I just read "Online, Anonymity Breeds Contempt", Julie Zhou, New York Times, 2010-11-30. From it I learned the term for people who leave comments like I mentioned in "A couple examples of how some 'discourse'"; these posters are called trolls. For more on internet trolls, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29.
I've seen some of the off-the-wall comments on other blogs and I've received combative phone calls and letters from complete strangers. I decided that I'm not going to open the Irregular Blog to any of that.
Besides, I would have to read all the comments, respond when appropriate (including writing thanks), and delete comments that are inappropriate. That means I would write even fewer blog entries, which are getting too infrequent to attract many readers.
What do you think? If you know me, drop me a line or say something next time you see me.
