Thank god, someone reads this site besides all the people we email with notes saying “you might find this story of interest.” Proof: Peter Getty, of the Peter and Billy Getty City Brights blogging duo, did what we could not do to them, and left us a comment.
Sorry to punch a hole in one of the (seemingly) more plausible reasons to despise us that have brought such joy to so many, but I’m afraid it is not, repeat NOT, true that we asked that comments on our blog be disabled. The truth, disappointingly, is that someone at sfgate recommended to Billy that comments not appear, and he, being entirely unacquainted with blogging, accepted this advice without consulting me. I was horrified to learn of it, which I only did when the blog first appeared, and we immediately corrected it. Our posts will from now on be open to comments, and I’m sure you’ll treat them with the fairness and understanding that we’ve come to expect. It was an error made by a novice given some very bad advice, not proof of our decadence and your moral superiority to us. Sorry.
I emailed Peter, saying:
What you’re saying is consistent with our story, as we say:
“We reached out to some sources at the Gate, who told us that City Brights authors are offered the option not to be commented on, and that the Gettys chose not to hear reader feedback on their work.”
Except, of course, that it was just Billy who opted out, not the two of you.
So we made a correction, but wanted to clarify in greater detail, so here we are:
We here at the Appeal don’t really care that much about the content of the Getty blog — we’ll leave the commentary on its subject matter to cleverer folks than we are. At risk of sounding smarter than I really am, Brideshead Revisited is one of my favorite books ever, like, up there with Lunar Park and A Child Across The Sky, so obviously I’m interested in seeing where this blog heads, but that’s immaterial.
The bullshit we’re calling is that for whatever reason, SFGate seems more interested in protecting their City Brights bloggers from their commenters than the reporters (and, as C-Big quite rightly points out, subjects) of stories in the Chronicle newsroom. On top of that bullshit, let’s put a cherry of bad thinking, because by failing to allow comments means fewer pageviews, which means fewer ads served, which means less money for what we all know is an already struggling organization.
Props to the Gettys for getting in the mix. We can’t wait to see their next post and its comments. But they’re not the only City Brights who were either advised against or who opted out of allowing comments on their Gate blogs, just the ones we noticed.
Who’s still exhibiting proof of their decadence and our moral superiority to them? Here you go:
“Ballet Master, SF Ballet” Ricardo Bustamante
“Investigative Reporter / Columnist” Leslie Griffith
“Prez, Blue Shield of CA Foundation” Crystal Hayling
“Bay Area Talk Show Host” Ronn Owens
“Poet, Playwright” Ishmael Reed
“Author / Booklover / Observer of Neighborhoods” Michelle Richmond
“Sustainability Honcho” Dave Stockdale
Image: sexpigeon
