Comments policy on this blog

I don't like blocking comments on this blog - I originally ran it without comment moderation for a long time.

However, although I do not believe that insulting people should be illegal, I am not obliged to publish insults. I will usually allow comments left on this blog to go up as long as they confirm to three simple rules

   1) I will not knowingly or deliberately post or allow anything which I think is libellous, actionable, or otherwise liable to give rise to legal problems.

2) I will not post or allow others to post anything which I think is offensive. Although I will not guarantee to remove anything which anybody else finds offensive - that would be a recipe for making the blog so bland it became meaningless - I have on more than one occasion taken down or reworded something which I had initially thought was acceptable because one or more readers of the blog told me they found it offensive or in poor taste.

3) When I post an obit I will not accept comments critical of the dead person. Nihil nisi bonum ...


If someone posts a comment which is a reasonably constructive contribution to debate, I will usually allow it to go up, even if it is critical of me, of the Conservatives, or of the blog, or if I disagree with it. But childish insults against me, the Conservatives, or this blog, will probably be deleted.

Examples of the sort of comment I will usually allow even if I disagree with it:

  * Posts which point to a specific clause in a Conservative manifesto, and then refer to a specific action of someone elected on that manifesto and produce an argument that the two are in conflict

  * Posts which refer to something I have criticised or praised on this blog and ask if the same principle should not be applied to another specific action to which you could make a reasonable case that the principle concerned is relevant.

  * Other posts which contain some semblance of a reasonable argument.

Of course, if I do disagree I will probably post a reply explaining why!

Examples of the sort of comments I will usually just delete

  * Personal abuse

  * Anything which in my opinion is racist, sexist or gratuitously offensive

  * Kindergarten insults e.g. "all Conservatives are dishonest"

Comments

Anonymous said…
Just my 2p worth, but i am not sure why you allow anonymous comment. surly if some one has something to say they should at least have the guts to put their name to it.

I'm often critical of blog entries but you always know from whence such criticism comes.

By the way, see what i did here?

Jim

Also is it just me or are the captia thingys getting much harder these days?
8:22 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
It's not just you, they are a pain in the neck.

Yes, I sometimes wonder why I allow anonymous comments. Thing is, quite a few of them are interesting or constructive and I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, which blocking all anonymous comments would do.
12:19 am
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