Moderating Comments - House Rules

I've been away the last week, so I haven't been checking on things. My previous post has spawned several hits, and a few comments. Yes, I do moderate my comments. I have published some and declined to publish others. Why would I do that if I feel that a discussion and debate are good for society as a whole? Well, I have a few simple rules about what I will or will not publish:

1. I will not publish unintelligible comments. I expect my readers to be able to express themselves in reasonably good English (ou en français s'ils préfèrent s'exprimer dans nôtre autre langue officielle).
2. I do not publish profanity, full stop. If you cannot express your point of view without using f# and the like, kindly take a deep breath, grab a thesaurus and a couple of style books and get back to me once you've chosen to behave in a more civilized manner.
3. I do not publish what I consider to be kindergarten comments - e.g. comments on other commentators rather than the subject at hand. It takes away from the discussion and, personally, when I'm reading other blogs I find it annoying to have to scroll through 20 "you're a ...." "no, you're a...." "well you're a double..." et.al to try and get to the heart of the debate. Be witty not stupid, and stick to the point.
   
4. If there is a reference to a website in any comment, I will check the site prior to making any decisions regarding the publication of the comment. If the site the link is directing to itself links to material which I deem to be not in keeping in the spirit of this blog. I reserve the right to decline to publicize a site.
5. If I decline to publish a comment, I will try to do the courtesy of e-mailing the individual an explanation as to why I declined to publish their comment and offer them an opportunity to re-submit their point of view pursuant to my simple guidelines. In the event that the individual declines to provide an address or means by which I can contact them, well, I am not going to pursue them to the ends of the earth.

In short - my house, my rules.

I have a responsibility to my readers to present an environment where reasonable discussion of issues can occur amongst reasonable individuals. So what is a reasonable individual?

I define them as a person who, when presented with information which may contradict their current beliefs, will conscientiously examine and evaluate it prior to deciding to accept or reject it. Furthermore, they are open to discussing why it is that they are accepting or rejecting it as well as why they may be revise their opinion as a result.

I would like to believe that people form their opinions on issues based on the information that they have at any given time. As more information becomes available, a person's opinion may very well evolve, but that should be as the result of a reasoning process.

So in conclusion:

• Play nice
  
• Defend your turf in an intellectually rigorous but respectful manner
  
• Be open to the fact that you might not have all the information
• Be honest if you change your mind about something based on any new information you might come across.

And if you are unwilling to abide by my rules, then don't be surprised if you don't see your comments here.