Here I’m sitting in my truck on Christmas Eve, glad it’s raining and no longer freezing outside.
On Christmas, here’s a message concerning the comments that this website gets below the stories that I write.
The message has two parts. Well, more than two, actually.
First, if you’re going to make the effort to type a comment, you might want to make sure it comes from a legitimate email address, namely yours.
Now and then, I want to send a comment back. Sometimes it’s to explain why it won’t be posted. The main reason for not posting a comment is that the sender attempts to insult another commenter.
Some insults are more or less harmless and some are even funny. Those usually get through. But others are based on a falsehood or otherwise distasteful, so I kill them.
But when I kill a message, I like to let the commenter know. So I send an email back.
A couple of times lately, my response immediately bounced back. “Your message could not be delivered because the address could not be found or the recipient is not accepting messages.” Or words to that effect.
I don’t know if people can send something from a phony email address. Maybe they can. Considering the nature of the comments I reject, it would not surprise me that their authors would resort to trickery like that.
The second thing is links. They are a pain, because as the moderator I can’t always tell just where the commenter wants to send readers, and moderating the comments is enough of a chore without having to check out all the links.
So from now on, is there’s a link, the comment will be nixed. Or at least the link itself will be. If you want to send readers somewhere for more information, tell them what they should search for on the net.
And third, what happened to spelling and punctuation? A typo here and there, that’s understandable. I make enough of those myself.
But some commenters seem to let their typing fingers follow their stream of consciousness without any intervening filters related to the language we all speak.
With all that said, let me add one more thing: I’m grateful that people read this website, and that sometimes they get motivated to write back. Especially when they think I’m wrong about something and they want to let me know.
So please, dear readers, keep the comments coming, and if I have a question about something you send in, I’ll try to send a reply to the email address that appears on my screen. (hh)
PS: About that photo above, with the fedora: I was walking through Fred Meyer Saturday when someone called out, “Hey, like your hat… Reminds me of my grandfather.”
Well. I thanked her, of course. As for me, I wear the hat mostly to keep the rain off my head.
No comment!
I thank you for your hard work and efforts. You keep us informed on a lot of interesting details about our town. Often times you are the only source of a particular event or place.
Hasso, thank you for the blog and a whole lot more. The work you do is important and read by more people than we know. It’s a wonderful insight on what people are thinking and that’s very important.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!!
Merry Christmas, Hasso and family! Your post is most appreciated. I hope your readers respect your space. Thank you for all of your newsworthy notes and thoughts.
Merry Christmas, Hasso! Thank you for your service in providing us readers with some local news! You are greatly appreciated by many!
Merry Christmas Hasso, hope to see you out riding next year.
I like the fedora, too. Reminds me of “kinder, gentler” times, but they weren’t kinder and gentler in lots of ways; we just didn’t have tech to tell us about every, awful, human-caused atrocity. We had fedoras and overcoats; not jeans with tatters and splits and holes that are considered attractive!!! Thanks, Hasso, for your blog.
Hello Hasso.
I realize that –technically speaking–I’m one holiday off, but I’d like to take this opportunity to give thanks for your work. After all these decades of reading your thoughts it’s a comfort to know I can read a bit of HH any time I like. And even though I’m not a resident of Albany, I find that many of your stories (and the comments they inspire) speak to broad topics that affect us all.
Lastly, I want to thank you for your attempts at making the HH experience more pleasant. Specifically, your efforts in cleaning up the comments section are greatly appreciated.
Thank you
“is there a link”
Spelling error… -1 point
Keep up the great articles.
re your hat – I wear one too, mostly to reduce the noise of raindrops splatting on the extension of my body that had hair at one time.
Thanks for your efforts Hasso and a Happy Holiday
I do appreciate your labor of love. Merry Christmas.
Thanks Hasso. I sure enjoy reading your blog. Merry Christmas. Greg Burbach
Merry Christmas Hasso!
Your blog has been a daily staple/regimen every morning since you started it. Keep up the good work sir!
The fedora reminds me of my earlier time with the JCPenney Co. in Roseburg. We had a small ~4’X5′ alcove with fedoras – all brown in “reg & long oval.” Good memories too. :-)
I’m surprised this is the one story Gordon Shadle hasn’t commented on. Maybe he’s too busy tormenting the Whos down in Whoville, NC.
Who wants to pay for a subscription to the DH when we can get all this news-torial content for free!
I’m thrilled to be a new reader! Merry Christmas!
Thank you, and welcome.
HH
A new topic every day. Can’t be easy.
The blog is reminiscent of a daily column in the Oregon Journal “Baker’s Dozen.” Thought provoking, informative, and interesting.
Hasso, like Alice in Wonderland, is “curiouser and curiouser.” His curiosity and bycycle take us all down interesting paths. Thank you Hasso for all you report and your balance and fairness in doing so.
Hasso, I also like the fedora, made me think of my late father. He had a job where he dressed in a white starched shirt, suit and tie, nice shoes (the kind that could be resoled back in the day) and of course the fedora. He also dressed for church and social events. I remember mom going to great pains to starch and carefully iron his shirts. An act of love for sure. I miss them both terribly especially this time of year. Merry Christmas. Thank you for your blog, I enjoy it very much.
I join the above comments and thank you so much for giving us the “fair and balanced” news of our area that are “strangely” missing elsewhere. Your updates make me feel like I am in touch with real news in Albany and the surrounding area. Many Thanks for your hard work! Happy 2023!
Hasso,
We, as a community, are very fortunate to have you keeping us informed of what is going on in our fair community. Please continue to keep us in the loop. Have yourself a very happy new year!
Your neighbor on Oak Grove,
Steve Brown
Hasso, I very much enjoy and appreciate your column for many reasons including that it reminds me of the good times I experienced during 22 years as your co-worker. On a related matter, I have several fedoras and also belong to a baseball history group on Facebook called “When We Wore Fedoras.” Season’s greetings and best wishes always!
Merry Christmas, Hasso! Keep up the great work!!