Comments Policy

I love comments and get pouty when posts don't get any, so here's the policy thereof for Byzantium's Shores. There are lots of places on the Interwebs for cantankerous discussion that can boil into anger. This isn't one of them. I enjoy spirited disagreement, but there's a fine line between that and obnoxiousness. For the purposes of this blog, I am the one who gets to determine if the line is crossed. So just keep that in mind! It's almost never an issue here, really, but as part of my new anti-snark policy (which is, admittedly, more of a personal policy than anything else), I just want to lay it out.

A few more ground rules:

1. I don't allow anonymous comments. If all you want to do is tell me I'm a fat wanker who doesn't know how to dress, fine, but you're going to have to leave a name to do it. OK, currently I am allowing anonymous comments. This policy was more intended to deter spammers than anything else, but since I reactivated anonymous commenting for the last Delurking Week, spam hasn't been much of an issue. If it becomes one, however, I will return to the previous policy.

2. All comments are moderated -- I check them all before allowing them through. So if your goal is to just throw an insult, the only person who will see it is me. And believe me, you're not going to hurt my feelings. I've been active on the Interwebs for nearly twenty years. I won't claim to have heard it all, but the percentage of 'it all' that I have heard is non-trivial.

3. Please stick to the topics of the posts at hand. If you have something off-topic that you want to bring to my attention, please send me an e-mail or Tweet or FB message. Or say something that's on topic and then do a "Hey, by the way" thing at the end of your comment.

4. Please oh please oh please don't use any topics of discussion here as any kind of backdoor way to trigger a discussion of politics. I will very rarely entertain political discussion here. This falls into the "There's tons of places to talk about that online" category.

5. As a general statement, this is my blog and mine alone, so any words that appear here do so at my pleasure. Very occasionally I might close comments on a particular post because I don't like the way discussion is trending or because I don't want discussion in the first place. That's my choice, and appealing to me to allow comments that I've already disavowed on the basis of 'free speech' will fall on deaf ears. I am a firm and fiery believer in free speech, but that doesn't mean that I am required to provide anyone and everyone with a forum. Nor does it mean that I am required to listen in all cases.

6. If for any reason I decide to ban a commenter, I won't give any warnings to that effect. Sorry, but I've got better things to do with my time than try to herd cats, either in real life or on the Interwebs.

7. I will assume that e-mails are publishable on the blog unless I am requested otherwise. I will honor such requests, so if you wish to remain anonymous when I mention an e-mail, I have no problem doing that. Just make sure to indicate your desire.

Basically, keep Wheaton's Law in mind, and we'll be fine. Thanks!