...those are fine. Weird, but amusing. And I can usually figure out who is asking them based on the kind of humor indicative of a particular friend. For example, the pants question comes from my brother Joe, who is referencing an episode of The Simpsons where Krusty becomes a smokey-stage comedian telling edgy jokes. He talks about how much he hates money, and then ushers his audience to burn their money. At his next show, Homer is excited because he hopes Krusty will ask them to burn their pants. When his bit starts and he doesn't immediately go to the burning of things, Homer shouts, "Don't you hate pants!?" This has become a running joke for us. Once, when my good friend Ross' band was playing, between songs I shouted, "Don't you hate pants?" No one seemed to get it, but Joe and I thought it was funny.
Unfortunately, strangers have begun asking hurtful questions. Not very often, but enough that it's getting annoying. So, I'm not allowing anonymous questions on Formspring anymore. From now on, you will have to sign in to Formspring with your Facebook account and leave your name. That way if you ask something I find offensive, I can block any further questions from you. I'm not going to lie and say these kinds of questions don't hurt my feelings a little, but that isn't the main reason why I'm doing it. I'm just tired of seeing them.
So, there is that.
I really do enjoy the Formspring questions about my books and writing, and hope those will continue. And I like the goofy questions from my friends. I even answer a few of them. Even the ones I don't answer, I usually find amusing. I'm pretty tolerant of quirkiness, but I'm also smart enough to know when I'm being asked a silly question by a friend, and an offensive question by a troll with nothing better to do than harass someone they don't know.
Sorry if this came off as preachy, but it had to be said.
