Dentures and Ringtones

Though I don't get many comments from my readers, I do love to hear from you. If you like a post, hate a post, or want to add your thoughts, I welcome you to fill out that little box, below, and click Publish.

What I don't like are the comments that are occasionally left by bots—I assume that they're bots because they are structured alike, spelling mistakes and all. These comments usually thank me for the post, tell me that my blog is full of all kinds of useful information (this is the big giveaway—there's not very much useful information in The Brown Knowser), and that the writer of the comment has learned so much.

And then that comment ends with a link to another site.

Now, I really don't like links added to comments because I don't trust where the link is going to take me or anybody who reads the comment. Ninety-nine percent of comments that include links get deleted once I learn about the comment.

Photo: European Denture Centre

But what I don't get is that most of the links that are put into these comments are for dentures (or dentistry) or ringtones. I have written, at most, two or three blog posts that mention dentists or teeth. I have written only one blog post about ringtones. And yet, I have received dozens of comments with links to custom ringtones and dentures.

And what gets me is that these comments aren't written on these blog posts. These comments are sent to seemingly random posts, often posts that were published many years ago.

As I said, I receive notifications when someone has left a comment, but I've now started regulating posts, so that the comment isn't published until I approve of it. I don't like to do this because I want my readers to feel that they can share their thoughts without having to wait for me to say, "Yup, that's great," and hit the Approve button.

Whether I agree with your comment or not won't keep me from posting it to my blog unless your post promotes hate to other people (you can hate me all you want—but then, why are you even reading my blog??).

Adding links to a comment is tricky. If I can't clearly see where the link is going or there is no context to the link, or if the link is there to promote a business, I'll likely delete the comment. But there have been a few comments where the link is legit, and I've let them stand.

I don't need dentures. I have all the ringtones I need. Please don't try to advertise either.