Pointless Comments

Posted on March 29, 2003 in Crosstalk The InterNet

Les Jenkins took to wondering if the number of people who post pointless comments is on the rise. He blames this, in rather insulting language, on mental illness, but goes on to describe the behavior:

These people show up, make two or three random comments in an entry that, if you’re lucky, might have some small shred of being close to whatever the hell that particular entry was talking about and then scamper off back into the darkness whence they came to spend hours playing with their own navels. Who the hell are these people and why isn’t the government launching a “War on Imbeciles” to deal with them?

I’ve always had roaches, but I have only seen one or two these. I don’t doubt there’s a problem and that it is bugging Les in particular. There has been a slight increase in trash comments since the start of the war. I judge them like I judge all comments that come through my comments beast. If the comment is derogatory/abusive, I delete them, ban the site, post the site of origin with a witty remark, and move on. Maybe it gives them a thrill and maybe it discourages them. If it otherwise conforms to the rules I have set for my comments, I leave it.

I will delete if someone gets obsessive about posting “empty” comments.

I don’t have a lot of sympathy for people who are spreading stink bait or posting abuse. I’ve seen many reactions to the war and I am not sure that the pointless comments like “Yah-dah-duh” or “Woohoo! Gimme a can of catfood” are the ones I personally want to spend my time addressing.

Except this: Perhaps driveby pointlessness is an outlet that some people need in these times. Think of our society these days: just about the only thing that gets attention from the White House these days is a request for souvenir photographs of the “First Family”. Our thoughts and opinions don’t seem to matter. “Let’s play some twister and eat gorp” resonates as much in the minds of the powerful these days as “Stop the war in Iraq” and “Bring our men home”.

I doubt that it is any organized protest (I suspect teenagers doing it out of boredom), but it does say something about the times.