Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Inkburst: Commenting on Tattoosday

I am writing this post on the subway, on my Samsung Galaxy S II's Blogger app, in what I will call an "Inkburst." That is, a small, mini-post, that I hope people find interesting.

Readers may notice that there aren't a lot of comments on this site. I have a filter set up that requires my approval before a comment sees the light of Tattoosday.

I tend to approve benign and positive statements, and reject ads, spam and, more controversially, negative remarks.

Why won't I allow negative feedback? I think it's counter-productive and it goes against the grain of this site's philosophy - meeting and appreciating tattoos.

So, when a recent reader named "Anonymous" dropped comments blasting two posts, they didn't make the cut. And, I agreed with his or her opinion about one of the posts!

But this site is not always about museum-quality body art. Sometimes, bad, or merely average ink is interesting, too. If you want nothing but high end work, I recommend Tattoo Snob.

The way I see it, if I hand a flyer to someone on the streets of Manhattan, and they're on the fence about contributing, they'll be less likely to participate if they think there's a chance of getting flamed by a inktroll.

I do occasionally let a constructive comment through, however, if I feel it is relevant to a piece's flaws, and it is written objectively, and not soaked in sanctimonious venom.

Feel free, however, to praise away! And thank you again for visiting us here at Tattoosday!