Rambling Rhodes

Chameleon

People have asked and e-mailed me about the name change to this blog and have seemed a bit unmoved by my explanation. I do apologize for those of you who thought the previous blog name was superior, and for what it's worth, I agree.

The fact is, though, the Internet has changed radically within the last couple years, and people new to it just don't seem psychologically equipped to handle it. I've perused Web site comment threads that read like a societal acid pit. Some people, honestly, approach blogging and blog commenting almost as if they're suffering obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). And, quite frankly, I'm not sure I liked what I was seeing.

Back in the Plain Layne days, commenters seemed so much more civil and humorous, or at least that was my perception. Oh, sure, you had your comment smackdowns (typically administered by Joshua), but for the most part comment threads were an awesome part of the whole blogging experience. Somewhere along the line, that's changed; in my opinion, for the worse.

I didn't like the threatening nature of many of the comments I was reading on other blogs that were far more popular than my own. So, I decided to make a play for a little bit more anonymity before my blog simply got out of control when it comes to daily traffic. I'm not sure I can really put the genie back in the bottle at this point, but I figured I'd at least give it a shot. Rest assured, it's still the same guy behind this little Web experiment. . . he's just a little more cautious.