On his fantastic blog Blurbomat, Jon Armstrong coincidentally posted about killing comment spam with Movable Type the same day that I did. I would love to use TypeKey, as he suggests, but frankly, putting another hurdle in front of commenters and making them register to comment just isn't good for me. I already am freaked out by the volume of people who read this site and never let me know about it. To have even fewer comments would just make me wig out.

For some, comments are an ego thing. For me, they let me know who it is I'm talking to.

Jon makes another case for registration as well. Registration and accountability slow a person down, making them think before commenting. Over on Perfect Duluth Day, we've added just a thin sheet of accountability to the comments, and it's improved the blog tremendously.

Still.

The vast, vast majority of people who read PDD never leave a comment. The vast, vast majority of members -- people who've taken the time to register with a username and password and all that -- have never made a single post.

And whenever I receive complaints, it's that there isn't enough variety, that more bloggers would make a better blog. I wholeheartedly agree.

"Wading through thousands of junk comments stops me from spending time writing, taking pictures or learning new tricks," Jon writes. You don't know how true this is. I want to make PDD a better blog, but I spend so much time approving new members, adding new banner photos (which I've been neglecting) and doing other forms of routing maintenence that I haven't been able to work on new, innovative stuff. As a result, everything falls behind and no progress is made.

A lot of the time, I think this way about Duluth as a whole. There are very few dedicated participants in anything. Everyone wants to be a member. Everyone wants to feel the enthusiasm. Everyone wants it all to be great. But the whole process is made up of baby steps; it's an incremental process. If we held a barn-raising, tons of people would show. But nobody wants to do the dishes.

I've only participated a tiny bit, but I think this year's Homegrown Music Festival is being handled pretty nicely. I have no idea what the organization looks like as a whole, but there seems to be delegation of authority as well as some leadership happening. Of course, I could be completely wrong, as I haven't been that involved. Still, it seems a whole lot better than in the old days when one guy did everything.

I have no idea what this post is supposed to be about. But oh well. That happens sometimes.