While we encourage and appreciate commentary from readers, we cannot allow the tenor of dialogue to be lowered or debased, or for one individual to ruin an otherwise constructive dialogue. Our general rule is that comments must be substantive and on topic, and must avoid profanity, personal attacks, and hectoring. It is for us to judge who has violated these principles; and if, after a warning, behavior doesn’t change, we reserve the right to moderate comments at our discretion.
Our policy is, in general, much the same as that of Carl Zimmer–”light but firm”–though he’s more eloquent. But the same basic principles apply.
Thank you for reading and participating here at The Intersection.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:12 am
For the public blog of the US EPA, we use a similar comment policy, and we moderate comments – meaning one person must read each comment, then approve or not approve accordingly. Comments moderating takes extra time but there is no automatic way to follow a comment policy.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Seriously? Did my other comment get deleted? Wow.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Discover updated their server today, so there was a blackout period this morning when we probably missed some comments.
We will be moderating all comments temporarily until we sort out settings. Thanks for your patience.