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This is my first non-woodworking post on this blog. So if you’re a sane and rational person who is here to read about woodworking, skip this post.
I started this blog almost five years ago as a way to build interest in the fledgling Woodworking Magazine. At the time the publication was coming out only a couple times a year and available only on newsstands. This blog was a way to remind people between issues that we still existed.
Since that day in 2005, the audience for this blog has grown a bit. Woodworking Magazine is now on sound footing and is growing. And this blog is an excellent outlet for my typing urges , I used to be a reporter for a daily newspaper, and that training dies hard.
But lately, the comment section of this blog has been besieged by a troll with a cartoon name and a slasher-flick attitude. He pretends to be of foreign descent, but I don’t buy it, and I find it insulting to the foreign readers of this blog. He pretends to be earnest, but I don’t buy that either. I think he just dislikes me and the fact that I support modern toolmakers with my paycheck and with my words.
I’ve asked him to e-mail me privately so we can discuss it. He hasn’t. I’ve asked him to use his real name. He won’t. How about an e-mail address? Nope. How about just toning down the insults? No.
So I’ve been deleting his comments. And I want you to know that I don’t take this lightly. Since I’ve started this blog, I’ve only deleted the comments that were blatantly spam (Viagra!) or at the request of the commenter who had second thoughts.
Here’s the way I see it: Lucy and I like to have dinner parties. And our friends are all lively and outspoken. Most evenings end with a heated debate about something, and I am usually at the losing end of things. That’s fine. But I would probably feel different if one of the guests left a dump on my carpet. That probably would get them uninvited next time.
So here are the rules (I hate rules): Feel free to disagree with me and other commenters. Speak your mind. Pick apart my arguments. Analyze and think critically about what everyone writes about woodworking. And broadcast your thoughts with some tact with the intent to help others understand the way you see the world.
But don’t insult others. It wastes my time and those who rush to defend the insulted. And that’s a stupid waste of energy. I like woodworking. I like talking about woodworking. Thinking about it. But I don’t like arguing about stupid stuff that feels like I haven’t left the playground at Woods Elementary School in Arkansas.
And that’s why I’m not allowing comments on this post (comments are still open on all my other posts). I don’t want anyone wasting their time on silly stuff posted by a cartoon chef.
, Christopher Schwarz
P.S. The illustrations here were by my daughters, Maddy and Katy (not Disney). Nice work, no?
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