Comments policy

I am starting off the New Year with a post that I should have made long ago.

Last fall, I made it possible for readers to comment anonymously to posts.  I have had to delete a few, albeit very few I am happy to report.  What follows is my criteria for publishable comments:

1) I will delete any comments that are rude, crude, profane, ad hominem, condescending, or pejorative towards me or anyone else who comments on the blog.  Think of it this way: you're in my house.  You speak that way towards me or one of my friends or guests, I'm going to ask you to leave.  Simple as that.  What qualifies as such a comment?  I'm afraid I'm going with the Supreme Court definition of pornography: I know it when I see it.  Not fair?  Neither is life.  Not by a long stretch.

2) I will delete any comments that are rambling, incoherent, have weak concepts of spelling and grammar, or look like you've written them after your sixth beer.  Think of it this way: I'm protecting you from embarrassing yourself.

3) I will delete any spam comments that are nothing more than a weak attempt to promote your blog, book, product, et. al.  Self promotion is okay to a point but you must make a relevant contribution to the thread of the post.  Any attempt to forcibly truss the subject at hand to your product that you are shilling will only make you look like a used car salesman.

4) I will delete any comments that are off-topic.  For example, if the post and the discussion are centered around radar returns during the 1952 Washington D.C. UFO flap and you say, "nothing was ever caught on radar during the 2006 Chicago O'Hare sighting," then you will be deleted.  Why?  Here.  Enjoy.

5) I will not delete a comment just because I don't agree with it.  If you go through the nearly two years of posts on the blog, you will find comments by readers who don't see things the same way that I do.  David is a great example of this.  That's great.  Part of looking for the answers to these sorts of things is open discussion.  Disagree all you want, I just ask that you please do it respectfully.

6) I make the rules.  This is not a democracy.  The Internet is a deep and wide expanse of free speech (for now) for you to explore.  If you don't like the way things are run in this microscopic corner of the World Wide Web, I encourage you to head elsewhere in search of what you seek.

So basically just respect me, respect each other, and let's have a good time.  Thanks!


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