I have today implemented an “amnesty” on banned commenters. That means that those who were previously banned from commenting are welcome to try again.
The purpose of the bans and the occasional amnesty is to try to make this site more than just a series of posts proclaiming the presumptive wisdom of the authors. We believe that the blogosphere can and should be a place where it is possible for opposing viewpoints to debate and discuss, not just shout at each other and not just wage a duel of post and counterposts with commenters allowed to do nothing more than cheer for their “team”. Some sites have a policy of filtering comments before they are published. Others don’t allow comments at all. And many sites allow unfiltered comments but only while the authors stand aloof, refusing to respond to the mere rabble.
At PoliGazette, we want debate. We want commenters that can argue, press different viewpoints, and call to our attention facets of the issues that we may have overlooked. We do have a comments policy (published at the bottom of every comment thread just above the CAPTCHA window) that insists that comments be civil and on-topic. The purpose of this policy is to facilitate debate, not suppress it. By requiring civility, we prevent comments threads from veering off into personal and ideological vendettas where the loudest and most vicious voices will drive away the rest. And by requiring that comments stay on-topic, we prevent threads from being “hijacked” by subject changes and ideological obsessiveness. These limitations are really quite modest.
While we cannot be perfect in how we apply these policies, we honestly do try to feature a variety of perspectives that are ideologically diverse while also being moderate in tone. And we honestly do want to hear civil and topical debate from our commenters. When you think we have fallen short, please use the email links on the side to talk to us about it.
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PoliGazette Comments Policy
PoliGazette encourages comments from all viewpoints, especially those that disagree.
Comments submitted must, however, adhere to the following standards. Comments that violate
these standards may be edited or deleted without notice at the sole discretion of the editors.
Commenters who repeatedly or egregiously violate these standards or who attempt to argue
publicly with editors regarding the comments policy may be banned from commenting further.
(1) Comments should address the substantive content of the post. Comments that repeatedly
or blatantly misrepresent the content of the post or of others' comments are not welcome. Comments that
respond to something other than which the contributor or commenter may have said are irrelevant and should
not be posted.
(2) Comments should avoid vulgarity as well as racial, ethnic, religious, or sexual bigotry.
(3) Comments should not personally attack the character, personal integrity, or professional
reputation of any PoliGazette contributor or of other commenters.
(4) Comments should reflect the contributions of the commenters themselves and should not
include extensive cut-and-paste reproductions of others' words except insofar as necessary to supplement
the commenter's own arguments. Link spam, trackback spam, and propaganda spam will be instantly deleted.
(5) Public figures are considered open to all substantive criticism of their policies and statements.
Comments that present objectively false factual information about public figures (i.e. "Obama is a Muslim") or
that attack public figures by attacking their families are not welcome. Comments that merely repeat
slogans for or against a candidate without engaging in substantive comment are not welcome.
Questions or challenges to these policies or their application should be directed to the editors
by email only.
