Deleting comments

When I opened my weblog for comments last July, I knew I’d get some stupid ones and feared I’d take a lot of criticism. Happily for me, the comments I get on fresh posts are generally positive.
But on older posts, ones that people have found via Googling, I get some extremely strange notes. I thought I’d leave them in situ just for kicks. But really, what’s the point? Today I went through and culled out some of the lamest ones. Oddly enough, they centered around 3 posts.
Rebuilding Afghanistan had seven comments with weirdness like “We wish you a merry Christmas” and “hello, buddeee.” Beginner’s playground? A message drop for spies? I don’t know. They are all gone now.
Nipponjin with Scissors collected 21 lengthy “comments” from Pakistani scissors manufacturers soliciting my business. And the post I made about this blog spam received a spam itself. Pffft.
Here’s the one that irks me most. i-mode penetration gets frequent notes complaining that the reader thinks the site is useless, he can’t find what he’s are looking for, etc. One included 43 exclamation points to back up his frustration!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Oh, I can’t compete.)
Why does everyone hate that post? Because it mentions Japan’s population and most of these commentators are misguided schoolchildren. One said I was wrong and she thought the population of Japan was 8 million. Maybe she confused Tokyo with Japan, but greater Tokyo has more than 12 million. Another even suggested that I update the population numbers for 2003. I guess she doesn’t realise that Japan takes a census, but not annually.
Hey kids, get a clue–this is a weblog, not a valid source of information for your school reports. Check out the CIA World Factbook.
[Addendum, 9:39 am. As if on cue! To my July 6, 2001 post about resting in bed with my laptop, I just received this rather unusual comment: “I don’t mean to be too forward, but hearing you talk about your fat rolls turns me on. Fat is so sexy. Tell me more please?” Should I delete this one or keep it? I’ll let you decide…]