Our policy has always been to answer all (ok, most! as many as we can) comments, and to leave the comments section open on all the articles, even very old ones. But as the number of comments has grown, it's been harder and harder for some of us (ok, me!) to keep up.
My new policy: I will continue to answer most of the comments on the perfume reviews, but I'm going to slow down on answering the comments on new fragrance announcements and perfume news items and polls and whatnot. I will join in the conversation when I can, but I'm no longer going to try to be sure that everyone gets answered.
I will leave it up to each contributor to decide how to deal with comments, within reason: we still want to keep a dialogue going, but once the comment number climbs over 50 or 60, it can be very time consuming to answer everybody.
Also, I've updated (and hopefully, clarified) the comment policy. It would be great if everyone would take a moment to read it:
You are welcome to disparage perfumes with abandon so long as you keep your language clean. You are also welcome to disagree with the authors, or with other readers. You are not welcome to disparage other readers or to make personal attacks on the authors.
Mean-spirited, hostile or insulting comments, or comments that contain profanity, will be deleted (or edited) at the discretion of the editor, as will comments that express hostility towards members of any racial, ethnic or religious group.
Basically, we want to keep the peace. If your comment does not help to further that goal, we might delete it. Bear in mind that people are allowed to say obnoxious or upsetting or ridiculous things about perfumes — if you express hostility towards someone because they've said something obnoxious or upsetting or ridiculous, your comment is the one that will be deleted.
You are welcome to include relevant links to other websites. Please do not link to the front page of your own blog or website for promotional purposes. You are more than welcome to put a link to your own website in your user profile. Unwelcome links in the comments will be removed.
Retailers, ebay merchants and perfume houses may not use the comments section to advertise, promote, or link to their wares. Comments that show obvious signs of astroturfing or shilling will be removed. If you are commenting as the representative of a perfume house, retailer or other official corporate entity, please identify yourself as such within the body of the comment itself, otherwise your comment may be removed.
You should also be aware that when you comment, the site administrator and other contributors are able to see your email and IP address (see our privacy policy).
If you see a comment that you think violates our policy, please send a link to robin at nstperfume dot com.
Every so often, comments get trapped in our handy-dandy spam filter. If you left a comment that you think was in keeping with our comment policy but it did not appear, send an email to robin at nstperfume dot com, and I'll go looking for it.
If you see an error or typo in an article, please comment — we love corrections!
Questions, comments, complaints? Do comment.
Good luck keeping your sanity!
LOL…I’ll let you know how that all works out
Thanks for the clarification of everything, Robin. Frankly, I’m amazed that you and your contributors have managed to reply as diligently as you have to the comments here — I find it unique among the few blogs I frequent. Admittedly, it makes the experience much more warm, welcoming, and fostering of a sense of community (as does the back-and-forth of other commenters), but it is so reasonable to understand that you can only do so much! I congratulate you on making this slight change to your policy and securing [a little more of] your own peace of mind by setting a boundary! Thanks again for everything you NST folks do.
I have nothing to add to Joe’s comment: answering every comment must be a heavy time consuming task, especially as you get so many!
At the same time, I think it makes everyone feel special and part of a community…
So, while I totally support your decision I should also confess I was looking for the crying emoticon (without much success) to illustrate my feelings!
Aw! But I will not disappear from the conversation, I promise.
Joe, I’m really glad I was able to answer everyone for as long as I did. I do think there is a strong enough community here now that it isn’t as necessary as it once was…
You’ve been so extraordinarily cordial and attentive and thorough for so long, Robin. I don’t know how you’ve found the time and energy for as many follow-ups as you have (suffering from something I call good-girl syndrome, I’m supposing). This turn of events strikes me as a very healthy maturation phase. Deep breath now.
Thanks Quarry!
If I may just add my 2 cents:
I think it’s wonderful and definitely admirable Robin that you endeavour to make sure that you follow up on everyone’s comments as much as you do. In an absolute sea of blogs and web sites, it’s so refreshing to see such a personal touch. So kudos!
That’s nice, thanks!
The above commenters have said it well. Thanks again, Robin, and thanks to all your contributers.
The people above had said it better than I ever could, but I want to add my thanks and appreciation for all you do Robin. And whatever needs to be done to keep NST alive & kicking – so be it!
Heartily concur. And bless all of you folks at NST.
Ditto this!
A second ditto! Robin, your decision sounds very wise.
A third ditto. Robin, I always find it amazing that you and the others find the time to answer all the comments in a very informative, and helpful way. And also the other NST-readers are helpful when the one or the other has a question. The reviews are very helpful, very good and very informative.
Yes, the people above have said it better than I could. That doesn’t mean I won’t personally thank you.
You mean you have a life outside of this blog, R?! I would never have guessed.
Extremely reasonable. Thank you Robin and all, for your comments to us, who have asked questions, gone back, and gave us the time of day. You are my guru! I totally understand cutting back and censoring. I have been amazed that you can even do it! Bless you.
I think I check NST every day, yet I don’t even manage to read all the articles, let alone all the comments – there is so much valuable information, wit and wisdom here! Robin, I deeply appreciate your insights and welcoming comments, and I completely support whatever you need to do keep NST manageable and fun. Huge thanks for all you do!
2nd this!
Thanks everyone — everyone is so kind (as always)!
R, I hear you on the comments — remember when 8 or 10 was a good day? I applaud your continued efforts to keep up with the conversation.
Oh, and I will say that for as “spirited” as conversations can get about fragrance, I’ve always been impressed by how seldom things veer off into the inappropriate. Perfume people are good folks.
M, it is amazing how nice everybody is. About the only commenting problem we have is spam, and that isn’t even really a problem since it’s taken care of by the spam filter.