The comments

As always, we have our conflict with the comments section, which has always been an ongoing frustration.

Many people enjoy the comments, many don't. Many don't like anonymous comments but many anonymous comments are quite interesting. Some people tell me that they won't read the Grapevine if there are comments, although I always wonder what possesses them to click that "comments" button and read if they don't like them.

I read a lot of online publications and I honestly don't read the comments. I don't know why, maybe I just don't have the time.
When I changed the format and stopped anonymous comments, there literally were no comments for months! People couldn't figure out how to comment with the codes and all and the stories just lay there. Interestingly enough, when I post the stories to Facebook, there are plenty of comments because it's easy to do.

For a couple of years, I completely stopped the comments totally, but I do feel that they add to the stories.

So anyway, I am going to be moderating the comments more closely and the ones that are rude and don't add to the stories won't make it through. I try not to censor things, but some comments really are turning people off and they really are rude.

I can block a person's ISP and they won't know it, to them it appears as if their comment is going through, so please forgive me if your ISP is blocked by mistake, but let's be civilized here. I really am trying to be nice in my writing and that should really set the tone for intelligent conversation without the rude people butting in, who by the way, can't spell and don't know grammar. What's that Abraham Lincoln saying? "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

If the comments don't add to the conversation, they will be trashed.