I’ll be honest here. When I write on this blog, I mainly write about things that interest me. I also want to inform others and perhaps express some thoughts that others have, as well. In that regard, This blog is sort of a journal, but one that I allow others to read (and comment on).
Now, I have not faced any trolls (so far), but in any case, I felt the need to create this page in order to show my policies on dealing with them. Ideally, I would like all comments from visitors to be seen and to respond to them, but there will be times when comments so bad, they deserve to be savaged or even barred from seeing the light of day.
With this in mind, here are the rules/guidelines for commenting on this blog:
Read Each Post Fully Before Commenting.
I love comments as much as the next person, but I don’t have much tolerance for disrespect, willful ignorance, and anyone who has the nerve to leave a comment without giving my posts a good read-through.
When I leave comments on other blogs, I never do so without fully reading each post I respond to. The other bloggers put so much thought and time into their work that skimming it or leaving a comment after only reading 10% or less of a post is downright disrespectful.
Especially in times of disagreement, I feel it would be wrong for a reader to just spout off without weighing all that the writer put forth. Likewise, I want any who feels like leaving a comment on a post of mine — whether they agree or disagree with it — to fully weigh my arguments and views before presenting theirs.
In the past, I responded to someone who admitted to not reading a post fully. That might change. Now, If someone who reads a post, stops after reading half of it or less, and expects me to respond (fully), I might respond like this:
READER: I didn’t read this whole post/I stopped at this point …
ME: I didn’t read your whole comment and stopped right there.
Be Respectful.
Be respectful not only of me but anyone who writes a guest post or leaves a comment. There will be times when we disagree, but we should say so in a calm matter.
If you leave angry or condescending comment, I have no incentive to be nice to you. In fact, I might delete your comment if it is downright offensive and insulting. This is not a free country and this is not your house.
And since this is an online environment, you have little excuse for leaving a rage comment. This is not a live conversation, but one in which we can take a little more time to think about our messages.
Please Leave a Substantive Comment.
What is a substantive post?
Well, a substantive post is one in which the commenter does one of more of the following:
- They present their argument respectfully.
- They leave an informative or insightful comment.
- They present a solid argument, whether or not they agree with me or another commenter.
- They provide a source to help their point, but don’t spam links. I don’t mind if sometimes a commenter leaves a link to a post of theirs, as long as it helps the conversation.
- They don’t spam the comment section.
- They ask questions if they want to know more about something, need clarification, or need permission.
- The commenter is humorous.
I might not respond to all comments or respond to some immediately. But sometimes, it’s difficult to respond to something like “Great post,” when those two words are followed by nothing else.
All Comments Are Moderated.
At one point, I allowed all comments to be posted automatically, but certain events made me rethink that.
Regardless, I will get to all comments in time since I check daily or nearly daily.
All Spam Will Be Deleted.
If a comment only has a link and that link is questionable, I will delete it. Otherwise, I will allow legitimate responses.
Just note: It might take me awhile to respond to some legitimate comments. I already have a system that filters out spam, so good comments might be counted as such (although I have sometimes found spam-y comments that were allowed to be queued).
I Reserve the Right to Edit Some Comments.
Sometimes, there might be formatting problems with comments left on this blog. Some comments might be rife with spelling errors. In extreme cases, I will edit the posts to break up paragraphs, correct coding errors, or fix spelling. I will do my best to keep the essence of the comment.
Shmaltz and Menudo 