Comments on: A Public Service Announcement: I Go Other Places Online. Don’t Be Alarmed

By: Russ

Russ — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:48:32 +0000

Off. Sent off in Nagalfar. Also, “conscious”.

Damn the lack of preview (and my spelling)! At least the html tags worked ok. Sorry.

By: Russ

Russ — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:46:16 +0000

comics geek-out There's a plot development midway through the (excellent) Lucifer series where it becomes briefly about an odd assortment of characters sent of in Nagalfar to enter the "Mansions of Silence". The conceit being that Lucifer cannot enter the Mansions himself as their existence is so delicate that his very presence risked destroying them. You made me think of that, oh plenipotent one. Glad you're consious of the effect you might have ;) /comics geek-out Also, Heisenburg.

By: John Scalzi

John Scalzi — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:19:16 +0000

There’s a subtle way to tell when it’s really me commenting.

By: John Scalzi

John Scalzi — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:09:11 +0000

People wouldn’t dare try to impersonate me.

By: Linda Kuzma

Linda Kuzma — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:38:09 +0000

Ok. I read this yesterday and thought of a way to beat the spy programs that you egocentric bloggers use to detect when someone is invoking your name. Try this: )0#^ $c@:2! or some silly combination of Webdings that makes it clear you are talking about John behind your hand. You would just have to make sure that all the others involved knew to scramble the name, or he……he might…. Arrrr! it is too terrible! He who is not to be named might find your comments and read them!

By: Simon Owens

Simon Owens — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:00:08 +0000

It’s always a little bit jarring when I blog about someone semi-famous online (which as you note is completely different and more insular than being famous offline) and he or she shows up in my comments section and responds. On the one hand, yes, it’s in a public forum and so they’re certainly not out of bounds for commenting. But at the same time they’re famous enough that you expect discussion of them to be kind of lost in the noise, something that’s semi-unrealistic if you really think about it.

I mean, I think most web savvy people will take at least a cursory look at every blog post or article that has their name of it, so it should probably be assumed that at the very least, every person you write about on the internet will read the headline of your post, if not the article itself.

By: John Scalzi

John Scalzi — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:43:59 +0000

“I am not so famous that … people … pretend to be me on other people’s sites”

C’mon John. You’re so famous, people pretend to be you on *your own* site.

By: Harry Connolly

Harry Connolly — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:29:11 +0000

One thing that bugs me is this: If I type out a post about someone’s book, detailing the parts that didn’t work for me, whatever, I don’t like having the author drop in to say something like “Sorry you didn’t like it!”

Nobody needs to tap my shoulder and say “I can hear you, you know.” I know you can hear if you want (why you would want to is beyond me, but whatever).

But don’t jump in to a conversation with a content-free ping. Have something to add.

By: Sassee

Sassee — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:36:22 +0000

lol… how many times have you commented on someone’s site and been called an imposter?

By: ScottEM

ScottEM — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:16:09 +0000

This post, and the one about the Law of Internet Invocation, are now making me think about Derek Smart.

And that’s a terrible thing. Thanks a lot, Scalzi.