Comments, version 2009 -- Can we all just get along?
Rules for commenting:
* Stay on topic.
* If you find the topic boring, or trivial, just go away. No one, least of all me, wants to hear you complain that there are more important subjects to be writing about.
* I am (usually) not the topic. Neither is the Tribune. Neither is the person who posted a comment above yours. Address your comments to the arguments, assertions or other information in the blog post and in the comments, not the character, talent or integrity of the writers.
* In that same vein, address your comments to the audience of readers, not to me and not to another commenter, even when you are referring directly to what that person has written (e.g., don't write, "Eric, you are wrong because..." Instead write "Eric is wrong because..."
* Don't violate copyright by quoting huge hunks from the works of others.Two or three paragraphs max, please.
* Don't try to sell anything.
* Don't post blind links. If you'd like readers to visit another site for a contrasting or complementary point of view, briefly explain where you're sending them.
* Don't libel or defame anyone or any entity; take your racism, sexism and other forms of hate speech elsewhere, pal. We don't need your kind here.
* No profanity, of course. And don't try to slip stuff in by leaving out, transposing or changing a couple of letters on me. Use "bleep," if you must.
* Don't whine. Comment control on a blog is not "censorship." Shooing someone from the room is not the same as trying to silence him. I encourage banished commenters to go to blogger.com or similar sites, start their own forums with their own rules. I promise not to object.
* Don't assume that I'll be reviewing or even reading all the comments. I'll try, particularly when the items are recent, because I am very interested in what others are saying. But things will get posted that violate these rules, so...
* Let me know via e-mail if you see violations of these rules that you think I ought to remedy.
