I found this on Alex’s blog. It’s hard to believe that people have become so paranoid in the US that this kind of thing could happen. I hope the next 4 years treat America better than the last 4 have.
Today I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my default install of WordPress does not display email addresses in the comments. Why don’t all blogging tools work this way by default? Maybe there is a logical reason to be displaying email addresses that I am missing here. Try as I might though the only thing I can see resulting from this is more spam.
A quick jaunt through my news reader shows older versions of MovableType to be the main culprit here. Is it possible that this is still the default behavior in the latest releases? There was a time not too long ago that I didn’t have this blog and therefore a URL to leave behind. I have to say that I found it easier to lurk than to join the discussion and possibly have my email exposed to the creepy crawlies of the web. And what about those without blogs? Should they really be left out? Or worse yet, flooded with spam? I know my mother wouldn’t think twice* when filling out that comment form, but then again, she shouldn’t have to. As blogs grow and become more common to the wider, possibly less tech-savvy, web audience, we as maintainers should make sure that we don’t contribute to the volume of spam our visitors receive.
* That thought process would go something like this…
If you’re interested in an introduction to the current problems in the middle east I can’t recommend Noam Chomsky enough. My personal introduction to his work was the book “Power and Terror: Post-9/11 Talks and Interviews” and it was a very educational read for me. While I’ve been aware of the conflicts between Israel and Palestine I really had no idea of the history behind it. The fact that many educated people don’t understand the reasons behind the events of 9/11 in New York is a sorry position to find ourselves in. That the US government has been involved in and supportive of many such acts in other places is simply unacceptable.
The book itself is a short read coming in at just under 150 pages. As the title states, most of the content comes from speeches and interviews so the narrative is somewhat choppy. I am looking forward to reading more of his work though. Hopefully the citizens of the world’s most powerful country will educate themselves about their foreign policy and effect a change for the better.
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