Here’s a list of various methods by which you can contact, stalk or spam me.

Mail (preferred)

You can mail me at jonathan@notspotroswell.com, providing you’ve removed the name of Data the android’s cat first to prove you’re human and not a spam harvester.

I do read my mails, and I try to reply to them. Bear in mind, though, that I am not a computer repair man, doctor or lawyer. I don’t offer technical support over mail unless you’re going to pay me for it. (I also check this address less frequently than my primary, semi-public mail address, so, if you have that or are busybodying enough to hunt it down, use that instead.) (HINT: IT’S ON THIS PAGE)

Twitter

I tweet, here. Hopefully most of the stuff I tweet isn’t too banal to put you off. I’m actually quite friendly.

Other methods

Alternatively, you may contact me with one of these instant messaging protocols (I’m not online often, though, so mail me wherever possible, unless you absolutely must hear my voice or speak to me in real time.)

I can also be found on Facebook, although I will only add you as a friend if I actually “know” you, as in, I have had significantly more contact with you than once sitting in the same maths class as you nine years ago.

This blog’s comments policy

Most posts and pages on this blog do not have comments enabled. There are three main reasons for this.

First, the comments box on most blogs is rarely conducive to constructive commentary or discussion. Indeed, the majority of comments I got on the old Crashed Pips were from practical jokers known personally to myself, medieval bastards, and pants-peddling spambots. I found that most constructive discussion came from pingbacks on other people’s blogs.

This makes perfect sense if you consider it. If I make a comment box available, any nut can write “UR A CUNT GO FUCK URSELF LIKE I FUCKED UR MOM” in thirty seconds and post it. It also makes repeat-trolling a lot easier.

Commenting via a blog post and a pingback is less convenient, but it also makes you less likely to comment unless you have something interesting and constructive to say, and are serious about saying it. It encourages you to put your case forward reasonably, clearly and in good English, and to think about it beforehand. This is intended to encourage more constructive dialogue. It is intended to discourage trolling.

Second, dealing with managing a killfile of the aforementioned bastards, along with repeatedly dismissing increasingly devious spambots, became tiresome.

Third, it seems to be a growing trend that we’re moving more to an ad-hoc method of commenting. Certainly, that’s what I’ve been doing for a long time: I rarely comment on blog posts, preferring to write full blog posts in response. I believe that for the majority of constructive debates, this is the way forward.

In summary, I still welcome your comments: I’d just prefer you to make them via one of the methods above, or write your own blog post and ping back to this one.

And when they are enabled…

In some cases (usually on the more technical posts) a comment facility may well add value to the post, so I will see it as appropriate to positively enable the discussion facility for this post or page. For these posts, the comments will remain open for sixty days following the initial posting, after which comments will be closed automatically.

The rules are:

1. No spam or unsolicited advertising of any kind (this includes saying “hey! Check out my blog!” without any additional content.)
2. No trolling or hate speech.
• Trolling is defined as being a dick in the eyes of the site proprietor (i.e. myself.)
• Libellous comments are also prohibited.
• If you make personal attacks against, or quote-mine myself, or anyone else, I will seriously just delete your comment and put you in the killfile.
3. Nothing illegal. Any illegal comments (as per the laws of England and Wales) will be deleted and the necessary details forwarded to the Police. This includes copyright infringement, links to obscene content or material in breach of a court order (this includes Premiership footballers, sorry. I think they’re overpaid too.)
4. Commenters are reminded to remember that the author, and other commenters, are human beings too. If you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face, don’t say it in a comments box, or we’ll assume you’re that much of a dick in real life.