Wow. Letters of Note, a great, interesting, and fun site that posts letters from famous people (both in images of the original and a transcript, since they are often very difficult to read), has turned off the comment feature.
I sent an email to the site proprietor, Shaun Usher, in commiseration. At the same time, it’s quite a mystery to me – I had Letters of Note pushed to me daily via RSS feed, but not the comments. So I have no idea what kind of comments Shaun must have received to lead him to post this.
All complaints should be directed towards a section of society to whom the concept of even vaguely civil discussion means nothing. This collective waste of flesh, bone, and dangerously limited brain function have caused me to dread opening each and every “New Comment” notification I’ve received over the past twelve months or so, to the point where I now cannot continue justifying the moderation of these imbecilic, repugnant grunts when it takes up such an inordinate amount of my willpower and, more importantly, time.
The site is amusing, heart-tugging, interesting and educational in turns and sometimes all at once. I imagine it attracts an older readership, fairly literate. So is this just random, stupid-jerk spamming? I hope so. I hate to envision the 60-ish New York Times reader, bifocals sliding down his nose, gleefully spewing invective all over the carefully curated and thoughtfully introduced content of Letters of Note.
A sad day indeed.
Literary Lunchbox 
That’s horrible. Just think of how bad he must have felt – for 12 months! – to shut off comments. I’ve never heard of the site but it’s good to know he’s keeping the site up. I’ve heard of people giving up all together.
Just like the real world at large, there’s good and bad but more good.