I disabled comments in May 2013. Several related factors figured into this decision. One had to do with the time-consuming nature of responding to comments. That one was exacerbated by the fact that I wanted to return to a more concentrated approach to my critical work. I also simply became tired of dealing with reactionary and obscurantist x-buddhists. Finally, the accumulation of comments by obviously intelligent readers who were nonetheless not very careful thinkers made me doubt the value of mixed-audience blogging.

For the record, and maybe for the future:

Some tips for thoughtful comments.

1. Think. Sure, hiss, spit. Whatever you got. But sprinkle in some Think.

2. When replying to a comment, please always mention to whom and to which comment you are replying; for example:

Hi Son of perdition (#666).

You might also make that bold, like I just did (see below).

3. Although there is a veritable shitload of material to read here, why not troll around just a bit before you comment? You know, get a sense of what up?

4. Then again, there won’t be a quiz.

So, you can also just fling what you have against the wall, Jackson Pollock-like, and see what happens.

Here is some basic HTML to enhance your expression.

To create a block quote, put

<blockquote>

before the text, and

</blockquote>

after the text. (Here and throughout, where applicable, don’t forget the / at the end.)

<blockquote>Gabba Gabba Hey!</blockquote>

looks like:

Gabba Gabba Hey!

That’s useful for longer passages:

Does this crude formulation have a family resemblance to a non-buddhist practice? I want to kick the ladder, but it seems like I don’t want to give up my buddhemes; I need something to negate, right? Does the Feast table include all texts? Is the Stranger Subject bringing a dish to the table, or just an appetite?

To add a link: put

<a href=”

before the link, and

“>

after the link. Then, add the text you want linked, and after it put </a>

For example, if you want to have the reader click the text that reads:

kick out the jams, motherfucker

write:

<a href=”www.sputnikmusic.com/review/3871/MC5-Kick-Out-The-Jams”>kick out the jams, motherfucker</a>

To italicize: add

<em>

before the word or text, and

</em>

after the text. (Don’t miss that /.)

<em>blah, blah, blah</em>

looks like:

blah, blah, blah

To make a word bold: add

<strong>

before the word or text, and

</strong>

after the text.

<strong>Yo, James (comment #57)</strong>

looks like:

Yo, James (comment #57).

Any other suggestions? Corrections? Improvements? Please leave a comment, if so.