Brain Droppings, Installment I

Here I am on day 5 of my blog, wondering "What now?"

I originally created this blog for two reasons. The first was that after being banned from Bryan's blog, for a laugh I decided to see how difficult it would be to get around the ban. (As it turned out, creating a new pseudonym and a fake e-mail address was sufficient.) Then I began engaging with the regulars again, but was concerned that eventually my comments would again be deleted. (Eventually has turned out to be a longer period than I anticipated.)

The second was that I had tweaked my medications, causing me to feel a bit manic for a couple of days. I've found that one of the safest ways to channel manic energy is to start a new, inexpensive project.

But now the dust has settled. I have one "follower" (Hi, Cathy!). The people who asked me to expand on my views either received enough information to satisfy their curiosity, received information that they couldn't process because their worldviews differ so sharply from mine, realized that they were no more likely to change my mind than I was theirs, or all all of the above. So those conversations have ended.

What now?

I've poked around Blogspot looking at random blogs, to see what others do. Based on a very small sample, with no actual quantitative analysis, most bloggers seem content to blog about their lives, or their children, or their hobbies. Quite a few of the blogs I reviewed have received fewer comments in years than I have in these few days.

If all I'm concerned about is how many comments I receive, I could trigger negative comments by going to pro-life blogs like Jill Stanek's, and giving opinions at odds with the local groupthink. At least one of the comments I have received appears to be a drive-by obtained in this manner.

I realize, however, that supportive comments are harder to come by. This is understandable, because I rarely comment on others' blogs unless I think of something to say that hasn't already been said.

I created this pseudonym 6 years ago, so I could speak my mind, without having to worry about prospective employers Googling the name on my resume and finding my views incompatible with their moral sensibilities. No one IRL knows about my pseudonym except my wife, my therapist and my ISP.

We'll see.

Technical Difficulties

I've received multiple reports (well, two) of people receiving errors when attempting to comment on my blog. I've seen similar errors myself. If one waits a minute or two, then tries again, the comment is usually accepted.

It's not (just) that I'm a cheapskate, using a free blog service. My wife won't allow me to spend money on frivolous things (like blogs or internet porn) until I am once again gainfully employed.

Welcome to my blog

I have created this blog because I often find myself discussing contentious issues such as abortion, and I am frustrated by situations in which my comments are deleted seemingly because I simply disagree with the blog owner.

I pledge to avoid deleting comments simply because I disagree with them. I may make exceptions for issues such as rape apology, because I want this to be a safe place for women.

Still, I reserve the right to ban commenters for trollish behavior such as making the same points repeatedly.

To borrow from Angie Jackson, "Have a great and godless day!"