I doubt it’s really a secret at this point that we here at the Splog treat the Breaking News blog over at the Times with the sort of reverence normally afforded to an angry tiki volcano god. Somehow, magically, every day it brings us a plentiful bounty of pure, Florida-grade genius from the far reaches of the underpass where Casey lives to the very heart of downtown St. Pete. I study it like a true devotee. I try not to anger it. Periodically I have to feed it a goat or two. Suffice it to say that I have cultivated an unhealthy familiarity with its finer details.

You might remember that at some point it looked like the editors decided to turn comments off on the blog. That didn’t seem to last long, as some posts were coming through with comments turned on. At first I thought that maybe having comments on was the default setting for posts and that, periodically, some writers simply forgot to turn them off.

I don’t think that’s the case, and besides, that would be the non-sensationalist explanation. It’s more interesting to try to find a pattern in the kinds of posts where comments are allowed. It was this post that got me to thinking about all this a little harder. Yes, Pasco is getting a mosque. The fact that it’s even getting mentioned is, of course, its own special kind of Florida issue.

It’s not really the content of the story that’s all that interesting. No, it’s the fact that according to the law of Times comments, within forty-five seconds of the post, someone had something bigoted to say. You could set your watch by that shit. So, that answered my first question. The blog comments aren’t really moderated, at least not in the gatekeeping way that comments are moderated on the primary stories.

Don’t get me wrong. Most blog comments to me are of the compelling-like-a-slow-motion-sports-injury variety. The signal to douchebag ratio is a little lopsided to say the least. In fact, allow me to take this opportunity to issue a blanket statement to 98% of the people who comment on Times stories, contrary to what you may have been told by the people who inexplicably look up to you, you are not funny, clever, insightful, relevant, creative, or generally worth listening to. Also, green is not your color. Seriously, who told you you look good in that?

The real issue is, then, is there some logic to which posts are left open? Are they more controversial? It’s hard to say. Here’s a sampling of posts left open in November:
Pasco’s first mosque to open Saturday
Former USF Athletics director Dick Bowers dies
Pinellas Park man charged in dating service robberies
Hogan: Wife can support herself
Man faces burglary charges
Three protesters arrested outside Mahaffey
Wesley Chapel mall announces tenant line-up
Apathy, the homeless, and not much else outside Mahaffey Theater
Road closures for tonight’s debate
Hernando deputies seek Warlocks leader in stabbing
McMullen-Booth Road reopened in Safety Harbor after construction accident
Brief lockdown for two Zephyrhills schools
Nick Bollea’s friend: We were going 100 mph
Local Salvation Army pulls used toys from its shelves
Judge plans leave for missionary trip
Google aims for green cheaper than coal
Pinellas Bayway tolls to more than double

Pattern? I got nothin’. Time to fire up the super computer and run some analytics.