es, it’s been a while. My computer cratered and it’s been the work of a half month (one week for the shop to scrub and rewindow my box, then one for me to reinstall and reconnect everything). I’ve got a ton of book reviews in the hopper (I’d lose myself in reading to escape my Tron woes).

But it got me thinking about other things. Like the feedback I’ve gotten off the bottom of my entries (yes, if you scroll down, you’ll notice it’s no longer there).

The reason for this is many-fold. First, it’s not because I don’t like what got said. Outside of one or two authors I hammered (justifiably) in reviews, I’ve always enjoyed the feedback. No, there were some dangers the feedback introduced.

First off, I’m using an old version of Joomla and an even older version of the comment app. A couple of years ago you might remember that the site got hacked and was used to launch DOS attacks on other sites. I had to freelance a pro to shoot our way out of that box canyon. And I’ve been conscious that even though the feedback tool had been updated a couple of years back, it has hit its final shelf life, and that it was my site’s Achilles Heel.

Second, there were a number of automated bots that posted comments of a repetitive and frustrating nature. Even though I held all comments for review, I’d still have to clean six to ten off every day. Yes, ways to monetize my site. And clueless praise about “whatever I’d written” with a link to some other site (often a sexy one). Refinancing options. And, in a very recent one, ones in Russian Cyrillic asking for God knows what. The amazing thing is that I never let a single one of these through but still they tried and tried. Bots can be like that, I guess. So can  dime-a-dozen Malaysian Captcha-punchers, endlessly entering rote off yellowing scraps of paper.

So, yes, on an idyllic bike ride, I mulled over the value adding comments brought me. And while I do like the feedback (and the attention), you’ll have to rely on other means to take issue with me. Of course most of my entries are posted on Facebook so you hammer me at the origin. That works. Or, if you feel strongly enough, I’ve got a contact selection somewhere that kinda works.

But to preserve this site as long as I can, I’ve cut off the feedback mechanism.

If you don’t like it, keep it to yourself.

>>>IF YOU REALLY LIKE WHAT I’VE WRITTEN, YOU CAN FIND MORE OF IT HERE IN THE FORM OF NOVELS I’VE PUBLISHED. POP DOWN THIS LINK TO THE AMAZON SITE AND PICK UP A COUPLE OF TOMES!<<<