One reason why I don’t provide reader comments here is to avoid surreal public conversations such as this one over at Joel on Software. It appears that someone pointed out a very trivial bug on his web site, which provoked a bemused jokey insult from Joel, which in turn led to hurt feelings and much discussion about the bounds of pedantry and the social skills of programmers.

That’s not to say that I don’t find comments entertaining, what with all the unexpected twists and turns. Here you can read what happens when one nerd gets envious of another nerd who got invited to a nerd convention that only uber-nerds are supposed to attend. [The argument is between Rory and Roy, and for what it's worth, I'm glad that I shall never meet Roy in person, because he seems like one of those annoying people who is always "just saying" things, but then sidestepping responsibility for any actual offence caused.]

Another problem with comments is that there are some really messed up/ desparate/ lonely people in the world, and there are a lot of other people who enjoy pretending to be messed up [trolls], and when you post a seemingly harmless mention of Bill Gates’ philanthropy you might get some rather startling responses. Reading the misguided pleas for financial help, I’ve never felt such sympathy for the Richest Man in the World, because I’ve no doubt that the correspondence addressed to him on a daily basis must be 1000 times worse.

Anyway, speaking of nerds, why not check out the automated Slashdot Story Generator, which really is surprisingly similar to the real thing…