Taking myself less seriously (or, "Shall I turn off the "comment anonymously" feature?)

First thing that greeted me this morning when I checked my email was this anonymous comment pending moderation. It was a response to an earlier post, "Five Things about Ivan Chew (that you might not know)":

y didnt u die.u noe y u have to write "Five Things about Ivan Chew (that you might not know)" bcos u r such a loser n u noe u have no substance YET,U R SO thickskinned...(erm thanks 4 ur comments this shows that u care).....lame....no guts to face critics huh?dont bother to reply.....cos im juz expecting same old "answer"to my only true comments amongst the "comments here...no disrespect to those who adore rambling librarian...pls wake up

I wasn't angry or particularly bothered by it. Could've deleted the comment. However, I published it and left a comment of my own. It was good practice in NOT taking myself too seriously, heh.

Kevin and I was on IM, tossing ideas for a meet up/ library programme. I mentioned the anonymous comment to him, joking that I've achieved "Blogosphere Fame" when I start getting trolled and flamed. Kevin felt he had to respond as a friend (thanks, friend -- I appreciate the gesture; just don't call me a hero! I'm bound to get more trolls and flamers, lol).

Seems that Anonymous Commenter left an earlier comment too, for this was the clue: "... erm thanks 4 ur comments this shows that u care". Quite likely a reference to my response to this comment to my "Off to Beijing" post.

I asked myself if I should change the Blog settings to disallow anonymous comments. At present, anyone can comment in this blog.


Unfortunately, by setting to "Only Registered Users", it means the option for "Others" is unavailable, i.e. genuine bloggers who are not registered with Blogger.com can no longer leave comments by typing in their name and blog URL (which was one of my "complaints" about Vox.com).

Ideally, Blogger.com should allow me to turn off "Anonymous" and leave the option for "Other".

While it's not necessary for everyone else to blog, it would be great if people started posting comments. You don't need to have a blog in order to engage with bloggers.

So for now, I'll just leave all my settings as it is. I already have my comment moderation feature turned on, to filter out the really nasty comments. It's more to filter out libelous or insensitive comments about other people, rather than myself.

I'll allow the occasional rant against me. As I mentioned earlier, it's a way to remind myself that I shouldn't take myself too seriously. : )