Sorry to everyone who's tried unsuccessfully in the last month to leave a comment here at the site; it was just pointed out to me the other day that the commenting was still turned off, because of a prolonged spam attack I went through earlier this year. And speaking of which, I've made a pretty big decision this week regarding this subject -- I've decided to permanently shut down the website's own commenting system altogether, in favor of people instead discussing the essays and articles being published here over at CCLaP's official Facebook group.

In fact, long-time readers know that I've had ongoing issues for years now concerning this topic: how I sincerely do want to create a system where CCLaP's readers can easily discuss and debate the reviews that are posted here, but how I really detest the way that most blogs' commenting systems currently work, the way that they reward anonymous trolls and flame wars while driving away those with measured, intelligent responses; and how a couple of years ago I tried to remedy this situation by setting up an external commenting system that worked much like a group Twitter account, but how it was a failure because it was rightly perceived by many as "one more damn thing in my life to have to sign up for." I'm hoping to alleviate some of this problem by trying it this time at Facebook, since after all 500 million people are already members, easily the largest number in the entire history of external blog commenting systems; and since Facebook requires people to use their real names, plus gives me powerful but simple moderation controls, plus allows people to "like" individual comments that others leave, I'm hoping that this will all add up to a healthy, robust system for discussion and debate, one that will reward thoughtful insights and minimize anonymous flame wars. (And admittedly, I also love that the center's Facebook page displays only maybe the last two or three weeks' worth of entries from the site, essentially turning all discussions into temporary ones; this is something else I've always felt strongly about regarding commenting systems, that they are of best use for letting a blog's most hardcore fans debate those entries in the heat of that moment, not serve as permanent paper trails for endlessly digressive insider conversations that 99 percent of that entry's future readers could care less about. If someone says something particularly perceptive, I always have the option of adding it as an update to the main entry itself, which I think is a much better choice than a permanent ten pages of "me too"s and "f-ck you"s.)

This then provides a side benefit as well, which is that members of the group are able to post their own news there too, regarding upcoming shows and books and events, which I'm hoping will entice even more of you to join it in the first place. (Of course, don't forget that the group will still be moderated, and that those who ridiculously overpost material will receive a stern talking-to, and of course hateful commenters banned.) Anyway, I hope you'll get a chance to sign up soon and start what will hopefully be a series of interesting, fascinating conversations over there, regarding all the latest going on over here.