JEEZ, I HATE THESE THINGS: A reader sent me an email asking why I never link to The Belmont Club. Er, I do. But when I responded, I got this:

I apologize for this automatic reply to your email.

To control spam, I now allow incoming messages only from senders I have approved beforehand.

If you would like to be added to my list of approved senders, please fill out the short request form (see link below). Once I approve you, I will receive your original message in my inbox. You do not need to resend your message. I apologize for this one-time inconvenience.

Click the link below to fill out the request:

I didn’t click. Don’t send me email if you have this service on your site, unless you’ve added me first. I don’t have time — or inclination — to waste my time in order to save yours, and I think the whole thing is rather rude.

On the original topic, I like The Belmont Club and have linked to it often, just not lately, I guess. No special reason. Same with InstaPunk and a long list of other sites. Usually, if I haven’t linked a site in a while, it’s not because of any special reason or because I’m mad(heck, I still link Junkyard Blog sometimes). It’s just, you know, whatever blogging groove I’m in at the moment.

UPDATE: Okay, now I’m really unhappy. Reader Anne Sullivan sent me an email complaining that I hadn’t answered some earlier email that I never saw, and when I sent a reply, I got the same damn message above.

I repeat — DO NOT email me if you are too lazy to have added my name to your whitelist before you do.

And I’m not the only one to feel this way.