I activated a second feature on my Micro.blog-hosted site that I had turned off years ago while still on WordPress: Comments. They had become more trouble than they were worth, and there was always the once useful bird site, where real conversations could transpire. But those were different times.

In a moment of optimism, I have chosen to believe that the sign-in requirement with Mastodon, BluSky, or Micro.blog will reduce potential friction for me because I’ve encountered a lot less of it on these federating platforms. But time will tell. Right now, I can unmark a problematic comment so it doesn’t appear, but only after the comment is initially posted. (The developer behind Micro.blog is considering making prior-approval an option.) I also have the usual mute, block, and report options.

Next step: seeing what happens—and what I might still need to do—if I get any responses from other sites via webmention. I’m definitely enjoying what the IndieWeb community makes possible, but I wish its tools and documentation were more accessible to non-programming folk. I can deal with modern HTML and CSS, but that’s as far as it goes.