Handling Comments

A comment notification popped up just as I was about to leave my desk after publishing the post about my cats.
I read it, read it again, puzzled.

This was not Asian spam, there was no offensive wording. The comment was totally irrelevant to the post about cats, in fact, totally unrelated to anything I have ever posted. I decided to investigate the commentor's profile before ruling on the rather long comment.
The writer is Swedish, multi-lingual, interested in philosophy, theology, gnosticism, eroticism, babes, the Bible.
I do list the Bible as one of my interests in my rather bland profile.

I considered posting the comment with a reply that stated, "OK this time around, but isn't this totally off subject for this blog?"
I considered not posting the comment but writing much as I am here and including a link so that you could check it out for yourselves.
I mulled this while putting the final paint touches on the bedroom window casings.

I'm not comfortable with the comment as a response to my blog. Not because it was critical or crude.  It simply doesn't represent who I am or what I wish to share in my posts.
Furthermore, I discovered that the writer had merely done a copy/paste of one of his own recent postings.
Bottom line on that is I'm not going to publish content from another blog. By whatever means our readers find us, they return--or not-- and they comment--or not --based on their response to our individual material.

We are all drawn to those with whom we have shared interests, whether in real time/real life situations or in our choices of reading material and virtual friends.
Shared spiritual, political, ethnic, or educational background may put us in touch with individuals or groups where we are comfortable. Merely having any or all of these attributes in common does not guarantee harmony, either with certain individuals or with a group.

I don't list my denominational faith in my profile.  Some of you know me and know my membership.  Others who have been reading my essays for awhile gather that I'm an active "Christian."
Our spiritual affiliations are reflected in our lifestyle choices. I feel they shouldn't make us exclusive or judgemental.

Several of us have noticed that we "meet up" as commentors on blogs that we mutually frequent...just like friends who can actually get together for lunch or tea. We are "there" not because we are in total harmony with all of any person's beliefs, but because we are drawn by common interests and passions which supercede our differences.
Some of us find ways to correspond privately on a deeper level.
So many times as I read a blog entry I think, "I'd love to stop by and have tea with her"--"bring my quilt to piece while she works on hers."  "I'd enjoy discussing history with him."  "What fun to visit a museum with this couple!"
I could happily grub alongside most of you in the garden, or accompany you on a countryside walk.

As we grew better acquainted, you would learn that a big party with social drinking or a bash at the pub would be an invitation I refused. I wouldn't be comfortable at some of your worship occasions or you at mine. But I hope you would be comfortable with inviting me to your kitchen to help make preserves or in visiting me at home even though you might need a sticky roller to remove cat hair afterward!

So, where am I going with this?  Am I being unbearably pompous and stuffy?

I know that I don't have to justify to my followers that I've decided to reject a comment.
Morning's Minion is my blog. Mostly I use it to publish experiments in writing and to share things which give me joy.  Occasionally I rant. 

I appreciate comments.  I greatly enjoy that we share the triumphs and frustrations of house renovations, gardening efforts which leave us groaning or cursing the squash beetles. We rejoice when others rejoice and we are saddened when a blogging friend reports an illness, a death or loss.
We commiserate over the antics of cats, dogs, horses, goats and chickens--and I have been moved to tears when a cyber friend loses a loved pet.
It is wonderful to gain a wider audience for our crafts and our finds.
There is joy in discovering that someone in Wales or New Hampshire or Scotland [anywhere, in fact]] is touched by the same book which I treasure.

I suspect most of us land on a blog because we take the recommendation of a blogger we already enjoy.  [Flower Lady mentioned this recently.]  My own pattern is to read for awhile, read the back entries, make a comment or two, decide if this is to be a "kindred spirit" sort of place or just one that I will occasionally visit.
I've no control over who reads my blog, unless I choose for it to be an "invitation only" set up.
But, I can control the comments that I publish.
I have a fundamental knowledge of the terms philosophy, gnosticism, eroticism, the occult. They aren't areas that I delve into. I visited the blogger in question and found his subject matter too dark, too convoluted for my taste.
Readers will have to find their way to his blog without his copy/paste post on mine.
If any of you have faced a similar issue with commentors, I would appreciate the feedback.

Postscript:  In case you read this entry and don't go to the comment section, I want to include what JD pointed out.  If you type some version of morning's minion into a search engine you can choose from options that include the blog apparently sub-titled "Drinking with God." 
When I created my blog several friends reported landing there when attempting to find mine.
I went there after posting the above.  The blog is still in existence though the posts are infrequent.
It is very possible that the Swedish blogger's post with its apocolyptic darkness was meant to go there.  I would stress that neither of these male bloggers had content that, in my brief visits, could be labeled personally offensive.
Their blogs are their own.  Mine is a reflection of  my little space on "this terrestrial ball."