
A while back, you asked us to be more judicious in our posts. I wish that had happened. It noticed prior to your change in format that one particular open thread became a slug fest. As moderator, you have your hands full so I see why you reigned in the comments. I hope you find a way to return to having comments.
Asking for something would not work, because there were some bad faith commenters — commenters who were out to destroy the blog. They might even be inspired to do more of the very thing I said not to do.
Neither you nor any of your audience will miss this Low-Information Reader.
Tommy writes:
I actually prefer no comments, mostly because I'm more interested in your opinion than I am anything going on there. I think having comments resulted in your being more interested in starting a conversation and less likely to give an opinion, and it's that opinion I prefer to read.
I think you actually like and prefer the conversation bit when it's civil, and history shows I'll read your blog no matter what you do, but I wanted to let you know there is at least one person that would prefer the no conversation just tell us what you think version.
Comments (and the current version of sort of comments) have been around for awhile now, and I still miss the other style, anyone that wants to comment can start their own blog.
Long time reader from back when George W. Bush was in the White House
Thanks, Tommy!
Stephen writes:
My wife and I both miss the comments. We enjoyed reading them to each other. Quite a few of the commenters had clever and pertinent things to say. Yes, sometimes I learn things about current events from your blog; there have been multiple incidences of you writing about a death of some prominent person before I see their obituary anywhere else. Your legal commentary is also quite good. Of course, your posts can’t all be gold nuggets and diamonds; there have been many posts where your stream of consciousness writing made me think that you were talking to yourself and we were all eavesdropping. Those posts always seem to leave me cold and cause me to move on to something else.
Thanks. That's a clear indication to me that I'm not the writer for you. I'm not here to feed news updates. If you dislike the posts that are in my personal voice, then you're not the reader for me.
We still read your blog...
Oh... all right....
... but losing the comments have made it less enjoyable for my wife and I. Oh, well. I’m indifferent regarding posting any part of this on your blog. Further, I’m not going to sit down and compose an email to you whenever I feel I have something worthy to say. There was an immediacy to commenting which made it fun, and it was easy to say something. Emails not so much....
This is good. People are more selective in what they will email compared to what they'll just drop in the comments. People — some people — would throw in comments without thinking about whether they "have something worthy to say." Nobody emails to say "Why are you still reading the New York Times?" or to ask, off topic, "Who shot Ashli Babbitt?"
ALSO: Amadeus 48 writes:
Mixed feelings, here. I miss the comments, but if I am honest, I confess that things had fallen into a slough. In my own case, for the most part my comments gave me a chance to snark. There are other blogs for that, aren’t there?
So now I have a chance (not really given a choice) to write something at least somewhat thoughtful THAT ALTHOUSE WILL READ! Be still, my heart.
Isn’t asking an intelligent question the best way to make a point? Haven’t generations of philosophers and law professors thought so? It seemed to me that questions like for whom did Althouse vote and why were pointless. The point was to make the reader ask himself or herself for whom were they voting and why.
So, on to a brighter and more thoughtful tomorrow.
Thanks for years of fun and provocation.
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