Beginning Monday, commenters have to join to comment here.Although anonymous comments will no longer be allowed, you needn't use a real name. You merely have to create a nom de blog to differentiate yourself from others who might or might not be willing to sign their comments with a real name.
I'm looking for ways to elevate the discussion, and to avoid confusion about who has posted which comment. Maybe this will help.
There is probably no way to verify where the large number of very negative commenters here over the past week have come from, but other progressive blogs around the country have experienced similar explosions of vitriol. Some blogs claim this eruption to be related to paid astroturfers clogging the discourse on the health care debate. Some friends and supporters have written to me, claiming it is a mark of the desperation of advocates of the crazy woman who thinks President Obama wants to kill her mom, pop and kid (or grand-kid, depending upon which of the scenarios you accept).
Thanks for your cooperation on this.
Update - Monday 3:15 Alaska time: I've tweaked the settings on "comments" on my dashboard a couple of times. If the setting I've now changed to doesn't fix the problems, I may go back to allowing anonymous commenters, or may switch to wordpress.