A Note About Comments

Readers, for years I’ve received compliments from people about the quality of this blog’s comments section. The responsibility for that is primarily with the intelligent readers who comment here, but I have something to do with it too. For as long as I’ve run this blog, I’ve weeded the comments to keep trolls out, and to make it a place where something like a discussion can take place.

I have not been a perfect moderator. There have been times when I’ve approved comments I shouldn’t have, either by accident or because of an error in judgment, and I’m sure there have been times when I have spiked comments that I ought to have approved. From time to time, when people have appealed to me to reconsider, I’ve done that, and rescued their comments.

I have tried to allow a wide range of viewpoints in the comments section. I’ve worked to suppress comments that attack me or other commenters here personally, comments that cross the line into direct bigotry, and comments that stray too far from the topic, or that in some way amount to bomb-throwing. Again, I don’t always get this right, but the fact that I make the attempt is partly responsible for the quality of the comments section here.

Since TAC moved to the Disqus format (which we had to do, as the old one was not a stable platform), I’ve received a number of complaints from readers that the comments section isn’t as good as it used to be. I’m not sure why it is, but I think the Disqus format makes it much harder to have a sustained conversation. It encourages readers to offer short, one-line comments that just end up as more noise, making it hard to follow actual substantive points. I too have noticed the quality of the comments section dropping off.

I’m going to try something different, in an attempt to regain the quality of the old section. Going forward, I’m going to spike most comments that are short and without substance, even if they don’t break any of the other rules. If you don’t have anything meaningful to add to a discussion, withhold your urge to comment.

And I’m going to be less tolerant of readers who say the same thing over and over. This is not about silencing people who disagree with me. It’s about trying to bring some order to the room by muzzling people who don’t show any real interest in engaging with the topics raised here, but only want to ride their hobbyhorses. If you really don’t have anything new or different or nuanced to say, but only want to state for the 5,322nd time that Trump Is Bad And The Republicans Are Racist, or whatever, then maybe you should find another blog to comment on. I’m not a fan of Trump or the Republican Party, and still less a fan of the Democrats, but if you were at a party at my house, and you stood there in the living room being a boor who just talked at people rather than to people, I’d find a way to steer others away from you, and eventually ask you to leave.

This is not about politics. Some of the commenters I hold dearest in this little community are people who strongly disagree with me about many things — politics, morality, religion, and so forth. They all know how to have an actual conversation. Learn from them. You’re going to have to, because I’m going to try, within the limits of the Disqus format, to bring back the spirit and substance of the old comments section. I could use your help.

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