Please keep in mind as you read the policies below that this is a personal blog site that two private individuals are paying to have accessible on the internet.
- In order to make comments you must have an approved user account. You can register here. We generally only approve accounts for people we know personally. If you register and are denied access you can always appeal via email for an exception.
- The first comment of any registered user is held for approval by the comment moderator before appearing in the comment section.
- Once a user’s first comment is approved any subsequent comments are screened by WordPress’s automated content moderation and may be flagged for review by the comment moderator. If a screened comment is rejected by the moderator you will receive an email indicating that your comment has been rejected.
- Comments that pass automated screening are still subject to periodic review by the moderator and will be rejected if deemed to violate any of the following prohibitions:
- Comments deemed to be spam or solely promotional in nature. This is not a total ban on promoting material from other sources, but it must be relevant to the topic of the post.
- Off-topic comments. This includes “whataboutisms.”
- Ad hominem comments. This applies only to argumentation. Expressing empathy, admiration, affection, congratulations are all perfectly fine. So are substantive criticisms of someone else’s arguments. You can even call someone a liar, thief, con artist, criminal, sociopath, etc., provided the designation is a conclusion to your argument, not a premiss. Labelling someone’s character using one of these terms and then drawing conclusions about the value of their arguments from that label will get your comment rejected.
- Comments containing language or concepts that the moderator deems offensive. This includes discriminatory, abusive, harassing, threatening, pornographic, misleading or libelous language. You don’t like political correctness? You may certainly complain to the moderator via email or mention it in a comment section if it’s relevant to the topic, but exercise political correctness while you are complaining.
- “Fake news” comments. You are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts. You are furthermore not entitled to use this site to promote demonstrable falsehoods. You want others to read your comments? Double-check your sources, verify your claims, and if your “facts” are reasonably in doubt, say so yourself, or exercise some self-restraint and drop them from your arguments. I’m sorry I even have to write this to fellow adults, but sad experience has taught me this warning is necessary. Fail to observe this standard and your entire comment may disappear into the ether. Even worse, it may be left out for others to read in the company of a thorough critique that uses detailed counter-evidence to expose the falsehoods you didn’t catch.