If you’ve noticed some odd reader comments here on Acts of Volition in the last little while, rest assured that we’re as confused as you are.

Starting about a month ago, comments started showing up here on Acts of Volition on old posts, where the were no other comments, or the conversations were long dead. Perhaps you’ve noticed some of the more peculiar comments, including: odd letters to Bill Gates, weird robot talk, a Korn fan named jimmibob, and strangest of all, some crazy-ass comments on the death of Biggie Smalls (removed because they were offensive).

The nature of the comments makes it clear that the posters aren’t at all familiar with the nature and content of the site and conversations that go on here. I’m glad to welcome new people to the site, but these replies feel more like people driving by and yelling out their window than sending a note or dropping by for a chat.

My best guess as to why this has started happening all of the sudden is some change in the way Google is indexing the site. We did recently redesign this site with a URL scheme that’s a bit more friendly to search engine indexers. Still, I don’t see this kind of behaviour on other sites (or maybe I just haven’t seen it).

I don’t want to close comments down on old posts. Some readers may come along with pertinent links or comments on old posts - they should be able to add them. I guess we’ll just to grin and bear it.