Silliman's Blog

Perhaps you could moderate posts for a week or so. You (like most) have an opposition to moderating posts which reflects your view of free speech and may have something to do with time management, but in this case it would establish that people don’t have the power to transform your comments section into a diary.

Also, you can stipulate during that time that people’s comments won’t get through without a real name -- that sometimes becomes almost necessary, with certain exceptions granted if you wish.

The comments section has been very interesting during ‘Olson Month’ with a lot of interesting folks turning up and the ability to maintain a sustained focus as if it were a seminar.

The Naropa class on Olson and Dialectics may be the best prepared-for two class sessions (isn’t that what it is?) in the history of education, and you wouldn’t have it any other way. I hope the class discussions are 1/10 as good as your preparation and your floating of ideas here.
 

Turn it off Ron. To check on comments later in the day and to see it's up to 24 or whatever and then having to scroll down through 17 COMMENT DELETED postings is annoying. Agreed on the "Olson" misspelling as well.

Sorry I'll miss your Naropa gig. You have prepared well and perhaps have a better sense of some of the ancillary issues people will connect to Olson's work. The summer session students are lucky.

Your blog is quite a service to the Literary Arts community, in fact, is a community itself and I value it a great deal. Thank you.

Paul Nelson
Slaughter, WA
 

Well I don't click on the comments any more, they used to reliably add something to the main entry but that's not the case now and it's too much time n trouble to check. And ultimately, that affects the credibility of the blog itself because good comments add so much to a blog, which could go a little way to explaining why readership isn't rising any more.

But my choice isn't important, there's a many other kind of reader here and if you want to keep it open then I don't think you can object to non-standard spellings which usually (and it's exactly why you are so quick to react) have a very expressive value-implication. The breakdown of spelling through text-msging, tribe-idiolect and pop-Derrida is exactly where we are going now; and, flarfy thought, Google adds to this pressure to encode your individuality in your spelling because: which blog entry is going to get more visits? - the thoughtful essay about Zukofsky which is one of "252,716 pages found", or the essay about the poet "Zukovsky" which is going to be found by a whole slice of people who can't spell?
 

"High on the list of my pet peeves. People who spell Charles Olson’s last name with an “e,” Allen Ginsberg’s surname with a “u,” or Zukofsky with a “v.” Ginsberg’s first name gets misspelled a lot as well. It says something about the level of attention. How hard is this, really?"

It's as hard as putting a comma after _peeves_.

Yours,
William Safire
 

My vote is to turn off the comments while you're away and then moderate for a week or so when you get back. Like Paul I find it really annoying to have to scroll through endless deleted or undeleted comments by the same person. After a few polite requests to make it concise, it's reasonable to start deleting a person's unending blather.

Wish you wouldn't make medication cracks though.

It would be interesting, if you're planning on continuing your daily posts, to see how numbers of visits are affected by lack of comment field.
 

The comment box is just fine.

The only thing it's really missing is a scratch and sniff feature. If we could choose what flavor, I'd like my comments to smell like rum soaked raisins, please.

It's nice to hate people here, then later think you were wrong, and that they're actually okay. And if you CUT OFF the comment box then maybe someone you hate won't get the chance to be redeemed.

In other words, THINK ABOUT ALL THE LIVES YOU WOULD BE INTERRUPTING, it's like turning off Niagara Falls or filling in the Grand Canyon.

Who has been complaining by the way? Sissies! Did anyone complain about me? HOPE SO!

I'm going to find all the pictures of Olson with his shirt off and make an online mural, in case anyone's interested.

CAConrad
go out right now and buy Carol Mirakove's amazing book new poetry book MEDIATED
 

People can hardly spell plain English words any more; you expect them to be able to spell names?

I also vote for turning comments off when you're away; you can decide when you get back whether to turn them back on, leave them turned off, or go to approved comments only.
 

Isn't HOMELAND SECURITY enough for you people?

Isn't the PATRIOT ACT enough?

Leave the comment box ON please.

SUFFERING SUCCOTASH!

CAConrad
and I thought I TOLD YOU to go out and buy Carol Mirakove's new poetry book MEDIATED
 

I apologise for misspelling Mr Olson's name. Ignorance is my only defence.

gdqlwgz
 

hi ron. you might consider haloscan comments. it's a free service (or you can pay $12/yr to customize templates and get rid of the ads). it works a lot like squawkbox, in that nobody has to register, you can still accept anonymous/pseudonymous comments, but you have full control of comment editing/deletion, and can block individual posters by IP address if necessary.

i rarely block anyone, but sometimes being harrassed is just not fun, so it's nice to have the option, which is analogous to hanging up on an crank or otherwise unwelcome caller.

note: i have been comment spammed once since installing it, but i quickly cleaned it out, blocked the IP, and haven't had anymore trouble.

you can retain yr backlog of blogger comments (if you care to) by changing yr preferences to "new posts do not have comments" and then installing haloscan alongside blogger comments (so, not using the automated installation).

i've got the premium version on my site, and henry gould (for instance) uses the free version, should you want to check it out.

it'd be a shame to lose the interactivity completely.
 

What would Allan Ginsberg do? He'd leave them on. During the John Marc episode and the Run Silliman perplex I could, on occasion, be seen shaking my head with admiration at your distance and restraint. JM was funny, many posts witty. Run Silliman and Kirby Faville impersonations were exquisite and the quality of these two (I am assuming they were the same person) such as to make me believe that the universe isn't as sad as I thought.

As a matter of fact (and in spite of and because of all the tight ass reprehensions of these posts) you had something really interesting here. Breaks certain boundaries, displays a fine and cavalier attitude, really playful instead of indulging in the faux versions of the same.

And I thought -- Ron is the real thing. Letting it be. And so on.

Turning off these comment boxed would be the worst thing you can do.

Why bother? John Marc will fade away -- perhaps has made his point.

You are cursed by the sheer primitiveness of blogger. Can't ban someone by IP. Which would be what you couldand should do if good old John Marc persists after all entreaties.

The saintly David Raphael Israel has gently suggested he let it be. Saint Andy has done the same. Surely he will listen to them.

But what's with turning the comments off and then on? If John Marc feels very trangressive he will just be back.

Who are you giving a demonstration lesson to? Why would he desisit if he want to do otherwise?

Meanwhile, no other comments.

You would then have to turn them off permanently -- removing the major attraction of your site.

Good God -- do you want to be God the Father booming out to creatures who cannot respond?

Listen to words of wisdom.

let it be. let it be.
 

There you go! Upgrade to haloscan!
 

Anonymity. I don't have a problem with anonymous posters, as long as they don't indulge in slander and personal attacks. Using the hidden identity to escape responsibility is nothing but childish mischief. I don't think that should be condoned.

Purtenance. The bloggers owe it to the site administrator at least to attempt to stay on subject. It's not fair to use the blogbox to conduct private discussions or to use it to make journal entries.

Spelling & Grammar. A few stray misspellings in the heat of the moment are acceptable, but dozens of typos, or repeated misspellings of common words or well-known names is annoying. That shows disrepect to the reader. One pet peeve: Ron's misuse of "regard/regards". Never say "in regards to" or "with regards to"! It should be "in regard to".

My biggest gripe with the blogbox is when I've just finished a long piece, and hit the "publish button" and it goes poof "blog not responding" and I lose the whole thing--futility!!
 

"futility!!". . .you could've skipped the rest. . .
 

Re tiresomeness/tirelessness within the comment stream: patience has proved quite beneficial so far--eventually folks depart after manically hogging the show/showing their hog; or endlessly quipping about rutebagas, etc. It's tended to confirm Proudhon's saying that freedom is not the daughter but rather the mother of order--(which reminds me though that we still have the murky problem of few daughters and many sons writing upon this "public wall".)

So I recommend continued patience for a week or two with the latest perplexities though if they keep up the last miles will indeed be the hardest.

Have a blast, Ron, at "Naropa-Dopa"!

fwmpys
 

A mis-spelling is every bit as annoying as a left handed person being called a right handed person, or a worker in an office enviroment, being judged by somebody in shorts, as vain, when, that person, if put in the same job, would be asked into the office and informed that they would need to work on their appearance, if they'd like to keep the job.

*

Also, there's an iffy social mix..forkingspoon has really been setting me off..and should be controlled..

all of these issues have one wondering if perhaps the comments section should be on chill for a season.

Or perpaps repeat offenders, like forkingspoon, can be duly notified and, now that mr. silliman has expressed a few, either accept the standards for conduct, post elswhere or be banned. Mr. Silliman shouldn't have to worry with moderating the box that much.
 

perhaps i'm sorry..will obey the rule to only two comments..and utilize the preview function?

I'd be fine with mr. silliman looking at the comments first, and finding out if he feels like it's matches to the contex and tone of the reading experience he would wish to create.
Now that I know what he's going for would be happy to obey.

I'd agree with one poster, trying to cut a poster off...when you have yet to offer your standards or expectations seems extreme. Tha'd be the kind of security you would need to worry about, as opposed to the type being screened.
 

I've made another mistake with a third comment, it is only to qualify and won't happen again. That is to say, this comment should have been made in the prior box, and perhaps, it might serve as an illustration to subsequent posters in regards to the necessity of the preview section. Sometimes, we don't have enough time to preview everything though. Then again, that is a bad excuse.

Isn't, in the immediate sense, the threatening behavior on forkingspoon's part far worse of an immediate sensation that a misspelling. I've noticed a few other ones..perhaps..

perhaps a better phrasing would be..."will obey the rule to post only two comments" instead of "will obey the rule to only two comments" etc..as that would be an irrational post.

I'm usually affable and apologize to the other posters for the degenerative quality of my posts on this board. That has passed and will behave.
 

Haloscan T2, soon to be marketed, will have an improvement over the simple "Comment Deleted" process. Users will be able to use a "Comment-maker Deleted" option. Simply by hitting the delete button, a surge of blue electricity will shoot from one's computer, down the wires through the ether, and directly into the underwear of offending parties. Non-lethal in nature, it is guaranteed to cease all banal singing by singeing.
 

hey ron, sorry for some of my idiotic comments the other day (re: supercycles etc.) i often feel the need to attack my own critical mind/questioning because i see the limitations in it. i guess it's a shame that a lot of folks (perhaps myself as well) are using this to market their ideas. my own desire to post here has been to think aloud; to allow myself to screw up etc. but, yeah, i think a lot of people seem to be having conversations with themselves. it's a shame that each post seems to be an individal dialogue with you, rather than, say, a place for learning together. as such, i think this will be my last post here. but let me reiterate how much i appreciate your generosity in sharing.
 

jm dont apologize--my question has less to do with content but the persistence of the act-are you suggesting closure(why qualify)but choosing a conservative forum made (non)sense -messy sub-presence adding discordancy to logico-discourse--sort of like a barely noticeable virtual intrusion at a stale poetry seminar. please continue/if possible? keep the olson coming(haha).sincerely, thanks ron
 

allson

oldson

James wrote:

"It's as hard as putting a comma after _peeves_."

Actually, a : or --- i would be the appropriate (normative) punctuation. In our time, at least.

Do remember you're addressing the author of The New Sentence. About where his periods and his co mas and his sententiousnesses ought arise & terminate.

I might as well admit responsibility for the comment_deleted and Run_Sillyman postings (I hope Ron wasn't offended that I called him fat). But I had nothing to do with the Kirby_Faville bit, except insofar as it was mocking me (I found it amusing... especially Faville's angry response about how "I" keep telling him I'm going to stop responding to him while continuing to respond to him (is this a response, a meta-response, or a proactive blow?... I don't know, don't care that much anymo')). This should make Joe doubly happy about humanity....

The internet trend does seem to be towards no-caps minimal-punctuation highly abbreviated idiosyncratic and (partly as a result of the way such abbrevations / slang---and the speed and slovenliness they're in service of--- shortcircuit spellchecks) erratic spellings and punctuations and flows of language---but also inspires its transgressive inversions (lengthy literary posts, impeccable spelling, heroic couplets... which ought to make Ron exponentially happy).

A Chinese spelling carved in eye muscles
Opens the shadowy blubber of crepuscules

cmscuts
 

Hot Damn --

I knew I loved you for the gypsy soul in you. I was thinking Floyd Patterson but it was Ali all along.

And Kirby Faville was actually someone else? So I have three reasons to be immensely cheered.

Did you write the fragment anent Popeye? That had the mojo -- as did your heroic couplets. But Popeye pre-eminent.
 

If the comment box were turned off for a while, this blog would be the fascinating place it can be again. I can't understand how such a serious poetry blog can be turned into such an embarrasing, alienating place by its unnerving comment box trolls.

Those who come here to read the posts will keep showing up; those who only come here to show off, act out, hijack and jeopardize this blog may get bored and find somewhere else to misbehave.
 

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Yes, these are the times that try men's souls! That a variety of witty remarks, a certain blitheness and an o'erweening naysaying to the weighty and serious subjects discussed should be permitted to exist is beyond imagining! What labor it is to scroll past these, how one's sober sensibility is offended, how impossible it is to read the many pertinent and intelligent responses! How can one possibly take anything intelligent said seriously when a variety of mimes who refuse to follow the code are permitted to gad about in their codpieces and pillbox hats!?

How one is unnerved and drygulched to boot!

What would Alberto Gonzales do?

What would Allan Ginsburg do?

Two roads divide in a yellow wood. Will Ron take the road less traveled on?

Quo Vadis Silliman!

I am taking bets.

Contact me at joegreen66@yahoo.com and show me the money.
 

I love reading what you have to say, and imagine it provokes some good response, but I haven't had time to view the comments except once or twice ever, and those times I haven't found enough there to want to continuously return. So I'm reading what you're writing, and sometimes commenting directly, either to you or others. It's your blog, and if you want to turn them off for awhile, do it. Then try turning it back on sometime, perhaps, and see if anything has changed.

I'd add Cole Swensen's to the list of names people spell wrong all the time. And when I recently typed her name into google, the first entry that came up had it spelled wrong as a heading, but then correctly in the text. Attention, or what Olson might call *achiote,* certainly is lacking — by the way, is it possible to italicize in the comments box?
 

Dear ombilic:

I'm sorry to have mistaken you for someone else, but that does come with territory, does it not?--when you persist in maintaining a mysterious anon.

Despite what you think, I'm not your erstwhile antagonist.

I don't honestly understand what you're attempting to say, here:

"The internet trend does seem to be towards no-caps minimal-punctuation highly abbreviated idiosyncratic and (partly as a result of the way such abbrevations / slang---and the speed and slovenliness they're in service of--- shortcircuit spellchecks) erratic spellings and punctuations and flows of language---but also inspires its transgressive inversions (lengthy literary posts, impeccable spelling, heroic couplets... which ought to make Ron exponentially happy)."

Is this presuming to know what Ron thinks of grammar and spelling? That "transgressive inversions" (i.e., precision and correct punctuation etc.) are somehow to be inferred as Ron's pathetic failing as a aesthetic choice?

[I fully expect a sarcastic blast, but just for a change of pace, how about a simple clarification with no gun-play or hastily lit cherry bombs?]

And fabian--you could've skipped entirely. Your look is an East German skinhead in search of a nipple. "All in good fun," as we say.
 

I've a question for those who have read more widely -- or been taught more comprehensively -- than me:

What if any texts could be said to be precursors to Brainard's "I Remember" writings?

I love those things! Their concision, humor, sometimes unsettling truth, and (may as well finish up Keatsian) beauty. And then there's those photos on the original Angel Hair editions!

The possibility that I might receive an answer to my question -- and I recognize that it is only a possibility, because comment box queries, even if directly related to Ron's post, often don't get a response, especially if posted late in the day -- convinces me to ask that the comment box stay open.

Despite obvious good reasons to shut down the comment box, the chance that it might be the place for enlightening dialogue on writing related topics outweighs the depressing load of posted crap. But then again, I'm a relative newbie here, and those who've been around longer -- including Ron -- may understandably come down on the side of shutting it down.

Anyway, anybody want to take a crack at whether there were precursors to Brainard's "I Remember"?
 

Yes, I do wish that real names would be used. But that won't happen.

However -- as a gesture of good faith -- let me say I catch the 134 bus every weekday at St. Clair and Cleveland in St. Paul, MN at 6:20 or so and permit me to mention that one of the benefits of being really real is meeting this one and that one from the lowly comment stream. This may happen this summer.

I wish I knew who O.D. was damn it now that he appears in his aspect as cavalier and wit and poet with mojo.

Full names, please. No first names only. Then all will have the infinite delight of knowing that so and so careless of this and that is willing to own up to whatever posted and is not one of those trembling souls nervous about the Man.
 

Ron,

Isn't it entirely possible that Peter Orlovsky might have had trouble with spelling all three? Still, he does not peeve me.

Ricky
 

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_%28grammar%29
 

I have learned "Ginsberg" by heart, but the guy's first name -- I'm guessing Allen -- still eludes my mental memory, even though I've been aware of his writing for about 40 years.

Ah, Google confirms I seem to have gotten the Allen right this time. *phew* I've a friend named Allan -- whom I tend to think of (mistkenly -- had to google him too) as Alan.

It's a regrettable affliction, but I'm trying. ;-)

On the other hand, I have had no trouble recalling Philip [not Phillip] Glass's first name. Maybe it's the minimalism.

Natalie Ginsburg (meanwhile) is correct. But without Google, I wouldn't have been 100% sure. Still, it (Google) is as convenienet as spellcheck -- and occasionally informative.

Have fun at Naropa, Ron. A friend of mine was going to be there as student, but life intervened.

It's agreeable to be able to comment, when you post to your blog -- and to read varied interesting comments (of which there have been famously many). When/if you're in a non-blogging phase, naturally a collective, limited hiatus might prove salubrious in the instance.
 

Thinking about misspellings (apres this, plus my writing a friend about a list of mazazines [sic]) occasioned a riff in form of a singsong-sonnet.
 

That penultimate blog (Loic le Meiur) has a rant by a certain Cory Doctorow -- video of a 19-min. talk about "self-determination and the future" vis-a-vis interconnective technology. Enjoyed it.
 

Is it OK to misspell Bill Bissett?
This comments box is Poetry's Hyde Park . . .
where's the harm?
 

The box seems pretty harmless.
But a temporary shutdown doesn't bother me at all.

Have fun at Naropa. Here at the Gesundheit Institute in the Blue Ridge Mountains there are two students from there who, alas, will miss your visit, because they'll be here, listening to me talk about Zukofsky, and to other people about all sorts of things.

Any chance of a transcript from your thing?