Hi there. I’m sure those of you who get around the blogosphere much recognize the abundance of anonymous antagonists who contribute to the line noise in otherwise perfectly one-sided discussions. We call such people trolls, and when they succeed in eliciting the flaming piles of response that they crave, we call this “feeding the troll.”

Outside of Groklaw, this is the only real blog that I read regularly. I also read Slashdot, which now has a political section (decidedly liberal); and LinuxToday (only FOSS politics there). Anyway, when Aaron put out the announcement for outside authors, I refrained from volunteering due to my standing with regards to a certain political compass. Nevertheless, I find it difficult to refrain from commenting from time to time, and finally Aaron suggested that I register to post. Of course, I have known Aaron for quite a while. You don’t just invite any old troll into the house.

I’m not entirely disagreeable, and I’m certainly not anonymous. You may also be surprised to know that I consider myself Conservative. Naturally, political labels mean whatever you want these days, so take it for what it’s worth. There is one other way in which I differ from the traditional troll, and it is that I can be persuaded. As it turns out, I happen to be married to a person whose many qualities far exceed my own, and I am therefore very familiar with the distinctive flavor of Humble Pie.

At any rate, I suppose it is a bit of a novelty when a blog allows posts from an individual with viewpoints that sometimes differ considerably from the overall tone. We’ll see what happens.