« The Coming Entitlements Crunch | Main | Obama's B-1A? »

April 6, 2009

Comment Policy and Thoughts on Commenting

I've long resisted posting a comment policy because I don't want to scare people off. Also, if I write something specific then I need to be held to it, and I don't want to restrict either you or me too much. I generally want an anything goes comment section, but please understand that I have my limits.

So I won't write a specific policy, just relay a few of my thoughts on the matter.

I won't pretend to be a saint on the matter of decorum. We're all fallen creatures, and give in to temptation occasionally and say things we shouldn't. We've all flipped someone off in traffic, said something to someone somewhere that we regret, or written an angry comment on a blog in the heat of the moment. The question is, when you cool off are you able to recognize when you go too far? You should never be proud of a mean or nasty personality.

Our First Amendment gives you the right to speak, but it doesn't give you the right to be heard. You do not have a right to comment on someone's blog or say anything you want while visiting. Let's not, therefore, have any talk about restricting democracy or free speech. Just to make the point, I'm going to shut off comments to this post.

If you have a question please contact me by email.

On most blogs anything goes, while a few go to great lengths to maintain decorum. A few, like National Review's The Corner, allow no comments because they know they'd be raided by the nasties. To be fair, I recognize that there are liberal sites who probably do not allow comments for the same reason, as conservatives aren't saints either. Bill Roggio, primary author at The Long War Journal, and one of the better-informed MilBloggers whether you agree with him or not, posts this policy on his site:

The comments section is intended to provide a forum to discuss and debate current posts. The Long War Journal makes no warranty to the accuracy of readers' comments, nor do we condone or affirm the opinions of reader-based comments. Discuss the issue at hand and do not go off topic. The comments section is not a place for a political discussion. Please be courteous to your fellow commenters. Personal attacks on the editors, authors, or readers of The Long War Journal sites will not be permitted. Please refer to current and former elected officials and public leaders respectfully. Offensive language, cursing (including replacing letters with characters), racial or ethnic slurs, and sexist remarks will not be tolerated. In the interest of keeping the comments section readable, please post a link to any articles, and excerpt the portions of the article that make your points. Any comments with the full article will be edited.

Commenters will be required to leave an e-mail address and are encouraged to submit their website or URL also. E-mail addresses will not be published to the site; however, if it is determined that it is a false address, the comment will be removed.

The Long War Journal reserves the right to edit, delete, or decline to publish any comments that violate this policy, and prevent any repeat offender from commenting.

If you have any questions on the comments policy or problems with the site, email Bill Roggio.

He means it too, and I've seen his periodic warnings to people to tone it down. He's fair and evenhanded, slapping both sides as needed. I even recall one of my comments disappearing years ago when I took a someone to task in a way he found unacceptable. I probably deserved it, too. As I said, I'm no saint.

Roggio is a bit more strict than I'll enforce here. I also won't require registration or a password, as I find it annoying when I visit sites that do.

If you're interested in a serious comment from me, be nice. It's less likely I'll respond if you're mean. This is just basic Dale Carnegie people skills. It's not that I don't want comments from people who disagree with me. I do, because if done well they keep me honest.

At the time of this writing I've been blogging since April of 2004, 5 years, and have written 1,250 entries with 1,155 comments since moving from blogger in June of 2005 (comments left at blogger didn't transfer). Throughout that time I've only banned 2 commenters and deleted less than 5 comments. That's pretty tolerant, I think.

Everyone has their hot buttons. Mine is an elitist condescending attitude. Try that and you may end up as #3. Cursing is also not appreciated.. Otherwise, almost anything except outright racism and such goes and you should be fine.

Who knows, I may even agree with liberals more thank you think I will.

Just understand that I reserve the right to delete a specific comment or ban you entirely.

Finally, the comments section is just that; an area for you to comment on my post. I will probably respond to most disagreements but don't have time for long-winded never-ending debates. I also like to give commenters the last word. If you want to entertain yourself with the notion that if I don't answer all of your questions it's because you've stumped me, or if I don't respond to all of your points it's an admission that I'm wrong, just go away right now. Like all of you I've got a million other things to do in life and probably spend too much time at this as it is.

Thank you for visiting.

Posted by Tom at April 6, 2009 8:32 PM