Ability To Embed Images In Comments Portends Apocalypse

To keep the comments as fresh and outstanding as they've been up to this point, we've commissioned Commenting Guru Rob Iracane, co-editor of Walk Off Walk, to write a bi-weekly Comment Ombudsman column. It runs every other week. This is that week.

Mr. Iracane is the guy who approves and deletes comments around here, and the fellow to whom you should address any comment account requests, and he will explore issues involved in commenting, what makes a great comment thread, what's working, what isn't, answer your questions, so on. We want the place to continue to be as much fun as it is every day, and it's not an execution thread like our friends at Gawker do. We like to be inclusive here, because if we're not, we'd be forced to rely on our own wit and knowledge, and that's a scary thought indeed.

So here's this week's column, on putting images in the comments, after the jump. Of course, don't be afraid to let him have it in the comments.

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The super awesome Gawker tech folks have been giving us commenters a couple new toys to fool around with over the past few months. First, they gave us the power to embed YouTube clips in our comments. I'm happy to say that the Deadspin commentariat has not abused this privilege! Congratulations, everyone, for not posting anything disturbing or entirely off-topic in the comment section.

The Gawker tech folks then decided to grant us the ability to embed images in comments. What could possibly go wrong? One of our crudest commenters ( who actually collected a Commenter of the Fortnight award last week ... what was I thinking?) posted a huge and very nasty image in a comment last week. Don't go looking for it because it's since been purged from the Internets. I'm not 100% sure what it was but it looked very similar to the inside of Katie Couric's colon. Gross. This commenter has since been banned from Deadspin but his contribution lives on, etched into our collective retinas.

Folks, if you are going to post an image in your comment, please make it either (a) relevant or (b) hilarious. Unlike embedded YouTube videos, images require a ton of policing for inappropriateness. YouTube videos are about 99% safe for work; they usually don't contain pornography, obscenity or the Mike Schmidt crying clip (seriously, can anyone find video of this? Email me.) Images, however, can exist on any network location so there is no other source we can rely on to censor clips. Instead, we have to police ourselves and narc out anyone who posts pictures of gaping. Be my little Stasi: if you see something, say something.

These commenters, however, don't need to lean on the crutch of images because they made the Comments of the Fortnight:

•Re: Timberwolves' Clever New Ticket Price Policy Gourmet Spud: Not to be outdone, the Nuggets have announced they will base next year's prices on a multiple of Carmelo Anthony's blood-alcohol level.

•Re: The Pope's Visit to Nationals Park Balls State Explorer: Another freakin' post about a former Cardinal.

•Re: The Padres-Rockies marathon 22-inning game RachelRayIsTheDevil: Gargantuan next day peanut dump