SPAM

No, this isn't a post about Condi Rice's choice of entertainment on Wednesday night. I've been hit in comments by a little bit of spam over the last couple of days, so I just wanted to address it quickly. So far, there hasn't been enough to cause a problem, and I've just deleted it (if the spam is the only comment made on a post or if no other comments make reference to the spam, I'm erasing it completely; if other comments do refer to it, I'm cutting out the spam but noting its deletion). From now on, comments from anonymous posters that consist only of ads and offer nothing to further the conversation will be deleted. Anonymous posters who do join in the conversation are welcome, whether they also include a link in their comments or not (although legitimate comments accompanied by straight-out ads are frowned upon). Blogger has started to offer a verification screen to prevent autospam, but since I get so few comments in the first place, I don't want to add a further obstruction to legitimate posters. We'll see how this new policy plays out and adjust if necessary.