Comments, membership, and forum policies

Jun 30, 1998

Comments Policy

I have some spam-prevention measures in place:

• If you're not a logged-in member, your comments will be moderated. In addition, you will be asked to answer a captcha when you comment. Most days I check in a few times a day, so your comment shouldn't be kept in the queue too long.
• If you're a logged-in member, your comments will display instantly. In addition, you won't ever have to deal with captchas. (Isn't that nice?)
• You can include links in your posts. However, some URLs will be stripped out by the blacklist filter - especially porn or spam links.

I will not edit comments to remove information, or to change wording. I may reply to your comment, but I will either publish the whole thing or delete the whole thing. So if you must be vituperative...don't put your personal attack inside a comment that you really want to see published. Five words could damn five hundred, if those five are sufficiently stupid.

You can address your comments to me, or to another commenter. The only guideline you must follow is that of manners: disagreements are fine, but abuse or harrassment will not be tolerated.

You may disagree with what I post, you can even post rebuttals. But if your posts become derogatory or abusive, they may be edited or deleted. There's a difference between constructive criticism, differences in opinion, and being a rude obnoxious zealot. Discussions, dissenting opinions, arguments conducted with the respect for all others' points of view...those make a good site. Those make people want to come back, and keep coming back. Trolling, bullying, verbal abuse and harrassment, denigration...those make people want to keep silent or even stop visiting. I like my site traffic, and I'm rather fond of several of my regular visitors. If your actions discourage people from participating, your comments may be deleted and your participation may no longer be welcomed.

I participate in several memes. There's an occasional tendency of newer participants (or old-time participants who are having an exceedingly hectic day) to leave hit-and-run comments (single-word comments, extremely content-light comments, or overly generic comments) solely to get their link on others' sites. If this is your first time posting here, do not leave a hit-and-run comment or it will probably be deleted. If you're a long-time poster...hey. We all have hectic weeks. I'll understand. (And take some time to catch your breath, or you won't have any fun; and that's no way to be.)

Membership Policy

In much the same manner as the comments policy, if a member posts a comment of a forum thread that's bullying, harrassing, obscene, or derogatory, the content will be removed and the member may be banned. This isn't a zero-tolerance policy, nor is it a 'three strikes you're out' policy. This is a completely arbitrary, did-you-catch-me-on-a-good-day policy. And once a member is banned, there will be no unbanning. There will be no reversal of the decision. There will be no re-registering. The username, screen name, and email address will all be banned. (Truly nasty offenders may even find themselves unable to comment on the site in any fashion.) So if someone posts or comments trying to bait you...think before you reply.

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