Comments policy

Commenting on articles is a great way to get involved in the discussion on this site. Before you can submit comments, you must register with this site by clicking here.

All comments are subject to approval before they are posted and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. There are a few ground rules:

• No personal attacks. Be respectful. I’m not saying you can’t speak out against a public official or criticize me or another commenter, but be constructive and explain your position. It’s one thing to elaborate on the reasons you believe someone is wrong; it’s another entirely to call people names. One encourages debate, and the other shuts it down.
• Avoid libel. I’m not interested in being named in a defamation lawsuit. If you need to know more about libel so you can avoid it when submitting comments, click here.
• No free campaigning. The comment forum is not the appropriate place for candidates to advertise. Candidates are welcome to participate in the discussion, but should focus on the issues.
• Original content only. Short quotes from others will be allowed, as long as you cite the source, but essays, articles or other content that you didn’t author won’t.
• Be factual. If I see egregious factual errors in your comments, I won’t post them. If you submit as fact a statement that can’t be verified, I also won’t post your comment. This is not a forum for spreading rumor.
• Don’t babble. I won’t put a word limit on comments. Say what you have to say, but don’t take more space than you need to do it.
• Check your grammar. I might allow a comment with minor errors, but incoherent sentences will ensure that your voice won’t be heard.
• No cussing. Profanity is generally not allowed. Neither are silly characters such as “!?x*@” when used as a substitute for profanity.

The overarching theme is that comments should, in general, be constructive and add to the dialogue, not degrade and tear down. When submitted comments fall into a gray area between being publishable or not, I consider whether they add to the dialogue before making a decision.

Other policies

Clarifications, corrections and retractions

Should a clarification or correction in relation to a blog posting be necessary, the change will be made within the body of the blog posting in question, and a line of text will be added at the end of the posting to explain that the posting has been changed from an earlier version to correct or clarify the specific information in question.

Should a retraction be necessary, I will evaluate whether to remove the blog posting in its entirety or add a line of text at the beginning of the blog posting announcing the retraction and explaining the reason.

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