Comment Policy

I have decided that it is time for me to establish a comments policy. I probably should have done this earlier, but I didn’t, so here it is.

I moderate comments. I do this for two reasons, the first is so that I know when I get comments and what has been said, the second is so that anything that I find too egregious and offensive won’t be posted. Because of this, it can take some time for comments to appear. I do have things to (like sleeping, eating, class, etc) that cause me to be away from my computer for extended periods, during which comments won’t show up. This is unavoidable, and I don’t think it’s too big of a problem.

You probably noticed that I said I screen for offensive things, and you might be wondering what exactly qualifies. The honest answer is “I don’t know”, and I haven’t yet rejected a single comment (except for duplicate comments, just to prevent two copies from showing up). I’m a big proponent of free speech and saying whatever the hell you want, but I think that deliberate hatred wouldn’t get through. Just speaking your mind will never get you blocked, no matter how much I disagree with you.

You might have also noticed that I said I like to know when I get comments. It also gives me a good chance to read the comment, which I like to do (I read every comment, no matter how poor the spelling, grammar, arguments, or how much I disagree. The only thing that will get me is if it’s long and I’m busy). So yes, I do read every comment I get.

I also feel like I need to explain when I respond to comments. One blogger I read said that he is pretty “hands-off” with his comments, and that’s what I’m going for. I’m not going to respond to every single comment (which isn’t to say that I don’t appreciate comments, I do). The reasoning behind that is simple: it would take far too much time, I like my original post to speak for itself, and I have very little patience for going back and forth between two people who will obviously never agree. I do respond, and fairly frequently, but I have a loose policy of “once per commenter per post”, and I usually only respond for things I deem urgent.

That being said, if you really do want a personal response from me my E-mail address is posted in the sidebar, I will definitely respond to any E-mail I get. I’m also fairly sure that putting that address on the web has made it a huge spam target, I’ve gotten a crazy amount of those Nigerian scams, and filters don’t seem to handle them well. Oh well, I want the address to be easily clickable (the sacrifices I make!). So again, if you have anything you really want me to respond to, just use the E-mail, I promise I’ll respond.

I think that about covers it, if you have any question, comments, or concerns, just comment!