Congratulations! I want the honor of being your first commenter.
And for substance, I'll write more about it later, but I have a funny feeling that A-Rod will be in pinstripes by Opening Day.

Here's hope this goes well...

Dr. Manhattan, which pinstripes do you mean? Becuase I don't see the Cubs getting A-Rod.

WOOHOO!!! First Post! Oops, darn!

ARod isn't coming to the Yankees. We may have 7 starting pitchers again, but I don't think ARod is going to come over. I heard that Little Matsui isn't interested in coming to the Yankees because he'll always be 2nd to Godzilla.

I've been waiting for this!

Your website is fantastic. I only read political/news blogs, but read yours now daily too (since July or so).

I hope you continue to enjoy writing, and hope that you enjoy having comments as well.

Most of us will follow whatever guidelines you require......

.....just be ready for the critics, you're going to get 'em.

David, I don't know what version of MovableType you're using, but if it's at least 2.6 then I strongly recommend installing Jay Allen's MT Blacklist, which is a very easy and effective method for blocking comment spams. I've got it installed and it works like a champ.

From personal experience, I also recommend posting some kind of policy statement about comments, in particular a statement about what sort of behavior will not be tolerated. At least that way no one can complain about not knowing the rules.

Thanks for the great blog! I look forward to seeing some interesting comment threads to complement your posts.

Thanks David.

I'm glad you opened up the comments so that I can tell you what a fine blog you have here.

I just stumbled upon it recently and have thoroughly enjoyed the content.

Congrats on the comments Dave! I always enjoy when you post other readers' comments, and I look forward to reading some of them first hand.

I'm glad you opened up for comments, but I can also understand your concerns. I don't get many comments on my site, but when I do I occasionally have to edit them for vulgarities, readability, display issues, etc. It can become a pain. I hope this works out for you!

Great site. Keep up the good work.

David,

Finally! :) Now I can rant about my things right here instead of emailing you. Hopefully no one will abuse this and it will work out well. Wonderful site. Thanks so much for your efforts.

Good to see you jump in. I don't think the negative stuff about comments is as bad as people think. In the 3 years I've had them at Bambino's Curse I've only had a couple of times (knock on wood) when things have gotten out of hand.

On thing that is true, though, is if you have a really popular site (and Baseball Musings is) the comments can quickly become too much to deal with.

For instance the comments on a site like LGF tend to run into the 100s for each post. And it's rare the person who has the time/patience to read through them all so you end up with the same things being repeated over and over and it just becomes a waste of time.

Steady as she goes ...

LGF? What's that stand for?

Little Green Footballs, a conservative news blog.

David, great blog, my favorite general-interest baseball one. And good luck with the comments. I'm sure everything will be fine.

Hi David,

I'm an American baseball fan currently living in Sweden. I used to watch you on Baseball Tonight every night, and then I discovered your blog a few months ago: I now read it daily.

Thanks a lot!

MT-Blacklist will keep out the bulk of comment-spammers, and when you get one, there's an easy interface from the e-mailed comment you receive (if you've turned that feature on) to add the url of the offender to your local blacklist. There are currently ~510 urls in the centralized list which get banned automatically, btw.

Sports blogs may attract a few of the foul-mouthed sort, I'm sure, but not anywhere close to the political blogs. I'd say you're reasonably safe.

Good on yer, mate!

hey dave. just wanted to say i enjoy your site and your efforts and routinely laud its content to friends. BM makes it easier to keep up with the game i love.

go phils.

Hey David,

I used to chat with you on ESPN's baseball tonight feature - which sadly hasn't been continued the past few years :( In any case, I still stop in to view the blog every once in a while. Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to discuss the sport of baseball with your fellow fans. Your articles are always insightful and are always a good read. Keep up the good work.

By the By, in an era of Britney Spears and Lil Kim, it's very refreshing to see someone with a well traficked blog with a strict no obscenities policy.

I can't pretend not to use them but three cheers to David for his decency and resounding decorum!!