May 1, 2006
Not Fun Anymore
For those of you who are wondering where the posts are these days, the answer is simple. I spend my blogging time getting rid of spam comments. Melanie noticed this and said "it seems you spend more time deleting spam than posting."
I do not run this blog as a free advertising service to usurers, pornographers, discount jewelers, etc. and I am sick and tired of the whole dance of banning ISP numbers, selecting messages, deleting messages, etc. So, this leaves me with three options:
1. Eliminate commenting altogether. If I had the amount of comments that some of the big blogs have, I would certainly choose this option. Having an army of semi-literates (yes, I mean you, Gerard E.), spouting off half-formed opinions in sentence fragments is not the reason for this blog.
The downside to this approach is that I enjoy my commenters' comments. They often provide good information on obscure ingredients, interesting recipes, etc. that make a real conversation happen. I also like that certain posts keep attracting comments and dialog (posts on grappa, nocino, baroque recipes, etc.). I even enjoy the nitwit comments from animal rights creeps and lazy highschoolers angry that I am not doing their homework for them.
2. Add one of those things where you have to type the characters that you see in the box for the comment to go through. I am leaning towards this approach. I will have to see if the very talented Ann can do this. Did I mention that Pinkmochi offers excellent web design at very reasonable prices? (Gotta plug the designer once in awhile. After all she did this site for free, or a dish of paella).
3. Discontinuing the blog altogether. Naw. The Organ of the Central Committee of Erik Keilholtz stops for no one.
So, expect some changes soon. Hopefully.
Posted by erik at May 1, 2006 8:55 AMBoy, I am probably not the one to ask, since, although I drink gallons of good Tuscan wine, I don't buy cases (or even more than single bottles), and generally go back to wine shop to look for something different, so I end up not having a command of wineries and vintages.
Now, if I had a much bigger cellar, things would be different, because I would be storing up quantities of wine. But 40-50 bottles is my practical limit, so I tend to have very few repeats in my collection, and only a few bottles are held for more than five years (I have two that I have held for ten years, but for the most part, I will put away a bottle of promising something or other for three to six years). I would love to be able to buy a case and put it away, taste a bottle in three years, then in five, etc., but that will have to wait for a larger house.
That being said, I am almost always happy with anything made by Antinori, although they can be quite expensive. Let me think about this, though. Next time I am at the wine shop I will make a note of some of the wines I have enjoyed at the under $10 level.
Posted by: Erik Keilholtz at May 7, 2006 9:35 AMThanks for not disabling comments.
BTW, any recommends on reasonably priced Tuscan red wines for someone who is hundreds of miles away from a Trader Joe's? I had been getting some interesting wines from the Sebastiani minor label Viansa, but would rather buy Ital these days.
Grazie.
Posted by: Gregg the obscure at May 4, 2006 12:05 PM