Monday, July 28, 2008

Advertisements in My Comments

Blog comments are an odd mixture of public and private space. It's sort of like inviting strangers to visit your house and paint murals on the walls.

A month ago someone put a comment in my post about my neti pot that seems to me a lot like an advertisement rather than a genuine personal anecdote. Expensive salt packets? Don't people use a container of salt and a quarter-teaspoon measuring spoon?

I certainly do not mind if someone has a relevant comment about something I write about that happens to promote a product. I don't even mind if a company's employee has a genuine personal anecdote about the niftiness of their company's product. But let's keep things both relevant and personal in these murals. Thanks.

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