Little more than a week into my blogging adventure, I've discovered the sometimes-dark side: That little "comments" link at the bottom of each entry that allows readers to post responses. Comments posted on my first few entries were genreally friendly, congenial and congratulatory. "Nice job." "Good luck." That kind of thing.
Then a guy calling himself "Honest Abe" showed up. His sole purpose in posting responses appears to be bashing the Freeman. He apparently doesn't like our newspaper. At all.
That's OK. He's entitled to his opinion. My father used to say it's everyone's right to complain about their hometown paper. It looks like Honest Abe agrees with Dad.
But make no mistake. I'm not going to use this blog, or the comment area, to engage in confrontations with people who post responses -- especially people who refuse to identify themselves. (Honest Abe's user profile doesn't provide his name; and his own blog, which is linked from his profile area, is equally anonymous.)
The purpose of my blog is to share observations, insights, experiences and a sense of what life is like in the world of newspapering. Comments, anonymous or otherwise, most certainly are welcome -- and I read them all -- but I'm not going to be drawn into debates, or arguments, with people who are trying to get a rise out of me.