UPDATE: Link to allowable HTML tags in the Disqus comments.
Comments should be
- Respectful
- in one’s own words
- Contain evidence of claims
- Contribute to the topic or knowledge of readers (and me)
- Answer questions (if asked)
Comments should not be
- insulting
- attacks on others
- racist or sexist
- making bald accusations or claims
- 5000 words of copy and pasted screed
In other words, I expect commenters to act like adults. Failure to do so will result in being moderated.
I’ve been blogging for over three years now. I have placed exactly one person in moderation over all that time. I have done so out of harassment more than anything else. I don’t have time to explain for the 50th time, why, to one person who, in three years of discussion has not bothered to learn anything.
I don’t plan on banning anyone, ever. I will moderate someone when they offer nearly intolerable insult or have a complete disregard for how to actually discuss topics like an adult. There will be multiple warnings, because I’m really too nice of a person.
This isn’t the best way for me to do things. It would be better to ban someone and be done with it. However, I have a problem. When I’m in a certain mood, then I enjoy nothing better than taking arguments apart piece by little piece. When I’m in other moods, though, the whole thing just pisses me off. Mainly because these are the same arguments that have been used for (in some cases) decades. There is nothing new under the creationist sun.
Like I said, this policy leaves me open to criticism of only allowing comments that I can argue against or not allowing telling arguments through. That isn’t the case. I will say that I retain every single comment ever posted on my blogs. I do this because of threats that I have received.
Finally, this is my tiny little corner of the Internet. I enjoy having people stop by and visit. I don’t enjoy having my space shit in.