I started this blog in January of 2007 after many years of doing most of my writing for newspapers. When I started it, I probably should have laid out ground rules for blog commenters, as most blogs do. I didn’t, probably because I was new to blogging. This is no longer the case.ÂÂ
My blog now gets well over 400,000 unique visits and 5,000 comments per month. Given this, and given some recent controversies on this website, it is probably time for me to explain my moderation rules.
I have tried, and will continue to try to leave this blog as open as possible, particularly to those who dissent.  However, just because I want an open forum and I want dissent doesn’t mean that I have an obligation to allow anybody to post whatever they want here. I have been very loose in my moderating of this blog. The vast majority of those who post here–95%, probably–present no problem at all. However, a few people have taken advantage of the situation. Below is a list of the types of comments which are subject to being edited or deleted:
1) Personal attacks on other commenters or on myself.
2) Profanity.
3) People who want to endlessly carp over tiny points.
4) Comments which advocate or suggest violence.
5) Comments on the choice of subject, as opposed to comments on the subject itself.
6) People who stray too far from the issue being discussed. I’m pretty tolerant of this, but it has limits.
7) People who make potentially libelous statements about their ex-wives or ex-husbands and use their last names.
Comments whose main purpose is commercial advertising.
My moderation is at times sporadic because of the many demands on my time. It is perfectly true that there will be times when I will moderate one comment and not moderate a similar one, simply because I missed one of them or did not have time to deal with it.
There are times when I edit or delete a comment and I have time to send an email explaining why. There are other times when I do not. In addition, some people do not leave a true email address.
A newspaper has an obligation to allow both sides of an issue to be heard, but it does not have an obligation to publish whatever someone sends them. There’s a big difference between moderation and censorship.
In summation, you, the reader and blog commenter, do not have the right to post here. You have the privilege to post here. I very rarely revoke that privilege. But remember, what you see on this blog and website–my columns, my radio commentaries, my blog posts, my radio and TV appearances, etc.–is my work and my livelihood. In moderating, that comes first.
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