Show Me the Science: “Is ‘intelligent design’ a legitimate school of scientific thought? Is there something to it, or have these people been taken in by one of the most ingenious hoaxes in the history of science? Wouldn’t such a hoax be impossible? No. Here’s how it has been done.”

Excellent, excellent, excellent.

A particular blog-related company, which I’d never heard of before, comment-spammed my blog this morning, as well as the blogs of Joe and a few other people. After deleting the spam comment, I sent an e-mail to the address contained in the spam:

If you were on the up-and-up, you would have sent me an email instead of leaving comment spam on my blog. If you really understood the blog community, you’d know that bloggers hate comment spam. I really don’t appreciate it, and therefore I won’t visit or publicize your site at all.

I received the following reply:

Dear Sir.

High Class Blogs is a not for profit directory. If you’ll notice, we have no advertising on our site. Our directory is run by volunteers who dedicate time from their busy schedules. As it is, you were not contacted by me. But, if you were contacted by one of our reviewers, I can assure you the message was authentic and personal.

Regards.

Maggie Livingston
Approval Department
[Company X]

I responded:

Ms. Livingston, whether the message was “authentic and personal” is not the point. The point is that someone at the company decided to use the comment section of my blog (and the comment section of other people’s blogs) to advertise your website – not to make a comment on a particular post I wrote, but to advertise your company. That is not what the comments section of a blog is for. If the people at your company knew anything about blogs, they would know that bloggers don’t write blogs as avenues for other people to advertise their products, services or business ventures.

Please forward this message to the appropriate department or person.

Thank you.

This evening I received a reply:

You should write a book about the blogging community and then we could all read it and be enlightened.

No need to reply. Good luck with your blog.

Maggie

I responded:

Your reply was sarcastic, and it provided no argument against the fact that comment spam is totally antithetical to the spirit of blogging. I’m not sure how you can work for a blog-related site and not realize this.

I trust you will pass on my previous e-mail regarding your organization’s spam tactics to the appropriate people.

Damn comment spammers.

The Big Cup is closing on Sunday due to high rents, as Chelsea continues its de-gayification. I used to spend many a weekend afternoon at the Big Cup, sitting in a comfy chair (if I could find one) with a book and a hot chocolate and shyly not talking to cute guys.

One weekday evening a few years ago I had an out-of-town guest whom I wanted to show gay Manhattan. I really should have taken him to Christopher Street and Sheridan Square, but instead I took him to Chelsea. He was duly unimpressed. There’s always been something sterile about Eighth Avenue in Chelsea. Unlike the Village, there’s no neighborhood center like Sheridan Square, nothing historical like the Stonewall, no gay bookstore like the Oscar Wilde Bookshop, and no interesting architecture. Eighth Avenue is just another wide, impersonal Manhattan avenue.

The Chelsea boys have all moved to Hell’s Kitchen, anyway.

Goodbye, Big Cup.