Rules Of Engagement
November 30th, 2008
I’d just like to put down the following marker: Any commenter who blithely misquotes a thing I’ve said, as one commenter just did, will in future not get past the moderator barrier while I’m guarding it. (Which, unfortunately, won’t be all the time.)
Mea culpa.
Hear, hear. One of the most annoying things in the entire world is having a discussion with people who persistently misquote and/or mischaracterize, whether through inability to parse English or through malice. Either way, it derails conversation and makes meaningful debate impossible.
Hold the line, sir!
Cross-posting this from a Dec. 9 thread because it addresses issues likely to come up often:
…no doubt DH’s judgments as a moderator will differ in particular instances from mine. Let’s make it clear right now, though, that this is a moderated comments section. It may resemble a very broadminded letters-to-the-editor column; it is not going to resemble a public-access cable channel, graffiti wall, or Hyde Park Speakers’ Corner if I or DH can help it.
What’s more, it’s moderated for the benefit of this site’s intended audience, bearing in mind that some lines of discussion more quickly become tedious and irrelevant to that audience than others. Up to a point, I have no objection to efforts to save our immortal souls or turn us into leftier-than-thou Kossacks so long as they have decent entertainment value (short, witty, and nonrepetitive all help).
One group we’d be better off without are those who feel that commenting on this site is somehow a matter of right, no matter what the tedium factor, and radiate wounded entitlement when they learn that’s not how it’s going to work. They really would be happier elsewhere.