Everything in Moderation

I'm afraid that the spam comments have gotten so bad that I'm going to have to enable comment moderation for this blog. I am going to moderation, starting tomorrow, because it's taking nearly half an hour a day to delete the spam comments individually. With Blogger's moderation feature, I can delete them all in a few seconds.

What does that mean for you, my lovely commenters? Well, your comments might not (will almost certainly not) appear immediately. (And they certainly won't appear right above or below one hawking various dubious prescription drugs.) Other than that, not much. (If you think your comment got mixed up with spam and erroneously deleted, email me, or just repost it.)

The Dress A Day Comments Policy will remain as it always has: no spam, and no outrageous personal attacks. What's an outrageous personal attack? That's when someone says something horrible about either another commenter or someone who sent in their dress picture ... not about me. As the blogger, I'm always fair game. If you want to say I'm a cast-iron beeyotch whose only taste is in her mouth -- go for it! Say that about somebody else, though, and the big red DELETE button gets pushed.

One more time -- disallowed comments:

PERSONAL ATTACK (on another commenter): "You're stupid, and your mother dresses you funny. Oh, wait, you dressed YOURSELF?"

SPAM: "Hi! Nice desing [sic]! Visit my SITE [drug url redacted]!"

Allowed comments:

CONSIDERED ARGUMENT: "Your defense of the Peter Pan collar is wildly in error."

PERSONAL ATTACK (on Erin): "Erin, I can't believe they let you near a keyboard, much less a sewing machine. I wouldn't let my dog wear that dress. Do us all a favor and drop dead."

See? Very simple.

But what does all this have to do with this gold Vera Wang dress? Absolutely nothing. It's just lovely to look at, and it has pockets! The pockets push this from "I can't imagine myself wearing that in a million years" to "I can't imagine myself wearing that in a thousand years." (Even though it's really lovely, I don't have a gold lamé evening dress lifestyle. Not through lack of trying, though ...) See the power of pockets? Thanks to Ellie in London for sending it in!

[Why am I not using CAPTCHA? This is why. Why am I not switching to WordPress with all their anti-spam plugins and whatnot? Because I'm damn lazy.]

Comments

[Henriette]

Sorry to hear about your troubles with spam...I'd so wish someone would put these people to jail for wasting everybody's time. If I only understood WHY they do it? I agree with you on the dress/pockets/gold...but what really struck me was the model...I hope this doesn't count as a personal attack on somebody else, but she's just too skinny - I'm jumping on that BMI over 18-bandwaggon...(and certainly manage to have one over 18 IRL as well ;-)

[twollin]

Erin - now, I view those pockets differently. Vera Wang obviously was trying to do something to keep this pathetically thin girl from freezing to death out there and actually sewed mittens on the sides of the dress to keep her hands warm!!! Vera might not be following the new guidelines (and from what I read none of the other designers are, either), but at least she is doing her part to keep this little mite warm, while at the same time allowing all observers to "bone" up on their Physiology of the Human Skeleton" lessons. Tres clever, Vera.

[stacy]

I hear you on your problems with spam! Most of the time movable type's filter picks them up, but occasionally they will leak through. I went to clean my blog's spam out and found over 300!!! Mostly from the last week.

[Anonymous]

Of course the first thing I thought when I saw the dress wasn't "pockets!" It was "why isn't she wearing a slip for goodness sake?"My grandmother would be so proud.--Lydia

[Julia]

Yes, why is it that elegant dressing seems always to exclude long sleeves? Even when I lived in Fargo, when Easter came around all the Easter dresses in the stores were short-sleeved or sleeveless. And don't get me started on pattern books blandly labeled "Winter 2007" A REALLY good designer would surmount the challenge of dressing for the weather.

[Natalie]

I agree with Stacy. I had a lot of spam on my site, but eliminated it by turning on Word Verfification. I haven't had any since (but will now since I just wrote that). Maybe you already knew about it, but just thought I'd send the thought your way. It will save you a lot of time going through all the comments.Love your site, btw, I've been reading for a long time!

[Lisette]

Erin, I always learn something when I read your blog, and usually it has nothing to do with dresses. The dresses are just the dessert that gets me to eat my dinner!

[Anonymous]

But throw a fluffy cardigan over that dress and it's perfect for lounging around the house.Cause god knows I wouldn't be caught dead in it outside the house.

[Brenda]

Rest assured that even with Wordpress, and all the zippy anti-spam plugins, you'd still get spam. I'm not sure what's up, but everyone I know seems to be getting more than their usual share this week.Have to disagree with you on the choice of dress today, purely on the basis of rumple factor. If I want to look like like I've just picked any old thing off my bedroom floor and put it on, I can do that without Vera's help.

[India]

I wouldn't mind looking like I'd just picked any old thing off my bedroom floor, as long as it was clear that my bedroom floor was positively carpeted with Vera Wang dresses.

[meara]

Dude! I am in Minnesota this week, and went to the Mall of America, and tried on a bunch of dresses...and one that I tried I was all "Hmm, this is pretty nice...OMG! IT HAS POCKETS! MUST BUY!"Of course, it helped that it was also only $22.

[Anonymous]

I kind of like the Vera Wang dress, although I do not have a gold lame' lifestyle, either. The only think that I don't like is the sheer ruffly collar thingy that looks like it is worn underneath the shoulder straps of the dress. That would need to go. It's just one thing too many.Amy

[lilymarlene]

I saw this in our paper (UK Times) and it was dungarees! not a dress! Si it technically doesn't belong in this blog!(LOL)However it is gorgeous and I wish I was a suitable shape to wear it!!!!!!

[Erin]

Wait! It's PANTS?I feel so USED.

[Heather Outside Boston]

Okay, so being (um, vaguely) pants (shudder) explains why there's no slip, but I swear I can hear my grama exhorting "tap pants."

[Moonwishes]

Even if they are pants, she still needs something underneath. If she weren't doing that weird model walk, you would be seeing things that should not be viewed in public.I to wonder why the spammers don't get a REAL life instead of annoying people.

[cathy]

Thank you for not using CAPTCHA. (I didn't know what it was called till now.) It's such an obstacle for vision-impaired people (hadn't thought about mobility-impaired), who are sophisticated computer users. The "if you can't see this, click here" option is usually a weak alternative and definitely slows down communication.I'm not vision-impaired myself, but I'm committed to accessibility of information and communication.As for Easter dresses in Fargo - I got that - and even in the San Francisco Bay Area, it's not exactly balmy if you go to an Easter Vigil service the night before Easter. I think Easter dresses are a retail state of mind.

[Thoughts on Life and Millinery.]

My daughter had a gold lame prom dress, and let me tell you, gold lame shows EVERYTHING. Completely lining it only serves to then highlight the lining.What do we have to do to get designers to remember that sleeves also serve as a design detail? Do we need a campaign slogan?Here's one:Sleeves and Pockets for President!Well, maybe we should try another one...

[vespabelle]

I certainly like elements of this PANTSUIT (ooh, the word burns!)The twist in the middle is nice. I think if this was made into a dress and done in something other than lame it would be pretty nice.Before Christams I was hunting high and low for a formal dress to wear to a wedding in India (where bare shoulders aren't appropriate) and I had the hardest time. I could find long sleeved matronly stuff (ugly and too hot for India) or strapless/spaghetti strapped dresses. I eventually resorted to separates!

[enc]

What a shame that things went so far as to force you into moderation. I'm sorry for that. The dress is so wild, though, I love it. Not that I could ever find a place or circumstance in which to wear it . . . I can love it and not have to have it!

[Anonymous]

Knowing we share a love for pockets, I just have to point out this Betsey Johnson swimsuit with pockets! I wish I had a better way of guiding you to it, but try pasting this into your browser window and clicking on the thumbnail.http://nymag.com/fashion/fashionshows/2007/spring/main/newyork/womenrunway/betseyjohnson/index1.htmlGina

[Anonymous]

I'm all for winter clothing that's designed to actually be worn IN THE WINTER. I keep telling my husband that if he wants me to wear any of the cute clothes he notices and thinks would look nice on me that he's going to have to let me turn up the heat about 15 degrees so I don't freeze to death in them.~Shannon

[Elrond Hubbard]

I'm all for a dress with pockets. And this one gives little impression that it has any! I am sometimes (not often) asked to hold a woman's keys for her during an event. "You are the guy who holds my keys at weddings" someone said to me once, in describing her relationship to me. And there was this other time when I had been dating a woman a little, not a deep or long-term thing, and she asked me to hold her keys for her. Later that night we decided to quit dating. I drove 30 minutes home, got to my doorstep, and found her keys in my pocket. I had to drive the 30 minutes back to her to give them back, sit through our breakup being reaffirmed, then drive the 30 minutes back home again. So, I'm all about a dress with pockets. But keys would weigh this one down! Which brings me to the next big issue which I'm about, which is minimizing one's keys and keyrings. But that's another subject.

[Juliane]

My first impression of this was "large gold Hefty bag showing innovative use of twist ties" but now, after consideration, I do like the pockets. They appear to be beaded. And how in the world was the neckline put together? That's not just your regular old double row of gathering threads going on there. Any ideas?And how did yall miss those platform heels? 1970 all over again!Julianewww.retrograce.blogspot.com

[Anonymous]

Erin, I adore your blog and am delighted each time you post. However, I do not fully understand your delight in evening dresses with pockets. I, too, love pockets in my clothing, but in evening wear, I suck it up and use it as an excuse to carry a beautiful bag. 95% of the people I have seen wearing pocket-bedecked evening dresses have used it as an excuse to SLOUCH. We must fight against bad posture. Please explain the source of your delight! -Emily