[blogger behaviour] sometimes needs comments

There are reasons not to post this and then there are more reasons to actually post it.

In the context of our own financial worries, the girl who was murdered in Iran, the Iraq enquiry, the state of education, the burqa issue and so on and so on, this is a relatively minor gripe but it is still a gripe.

My position on the political compass is such that I don't like using left/right as designations and would prefer to say socialist, totalitarian, laissez-faire, libertarian or whatever. If forced to use left/right designations, I'd like to feel that I get a cross-section of opinion at this blog, probably more slanted to the centre-right [not my choice of terms] because there are more of those bloggers about.

Whether this is correct or not, I've noticed something happening which, at first, I put down to my own error - pushing the wrong button, not pushing hard enough, whatever. Either way, comments I've posted are sometimes not there when I return to that blogger's post's comments section.

Frankly, one's first reaction is to be miffed by this, particularly as it's not something I do to that person. If I delete someone's comment, then I explain why and my readers know that. Some bloggers go further than I do - they actually write, via email: 'Listen, James, I had to delete your comment because ...'

Fair enough. I don't agree he should have deleted it but it's his choice - it's his blog.

Now I'm the first to admit I'm quite disliked on certain blogs, particularly those I've savaged in the past and there are those who feel my views are too left field [without actually exploring it to the end with an open mind]. Again, fair enough. I know there's something in my manner which leaves many cool towards me, even if we fundamentally agree among ourselves, politically. All those are known knowns.

But leaving comments is when a reader has taken the trouble to come to that person's site, has looked at what he's offered and has decided to respond. On my blog here, people who come to visit are called 'Esteemed Readers' [see Mybloglog in the left sidebar] and the last thing I'm going to do is delete their comments, with two exceptions - ad hominem against another commenter and my personal ex-stalker.

I don't give a damn if you're Gordo's right hand man [or woman] or whether you're Daniel Hannan - all are welcome. I take pride over the appearance of my blog and like people to speak intelligently on an issue but sometimes they don't - they just leave a quick comment, often flippant and in passing on what was a serious topic. I don't have to like that but I'm sure not going to delete it. More often than not, it's a post which invites banter anyway.

It seems to me that some bloggers invite comments but when the comments don't accord exactly with their views, they are not allowed to stand.

Now the controversial part - of the five comments of mine which have been deleted in the past few days, all were at what you would call 'left-wing' blogs. Does that say anything?

What tends to happen with right-wingers who don't like my presence?

Well, take Dizzy for example, Julia M or Croydonian. They seem to put up with my comments, ignore them and hope I just go away and that's fair enough too. If I put a comment at Lord T's he doesn't like, he attacks, as he should do, as I would hope anyone would do.

Surely we politically blog for debate, for feedback, don't we? Surely we don't blog for our own narcissistic ego-pampering?

That's why just deleting someone's comments without any explanation stinks and says much about the blogger who does it. Having said that, I'll still visit and still try to leave comments.
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