April 1 - Madness Day

"Have we become so politically correct, socially sensitive and journalistically wimpy that we can't make, or take, a joke?"

That's what Aly Colon at The Poynter Institute school for journalists asks.

Maybe so. One commenter went ape in response to the satirical post here on Friday about the Florida legislature. That reaction spawned a reply comment making the reader understand that the post was intended to be satire. Our oh so serious society seems to have forgotten that all humor does not have to be the in your face variety. The more subtle humor, in my view, is longer lasting and requires a bit more mindfulness, but the tickle factor is often just as strong.

Of course, some folks take everything they read, especially in the morning, literally. These are usually the ones who had a hard night or need to stay longer. Now, like most journalists, I'm happy when readers hang on every word as if it were iconic, but jeez, gang, by afternoon there comes a time to take a deep breath and lighten up. Just remember, five o'clock lasts most of the day in Key West.

Blogger Registration or Anonymous?

One of our commenters has indicated "Sorry, but i don't understand the difference between a "blogger identity" and and an "anonymous blogger." " This is an interesting question raised in response to one of our posts.

In a reply to one commenter, on another subject, we had made a distinction between someone who posts as one who has registered with blogger and someone who simply posts as "Anonymous." That distinction, admittedly, was not clear. What we meant was that if you have registered with Blogger and have created a Blogger profile for yourself, your screen name will appear in blue (or some other color) at the top of your post and will contain a link to your Blogger.com profile. If you have not registered with Blogger, no link will be contained in your screen name.

We had indicated that, as many blogs have done, we are thinking about requiring a Blogger.com registration in order to be able to post a comment on this blog. We have not, as yet, decided what, if anything, to do in that regard.

A New Word: Wisdomality

Some anonymous commenter challenged us on the use of the word, troll, in a reply to a comment we made on Monday. We came across another word with an equally mystifying usage: wisdomality. Here is where we found it.

Spotlight On The Annex

Truman Annex still stirs the passion of bloggers outside the Annex. As we tried to catch up on our blog reading, we found this on the Key West Chronicle Blog. It seems that the same anonymous trolls that always comment here are frequenting Cayo Dave's blog. We couldn't resist helping to set them straight. We hope Cayo Dave and other bloggers will keep the spotlight on the nonsensical rules and policies that infect Truman Annex and make it difficult for the larger Key West community to appreciate the many contributions to real Key West life a number of Annex residents make. The actions of a thoughtless few who want to narrow the freedom of others to conform to their own class and cultural-based stereotypes have wrecked the reputation of Annex residents in this City.

The one thing that these thoughtless few fear is that their closet stereotyping is exposed to scrutiny and that they may be embarrassed by it. That is why they react so fiercely, in truth squad fashion, at the slightest criticism that their rules or policies may be less than egalitarian or even paternalistic. These few need to look politically correct even while they are not. When some blogger, like Cayo Dave, punctures their proverbial high-minded bubble, they get offended, because the one thing that gets their attention is that they might look stupid. The fear of looking stupid accounts for most of the political change in the Annex. After all, "when you are filthy stinking rich," as one of our friends put it, "you are expected not to look stupid, and when you do something has to change."

Top Ten Ways To Get Your Comment Published

Having set out the ways to NOT get your comments published, we thought we would approach getting your comments published from a positive direction and set out the 10 BEST WAYS to get your comments published. Here they are beginning with number ten:

10. Be nice to the Blogger.

9. Be a blogger who links to our site.

8. Be a friend.

7. Be directly involved in news or controversy.

6. Write well.

5. Be witty and funny.

4. Make a good argument, even one we might not agree with.

3. Write something thoughtful.

2. Be a reliable source for news or information.

1. Sign your comment with a name other than anonymous.

Top Ten Ways Not To Get Your Comments Published

As many of our readers know, comments on this blog are screened (moderated). Some of you who have tried to comment have complained that although we have published other people's comments, we have not published yours. We hope that the following may give you some insight about why your comments may not have made it into print. Starting with number ten, your comments will not be published if in them you:

10. Threaten anyone with physical injury.

9. Use what we judge to be nasty language or swear words directed personally to someone in your comment.

8. Are dull, boring, uninteresting, or have nothing to say.

7. Make a comment that has nothing to do with the article you are supposedly commenting about.

6. Have little else to say except to try to insult the blogger or another poster.

5. Engage in name-calling, instead of addressing an argument on its merits.

4. Try to post to an article that is more than a week old. Unless the thread of the article is an on-going series, your comment may be viewed by the editors as old news.

3. Make the same type of comment over and over again.

2. Use an incorrect name or initials when referring to a person in your comment.

1. Refer to the blogger by a presumed name or initials in your post.