The Rules: Comments and Trackbacks

I thought I had written this before, but I can't find it so here we go again.

Comments

I insist on civil discourse in the comments. You don't have to agree with me. In fact you probably won't and that is why you're commenting. That's fine. But I insist on a certain level of decorum.

1. Please be polite. It is a skill that is out of favor in the modern age, but I insist on it or at least an attempt at it.


2. No name calling or personal insults. Racial or sexual epithets will get you banned. Aspersions on someone's intelligence and accusations of being a parrot or herd animal will cause your post to be edited or deleted.


3. Attempts to start a flame war will be deleted. Comments responding to them will be deleted. Shame on you people. You both should know better.


4. Try to keep the swearing down to a minimum. I swear occasionally so you can too. But I'll take action if it's too much for civil discourse.


5. I like content. Telling me your opinion of a post is content. That you like or dislike the blog itself is content. I want and need feedback like that so don't be afraid to comment. Right now the comment volume is such that I will try to edit comments to preserve their content if they break the rules . If this gets to be too time consuming, I will have to delete them instead.

I'm using Haloscan for comments and trackbacks. Haloscan has a 1000 character limit, so keep that in mind while you are writing. You may want to string a long commentary out over multiple smaller comments if you think it may get cut off.

Trackbacks

I insist on two things with trackbacks.

1. Your post must contain a direct link to my blog or blog post. Not a link to a post that links to me or link to a search engine page that might contain a link to me. This is simple reciprocity. I insist on it or your trackback will be deleted. Yes more people follow real links than trackbacks, but I read my trackbacks and make post updates. That means a good job on your part may get you a real link soon enough.


2. Your trackback excerpt should remain relatively polite and relatively free of profanity. Your post is on your blog so you be as rude and profane as you want there. But your trackback goes on my blog, so if I take offense I will change or delete it.