It's the new comments snippets post.

Thanks to all who have emailed in comments. This post is here to point you to posts in the last few days that have comments. The quotes are snippets chosen for amusement value and to give me something to put a link on:

1. "I'm weirdly interested in the fact that you're planting wheat and barley."

2. "It's funny that the article didn't mention Neal Stephenson's 1992 novel, Snowcrash...."

3. "I'm getting a lot of email saying that's not a bobcat, but a regular house cat, but I can't believe this man would put up the video if it were because he grabs the beast and hurls it hard into the ground."

4. "More than once I was called into chambers in the principal's office and point blank asked if I was a 'racist.' Me!"

5. "These boxes are not Habitats for Humans but a kind of litter."

6. "I presume your assertion near the end of your post was meant to be facetious; it would be profoundly racist to presume...."

7. "Looks like the Times needed another article on the shooting, so they published one before they had figured out a clear story."

8. "Perhaps 'eye raising' now means something so attention-grabbing that it causes someone to look up from their phone."

9. "A well-fitting corset is far superior in support to a bra...."

10. "The powers that be just did not bother to let the rest of us know this until after the 'they killed a cop' narrative was firmly rooted in the public mind."

11. "Somehow she has moved from 'afraid to die' to 'afraid to live.'"

12. "It really doesn't make business sense to keep a program open when students don't want to enroll."

Let me give you some snippets of comments added to posts from the last 2 days.

These are taken out of context, possibly to amuse you as is, but really to give me something to put a link on, so you can click back and read. 

1. "He strikes me as a recognisable type: the 19th century equivalent of a trust fund socialist." 

2. "For every 100 people who fly, 100 could die in an airplane crash." 

3. "That's like promising to put a mouse turd into a double batch of oatmeal cookies." 

4. "Of course for the media more riots would be beneficial, more clicks, more exciting footage of burning and looting." 

5. "In our country's current woke status, viewers at home who publicly tolerate homosexuality may be turned off by it in privacy." 

6. "Having lived my entire 62 years in New York, I have been waiting patiently for my turn to be insulted over my ethnicity, and now I finally have gotten my chance. Thank you!" 

7. "If you tell people they can't smoke and, on top of that, decrease the acceptable level of alcohol to a point that if they have more than a beer or two they risk a DUI, they stay home." 

8. "I think having comments resulted in your being more interested in starting a conversation and less likely to give an opinion, and it's that opinion I prefer to read." 

9. "I remember one piece that had Maria Callas appearing on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand with the in-studio teen audience obliviously boogying to Callas’s aria." 

10. "My mother did pro bono work for the ACLU getting restrictive covenants removed in Tompkins County.... I don’t recall Hindus or Chinese ever coming up." 

11. "A fancy restaurant has a level of expected hospitality that is far above that of a cheap diner or a hotdog stand." 

12. "As with abortion, both sides can raise prodigious amounts of money off the threat of Court-packing." 

13. "But if Scranton Joe can point back to his relatively impoverished roots, Vance can make an even better claim." 

14. "Modern man is profoundly out of synch with created order, having seized control of his fertility, sexuality, gender, and genetic material."

"Ann: Used to be a frequent reader. But, it has become a waste of time trying to understand what you are attempting to cryptically express in your blog posts these days."

"I wish to stay informed, not play clever head games. If you have something to say, just say it. I'm too busy to play your silly exercises. Otherwise, find a more productive use of your and my time. As judge and jury and former reader, I find you in Contempt. Case dismissed. Goodbye!"

Someone wrote that and emailed it to me. It's not a name I recognize, just an email address that's a stray collection of numbers and letters.  

I laughed out loud at "I wish to stay informed, not play clever head games." People read this blog to "stay informed"? That seems ill-informed. And as for that "judge and jury" and "Contempt/Case dismissed" business — that can't be a lawyer. Must just be someone cranked up about my being a (former) law professor and thinking I'm vulnerable to criticisms containing legalistic lingo. 

But you need a specific charge if you want to find me guilty, and what is it? Failure to keep you informed?  Not having something to say and just saying it? The crime of playing clever head games? The infliction of silly exercises? Cryptic expression?

Oh, there I go, asking questions when I don't allow comments. Oddly enough, the complaint you see above never mentions the abolition of comments. Is it possible the person thinks the blog "has become a waste of time" because there are no comments anymore — that the comments used to help him understand what I was cryptically expressing? Ha ha — I can't understand what the emailer is cryptically expressing. And now here I am imposing it on you!

FROM THE EMAIL: Mary writes: 

Um, that sounds like Trump! lol, too funny. With the exception of all caps, that could be a Trump twitter rant. And he’s a man that’s been more than knee deep in court cases his whole life so it kinda fits him. “waste of time”, that’s straight up Trump! What do you think?

Yeah, complete with the stray capitalization.

btw, your blog is 1000% better now, so much more interesting with curated comments.

Thanks!

And AZ Bob writes: 

I've always liked your blogging style. It reminds me of being in law school many years ago. You frame the topic in a way that provokes a wide-open discussion. The comments provide much entertainment, if not insight. This may not be what the commenter was trying to say but I do miss reading the comments. The comments had a way of making the post complete.

A while back, you asked us to be more judicious in our posts. I wish that had happened. It noticed prior to your change in format that one particular open thread became a slug fest. As moderator, you have your hands full so I see why you reigned in the comments. I hope you find a way to return to having comments.

Asking for something would not work, because there were some bad faith commenters — commenters who were out to destroy the blog. They might even be inspired to do more of the very thing I said not to do. 

AND: Bob writes:

Neither you nor any of your audience will miss this Low-Information Reader.

Tommy writes: 

I actually prefer no comments, mostly because I'm more interested in your opinion than I am anything going on there. I think having comments resulted in your being more interested in starting a conversation and less likely to give an opinion, and it's that opinion I prefer to read.

I think you actually like and prefer the conversation bit when it's civil, and history shows I'll read your blog no matter what you do, but I wanted to let you know there is at least one person that would prefer the no conversation just tell us what you think version.

Comments (and the current version of sort of comments) have been around for awhile now, and I still miss the other style, anyone that wants to comment can start their own blog.

Long time reader from back when George W. Bush was in the White House

Thanks, Tommy!

Stephen writes: 

My wife and I both miss the comments. We enjoyed reading them to each other. Quite a few of the commenters had clever and pertinent things to say. Yes, sometimes I learn things about current events from your blog; there have been multiple incidences of you writing about a death of some prominent person before I see their obituary anywhere else. Your legal commentary is also quite good. Of course, your posts can’t all be gold nuggets and diamonds; there have been many posts where your stream of consciousness writing made me think that you were talking to yourself and we were all eavesdropping. Those posts always seem to leave me cold and cause me to move on to something else.

Thanks. That's a clear indication to me that I'm not the writer for you. I'm not here to feed news updates. If you dislike the posts that are in my personal voice, then you're not the reader for me.

We still read your blog...

Oh... all right....

... but losing the comments have made it less enjoyable for my wife and I. Oh, well. I’m indifferent regarding posting any part of this on your blog. Further, I’m not going to sit down and compose an email to you whenever I feel I have something worthy to say. There was an immediacy to commenting which made it fun, and it was easy to say something. Emails not so much....

This is good.  People are more selective in what they will email compared to what they'll just drop in the comments. People — some people — would throw in comments without thinking about whether they "have something worthy to say." Nobody emails to say "Why are you still reading the New York Times?" or to ask, off topic, "Who shot Ashli Babbitt?"

ALSO: Amadeus 48 writes: 

Mixed feelings, here. I miss the comments, but if I am honest, I confess that things had fallen into a slough. In my own case, for the most part my comments gave me a chance to snark. There are other blogs for that, aren’t there?

So now I have a chance (not really given a choice) to write something at least somewhat thoughtful THAT ALTHOUSE WILL READ! Be still, my heart.

Isn’t asking an intelligent question the best way to make a point? Haven’t generations of philosophers and law professors thought so? It seemed to me that questions like for whom did Althouse vote and why were pointless. The point was to make the reader ask himself or herself for whom were they voting and why.

So, on to a brighter and more thoughtful tomorrow.

Thanks for years of fun and provocation.

Snippets of comments — received via email — that can be found on recent posts.

Let me nudge you to some posts that have comments emailed in by readers. These lines — ripped out of context — are here to hold a link so you can see where to go. And I want you to know that I've been receiving some great contributions from readers. I like to think the new approach — sorry, I had to do it — is working really well. Thanks to all who've emailed in comments.

1. "If gender is purely subjective, how can being what us oldies would call 'feminine' be incongruent with a male gender identity?" 

2. "Too many of us, and I clearly include me in this, strongly suspect a massive foul play — a coup — took place on November 3."

3. "The ADL is a D operation and a long standing embarrassment to Jews.... a D organization wearing the clothes of a former Jewish group."

4. "I was shocked that NBC identified some as 'Antifa,' since they're only an idea." 

5. "To distort their expressions into happy school kid smiles dishonors the dead and the horror they faced. It’s bad art too." 

6. "Watch the guy trying to cuff Daunte." 

7. "They were dressed in pistachio-coloured shirts and khaki shorts into which their huge bottoms were crammed so tightly that you could study every dimple." 

8. "I'm impressed by the shoes." 

9. "I cannot imagine surviving childhood without daydreaming." 

10. "My husband told a pollster in 2020 he was going to vote for Joe Biden, and then laughed about it for 3 days." 

11. "As a former soldier and S2 (intelligence staff officer) I am disturbed about the use of the words 'soldiers mindset.'" (There are 9 comments at that link.)

Snippets of comments — received via email — that can be found on recent posts.

There is no comments section anymore, but you can email me here. That (or something like that) has appeared at the end of most posts for the past week. If you're just reading the posts and not looking back to see the things that have come in via email, you're missing some good stuff, so I'll just highlight some lines from the email and give you links in case you want to click back and read:

1. "Every male on the floor below turned to her, looking like they were hoping she was calling to them."

 2. "Things that were on the fringes start to overtake the daily pattern of life. And soon they are no longer a talking point, or cute, or 'quirky.'"

3. "20 year old students were for the most part immature children in 2015 and fledgling adults in 1980."

4. "A scientist does selective breeding to make a smarter sheepdog and is able to breed one (Sirius) with Human-level intelligence."

5. "It’s a guy thing. When a woman asks a question we think we have to come up with an answer."

6. "And she pointed out a key, monumental truth of our faith." 

7. "This video confirms that the decision was correct. I hate to think of my daughter being in that poor boy’s situation."

8. "That document says that there is no need to get parental consent because they are not teaching human sexuality, but instead teaching about discrimination. Let that sink in."

9. "[A]nother coworker who is one of the most outgoing people I’ve met and who can’t stay focused at the office, who constantly has her ears up for any stray conversation to join, seems to be thriving at home."

10. "The consiglieres of two warring dynasties unite and plot together after years of conflict to hold on to their waning power as they age and die."

11. "You are correct to not open comments on this one. It would be a bloodbath. No one likes a bloodbath in the morning."

"You might be getting tired of hearing about the Great Comments Decision of 2021 but here are my two cents after thinking about it for the past few days."

Writes a reader named Chris.

I’ve been following your blog for a long time having come over from Instapundit probably in the early 2000’s. I’m not a commenting kind of person but I do read a lot of them. I love it when people who are knowledgeable about the article or post weigh in and add value to the discussion. That is what a great comments section can do.

Lately I’ve been seeing both in your comment section and others something I came to recognize back in the 1990’s.

I used to watch the old PBS MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour show. They would do a 10 or 15 minute news summary and then dig deeper into three or four issues with experts or panel discussions. After many years of watching I got bored with the show and after thinking about it realized it was because they had the same cast of experts on the panels year after year. I now could predict almost perfectly what I was going to hear on any issue once I knew who was on the panel. I stopped watching after that happened.

Your comments section was in the same place. The same list of characters who repeated the same arguments. I found myself scrolling by many comments once I recognized the names because I knew what they were going to say. This dynamic, far more than any right/left political considerations, is what was greatly reducing the value of the comments for me.

The main value I was still seeing in the discussions was when people from across the country reported their experiences. I will miss that. It was a great way to understand a bit more about what was happening in other parts of America.

But it would be easy to make the case that the negatives in the comments vastly outweighed this particular positive. It is kind of sad that I see people who want to blame the closure of your comments on their political enemies on the “right” or the “left.” Not everything has to be political and not everything you dislike is caused by the other side.

I grew up in a time when people could disagree politically and still be friends and neighbors. We had better figure out how to do that again and remember we are all Americans or we are headed for some very dangerous places. I intend to keep reading your blog as long as you are interested in writing it. Not because I agree with everything you write, but because you offer something I don’t see in the media or other blogs. And rather than try to define what that is I’ll just call it cruel neutrality.

Thanks, Chris. 

If you have comments on this (or another post), you can email me here. I love the way the email approach is working, and I hope you like the many updates on today's posts: here, here, here, here, and here.

Chris says he loves the comments "when people who are knowledgeable about the article or post weigh in and add value to the discussion." That might be exactly the kind of thing that readers will submit by email. I have high hopes that this email approach will make everything better. I'm feeling very positive about the response in the email. I stop and read email when it's good for me, and the quality of what I'm receiving is very high.

"Greetings, Ms. Althouse. I've just shown up to your blog to discover you've stopped comments. And while my opinion is, like most, certainly meaningless..."

"... I thought I'd drop you a note just in case. I haven't even scrolled down further to see how long ago you made this change or why. To be honest, I was coming here less and less. And I do believe that is because of the comments. I am one of your left-leaning readers. And to be honest, I would try to slog through the comments because I think it is good for us to hear the opinions of the other side. This seemed a somewhat 'safer' way to do that rather than engaging my right-leaning parents or friends. I do not of course want to end up in an argument with them. This was like eavesdropping on someone else's family political argument. But sadly-- the number of higher quality, sober and informed comments/ opinions had seemed to plummet. And it had become a complete drag. I certainly could just choose to NOT read the comments. But I must say-- I was disturbed by the people you seemed to attract. Which I suppose is just to say that I'm disturbed by the level of our society all around. So-- all this to say, I will likely visit MORE often without the comments. You lean more to the right than I, and so I believe I will still get that 'other side' benefit. And while it would be nice if more of your followers were as interesting as you, we're just not! And while we all, including you, benefit from the interactions some times... I'm certain all this was a FAR bigger drag for you. So I agree with your lawlizard commenter-- please yo self! And thank you!"

Email from Andrea.

"Long-time reader, first time commenter. I love the café style blog you created and have spent way too many hours reading you and your commenters over the past eleven years."

Writes a reader who calls herself lawlizard. The email continues: 

I was sad to see that you ended comments, but having had some time to think about it, I would offer the following. I think the comment section had become less of a café to offer freewheeling conversation and thoughtful opinions and was more like a bar.

For the regulars, everybody knows their name, but they also had gotten boring. I could read your post and often it would spark interesting ideas and then read the comments and too often they were just rehashing the same opinion, but tied to the latest topic.

Oh look, there’s the guy who thinks all women are ninnies; there’s the guy who thinks everyone should move to Nevada from California; there’s the guy who hates Trump; there’s the guy who loves Trump; there’s the guy who think America is collapsing; there’s the communist who think they are all uni-party.

And there’s the incessant need to convince you that you, the hostess, the blogress, the free speech advocate needs to think just like them or you are not worthy, needs to find the same things interesting, needs to be on their team. And then every once in a while, some drunk shows up and has to be shown to the door and it’s your job, not theirs. They sit there and rile someone up for fun, because you have to clean up the mess.

Why couldn’t they just appreciate you for who you are instead of trying to turn you into another mindless drone? Why couldn’t they take twenty minutes to engage with the ideas and say something interesting instead of reflexively spitting out the same opinion they had yesterday?

Sometimes I had something interesting to say 2 or 3 days later and it was too late to say it. I did get a lot out of the comments, so I don't want to knock them too hard. It is very hard to be consistently interesting and surprising and deep.

Then the AI Big Tech people start hassling you to parse every single word and moderate them. Any appreciation for that, no, no no. They decided this is your job, not that you are the artist entertaining them daily for free with amazing content. And their excuses are weak-she should have hired an administrator, she should have changed her tech platform, she should allow co-bloggers — elevate the commenters to your status.

Did they ever ask you what you want, what you wanted to see? I will miss DBQ, Freeman Hunt, Mockturtle, I will miss the tangents. I missed Laslo and Betamax when they moved on. I missed Chip Ahoy. I was trying to think of a constructive solution and thought what if you tried a kind of “open-line Friday.”

Take a break from the drama. Open comments, one day a week. More importantly, I would say, do what you want. Maybe after your break you’ll miss it. If the comments did not spark your interest and your creativity and improve your thinking, then let them go.

I greatly appreciate you and your art. I respect your refusal to prostitute yourself to either the woke or the deplorable and to remain a true liberal in the original sense of the world. I’m humbled to even be writing to you and to think you will read and value my opinion. Thank you and I will keep reading. Feel free to share my comments. You can call me lawlizard.

ADDED: Another emailer: 

Ma'am: 

I miss the comments in general, though perhaps not all of them. 

I particularly do not miss the sometimes all too numerous comments in which people feel the need to explain at length why other commenters were idiots - even when I sometimes agree, as I do not see much point to picking fights in a venue like this. 

Still the comments were at times informative and even sometimes witty, so I miss that. 

Of course, it being your sandbox, you are entitled to handle it in whatever way you see fit. 

Thank you for your work on this. While I do not necessarily always agree with what I understand to be your take on things, you have the great virtue of not being boring, and your choice of topics and items to point out is frequently quite enjoyable. 

In any case, please know that I am, 

Respectfully Yours, 

William....