Monday, April 09, 2007

"A good manner is the best letter of recommendation among strangers. Civility, refinement and gentleness are passports to hearts and homes, while awkwardness, coarseness and gruffness are met with locked doors and closed hearts".
Our Deportment. 1881


Or in the case of the SMB....Comment Moderation.

I'm sad to say that for the first time ever, I have had to turn the comment moderation feature on. 99.9 percent of you know what sort of blog you are reading. You know from my blogroll that I frequent and befriend bloggers of various political persuasions, sexual orientations, religious affiliations and varied and sundry personality disorders. The recurrent themes of my particular little 19th century style salon are Appalachian life, spirituality, goats, farm animals, my writing and me, me, me and now some more about me. You know from my profile that I am a liberal progressive Democrat and should expect that my views will once in a while come to the fore. But I rarely post things that invite heated debate. If I do, then I most certainly expect it and posted it for that very reason. You, the reader, are expected to have the wherewithal to know the difference.

What this blog is not about are personal attacks on me, meanness, or a platform for you to express how I should be more like you. You are more than welcome to go back to your own blog and do exactly that. For, whatever else I may be, and I have many unconventional sides, I am first and foremost, the daughter of a very rigid social structure that values fairly antiquarian rules of conduct and deportment.

So, please, don't be surprised, if after slighting the hostess in her own home, to find that your dance card has been unceremoniously ripped from your wrist and you are not invited back to the cotillion.

I say this not to dissuade those who have mastered the fine art of injecting humor and satire into their comments...you most certainly know who you are. A good rule of thumb to follow if you are not one of these gifted people would be, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." In other words, use your good judgement to know when your comments are likely to come off as proselytizing, judgemental or offensive. If you seem to find your judgement often misleading you, go back to the second sentence in this paragraph.

So terribly sorry to have burst anyone's bubble who was thinking the SMB was a democracy.

Indeed, it is a little fascist banana republic rigidly but benevolently ruled by BossyToe, The Liberal Mind Control Goat.


Those wishing to escape BossyToe's dastardly liberal mind rays, and becoming her slavish follower, would be well advised to follow the example of Patti, The Conservative Anti-Mind Control Goat.

13 Comments:

  1. Anne Johnson said...
    All blogs are dictatorships, which is what makes them so much fun. I've been barred from commenting on quite a few. I'd hate to be barred from SMB. Maybe I'd better be nice about the food porn!

    PS - I'm trying to figure out how someone could make a nasty comment about a blog entry on hatching cute baby chicks.
    Pissed OFF Housewife said...
    Aw fuck.

    Someone blew it.
    Anonymous said...
    it's your blog!
    (and it's wonderful)

    Julie
    Jbeeky said...
    I can only imagine a goat ass kicking. I think I'll stay nice.
    Michelle said...
    It's so sad to have to turn on comment moderation... I go by the if I can't say something nice, don't say nothing a'tall. ;) And not much pisses me off more than having someone come to MY blog and post nastiness.

    I think the goats have it right- and next time someone posts a rude comment I think the goats have the right to chew on said person's hair.
    Anonymous said...
    I'm sorry.

    I drug mud in on my shoes. More like nanny berries.

    I'm so SO sorry.

    I didn't link you directly, but when you commented, I think it drew the lurking assholes out of my woodwork over here.

    I am turning your link off of your comments. Maybe that will help.

    I am so so sorry, Rosie.

    I should know better than to shit in my own hen house.
    Rosie said...
    Just to be clear, folks...

    The moderation has nothing to do with Jane and her blog. None of her righties or fundies have been in the least bit disrespectful. Perfect ladies and gentlemen, the lot of them.

    One of the readers had just misunderstood what the SMB is about. This is not a blog that encourages confrontation. There are so many blogs out there that do, and when I'm in the mood for a bit of ass whooping, I go to one of those.

    I just want this to be a place where people of different mindsets and backgrounds can come together and maybe come away thinking, "Hey, we aren't so different after all."

    I can't make this space safe for that sort of discourse if I'm being personally attacked for painful revelations I've made, or if my writing is constantly being confused with my own views. Nor am I in the slightest bit interested in engaging in a debate about the ethics of hunting or catch and release fishing.

    If these things offend your tender sensibilities, then I would suggest that a blog focusing on Appalachian life is probably not a good place for you to be.

    To write the way I do, requires that I get inside my subjects heads without judgement or preconceptions. So, at times I'm going to take you places you'd rather not be. If I do it right, you will almost think I'm one of them. Snakehandlers. Cockfighters. Heartbreakingly sweet old ladies waiting to die. Intolerant fundamentalist communities. Gay Hillbillies. Bear Hunters. It is the world I live in and write about.

    I love these people, with all of their complex and sometimes bizarre customs.

    I'm just asking that if you do feel the need to pass judgement on them or me, or to somehow pompously assume that your way of life is more valid, or just, or ethical or better...that you do so on your own blog and not vandalize mine.

    I will accord you the same courtesy.

    'Cause that's just so not what I or the SMB are about.
    Angela said...
    Whats terrible is that some folks who post nasty attacks doesn't really have an opinon about a darn thing, just like to be nasty is all. I love that we are all different and have different views of things. What a boring world it would be if we all thought and believed the same:-). FYI. I'm a Republican who swings close to the middle who LOVES EVERYONE:-).

    Have a great day sugar, and keep on keeping on!!!!!
    Anonymous said...
    Is 'Our Deportment' still in print?

    goat yoda
    Anonymous said...
    Hi! just wanted to say right on!

    cute goats, BTW
    bluemountainmama said...
    sorry to hear you had to resort to comment moderation...

    i've always used it, for that "just in case" moment...

    and about the shape-note singing...if you are interested, http://www.pilgrimproduction.org/sacredharp1.html is the site i got the music from. it has music from shape-note groups all over the country....maybe you can find one on there that's close by.
    googiebaba said...
    Hi Rosie, so sorry it has come to this, but now you can post only the truly brilliant comments!
    Mallow said...
    Hi Rosie.. sorry to read that you had some unpleasantness on your blog... they will go away and piss on someone else no doubt. With a readership of 1 1/2 I don't think I'll have that problem ... or maybe now I WILL. Anyway..
    I just got caught up on all your posts since the entry about raising the chicks.

    As for the latest goat post -oh boy, that Bridey looks sweet, but at the same time like a real troublemaker.

    I still haven't made that cobbler recipe you posted .. but I'll let you know how it turned out when I do.

    Best regards and hugs to you!

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