I welcome any and all comments that are relevant to the post you are commenting on. I do not impose the rel=”nofollow” command on our blog comment links, so in return for comments that add to the legitimate discussion on the blog, and meet the guidelines below, you will get a good link to any site you link to

What do I mean by comments that add legitimate discussion?  I will illustrate with a reply that I sent to Joseph, who read my previous comments policy and  made the following comment on a post.

If this comment doesn’t appear after reading all those instructions I’m sending a carrier pigeon next.  Joseph,

My reply (updated a bit):
Joseph, you read but did not follow the instructions, which were to say something meaningful about the post (not about the comments policy).

Although I am flattered when people sat ‘good post; or ‘nice blog’, it is very boring for others reading the comments to read.  Also I can’t tell if  the commenter has even  read the post.  It looks like they are just looking for an easy backlink to their site. Nor does it give me feedback about what people like or do not like – what they want more or less of; what they understood and what I need to explain better.

The thing about comments is that they are meant to be a conversation between the readers and the blogger. I am sure you agree that face-to-face conversations where one side just said ‘Good point’ or ‘I like your dress’ over and over again would not be very interesting. It’s not interesting on a blog either.  So that is why I have these instructions.

Comments are  also a conversation between commenters and other readers. If you want other readers to come to your site, entice them there with an insightful comment.  ‘Nice post’ won’t entice anyone.

I have had 1390 comments (of which about 20 were out-and-out spam) and have published about 170, many of which fall into the category of not interesting, but I feel I have to have some up there.

Now I’ve got that of my chest – I enjoyed the twist of humour at the end of your comment. It made me laugh as I imagined cyberspace carrier pigeons. (Note that this sentence is a legitimate comment: I specifically mentioned something he had written and gave my respoonse to it – I would publish that…in fact I did).

Other points:

1. I encourage you to link to your personal site , but please use no more than one personal link per comment.

2. All comments are MODERATED and any pure spam will never see the light of day. So don’t bother.

3. No matter how valid your points and subjects are I do not allow links to sex, porn, gambling or other such sites.

4  Please use a valid e-mail address as I sometimes reply directly to a comment via e-mail and many times find that the e-mail address is invalid.   Comments with invalid e-mail addresses will not be  approved.