You know my position on commenting, and many of you lament my lax approach. As I have said many times before, I hope that this allows for reasonable freedom of speech in such a way that people are hoist by their own petard.
The flipside is that we often get hit by trolls who comment, well, trollishly. And when this happens, many good people respond in kind. But this then has the tendency to descend into a tennis match of insults.
I really do want to foster a community of respectful discussion; I have banned so very few people compared to pretty much anywhere else on the internet, and certainly within this same sector.
Many of you have taken to blocking commenting ne’er-do-wells. A good first port of call. However, for random lurkers or people who happen upon threads, there can be torrents of viciousness from all directions.
Therefore, I ask for common decency from everyone, as much as one can hope for. I guess I am asking you not to insult others if at all possible. If insults are just necessary – it that is even a thing – try to be as clever and funny in your insults as you can. This moves from nastiness to highbrow creativity, which might at least make contretemps become more bearable.
Essentially, guys:
- Don’t be racist, sexist or generally…
- Don’t be a douchebag.
- Try to ignore douchebaggery.
- If lots of people are telling you, in highbrow creative ways, that you are a douchebag, perhaps think about whether you are, in fact, a douchebag. If there is a chance you are a douchebag, or have a tendency to indulge in DISQUS douchebaggery, perhaps take a long hard look at yourself. Perhaps refrain from commenting in the way you usually do. I don’t know, try to involve yourself in (dare I say it) constructive discussion.
- Block douchebags.
- Heinous reflections of inhumanity will get you banned, either by the awesome Jim Jones, or by myself. This will happen after a warning.
- Comments deemed offensive to myself or Jim to the point that we will delete them will be…deleted.
- If so, get over it and get some common human decency.
- Finally, don’t be a douchebag.
- Metric alignment.
There are so many brilliant comments here. But good discussions are often swamped by invective and stupidity. I am not afraid to discuss controversial topics, but this needs to be done in the correct, respectful way.
For race realists, qua racists, please read these:
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