Don't Back Down

People are funny. Recently, my blog had been receiving some unwanted attention. Normally I'd just delete the offending comments and move on, but these visitors were certainly persistent. Unfortunately, they made the mistake of leaving their IP address in the logs and in their comments. For those of you who don't know, Movable Type logs the IP address of commenters. Generally I don't even look at them. But when I get a number of comments that are written very much alike, but change only names and such, I tend to take a peek.

The second mistake made was that the comments in question weren't just disagreeing or derogatory - they contained language that's certainly not appropriate for the entry that they were left on (The Angler Fish). While much of the content of the site could handle a little risque language, that one most certainly cannot, as it attracts a number of family viewers. That just made me mad.

So I added the IP address to the MT block list. I used a reverse DNS service to look up the owners of the address. I checked out the web site, and found it it belongs to a Catholic school district. I called the school district and left information for the technical director-type person. I culled access information out of my access log, and I made sure to save the messages announcing the comments. Unfortunately, I never heard back. I guess they don't care what happens through their network.

It's simple, really. I put a lot of time into this site. Most of it is for myself, and it doesn't matter much what others think of it. But because I spend time, and because I also spend money to pursue this endeavor, it means I don't want people to come along and post whatever they like on the site. You have an opinion, and want to express that opinion rationally? You're welcome, even if the opinion doesn't agree with mine. But if all you want to do is spread garbage, I'll do everything in my power to stop you. Unless you'd like to pay the bills around here.