meta k/o: comments

By
This blog welcomes comments.

However, I'm not looking to pick fights. Or to be abused. I'm not looking for readers who are into that either. This isn't a public square. The comments here, ideally, are like a "letters page" in a magazine. Simply put, I don't publish this blog to take on all comers. I publish this blog to give its readers good content, and, perhaps, as a byproduct of that, if we're lucky, we get constructive discussions.

I am familiar with the macho, hair-trigger attitudes of a lot of bloggers and blog participants. That's not me. That's not this blog. If a macho vituperativeness is your thing, then I must say...k/o is not the droid you're looking for. There's a difference between being critical and being abusive. My guess is that the readers here know that and appreciate it.

So, regarding comments here that are disruptive, macho, assinine or abusive: they will be deleted when I get around to it.

That's the policy. I'm not a big fan of comment moderation, but there's no good alternative in weighing the balance of concerns that go into this....not least of which is building a blog community that is sustainable for all its participants, including myself.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Bravo.

The macho blogger crap has got to stop (everywhere). Deleting the comments will help with that.

It's easy to forget that there is a person on the other end. Not just a block of text. I'm guilty of that at times on various sites.

As Glen O'Brien once said (paraphrasing): I'm pro anarchy; if people treated each other with civility and manners we would't need laws.
12:12 PM
Matt said…
What about blog whoring? Is that allowed?
Cause if not, I'll have to find some other way to get people to my blog, which is called Say No to Pombo
12:49 PM
Anonymous said…
K/o -

Just a note to say thanks for your diary about the Kaine ad situation at dKos.

I have lived in Virginia for 5 years (weblogging for 6) and when I saw the nonsense Kos and Armando were posting, I was infuriated. I sent an IM to my husband (also a VA voter and one of the first webloggers, as noted in Rebecca Blood's book) that I didn't know how many times Markos could put himself onto my sh**list, but he'd just done it again. (I mention the longevities just to note that there are some of us watching who've been thinking about the meaning of weblogging and internet community since before Markos knew the word 'blog'; I've long shared galiel's frustration that he and his lieutenant's act as though they've invented everything anew...)

Anyway, they will drive themselves into irrelevance if they continue the behavior they've been exhibiting the last many months; I just don't know how long it will take, how many people they'll hurt along the way, and how much damage they'll do to the medium as they go, but they are being neither serious nor thoughtful.

Kudos for having the energy and temperament to engage - I don't, but I deeply appreciate it.
5:02 AM
Anonymous said…
Matt,

No worries: you are merely a blog slut. Blog whores have ads or are otherwise compensated.

Cheers,
DD
3:26 AM
Anonymous said…
Also, k/o: I was thinking about this post yesterday as I was driving and it occurred to me that this type of behavior is akin to road rage: disruptive, macho, assinine and abusive.
But I suppose pugalism sells, so it’ll be a long time before civil discourse is the norm.
3:32 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

a serious moment

By
I was really struck by this photo , which graced the cover of Tuesday's New York Times, showing Ariel Sharon, Condoleeza Rice and James Baker attending a memorial of the late Yitzhak Rabin in Israel. There's something in that picture...in Rice's face, jaw set, eyes hidden behind rockstar sunglasses...and how she is flanked on either side by two men who've played hard-ball power politics for decades: Ariel Sharon, peering beneath his furrowed brow and, always conscious he is being observed, gesturing and thinking...and James Baker, completely hidden behind a permanent dimplomatic mask, an impenetrable sphinx. Of course, that photo sends a powerful message to the world. Rice was in Israel to do serious business . The fact that she brought Baker with her meant that the full weight of the U.S. military-industrial complex... the old guard ...was with her. That trip to Israel was important; and I would guess that U.S. plans and actions regarding Syria were part of that...
Read more

James Watson: racism alive and well in the USA

By
I've spent the last 24 hours reading as the fires ignited by Nobel laureate James Watson have spurred hundreds of racist comments on message boards across the world . The racial views espoused by Watson are not simply pernicious, they are unamerican. The premise that you could walk out your door in the United States and make the claim, with a straight face and in a public place, that you presume that someone is less intelligent than you because of the color of their skin or ethnic background is abhorrent. Watson claims that everyone with Black employees “knows that they are not the equals of Whites” and, somehow, that is supposed to be acceptable? We are supposed to take him seriously…as a scientist? I don’t think so. Watson is about to lose his job and what was left of his reputation. The equality of every citizen, respect for each other including our differences and a sense of the potential inherent in each and every citizen, especially our children, is essential to what it m...
Read more

Ready Return: a good idea versus business as usual...and how you can help

By
Making paying taxes easier for working people and improving government efficiency may not seem to be breathtaking issues in the grand scheme of things; in politics, however, sometimes it's the "small" and "local" issues that stand in for the bigger battles.  In fact, I'd argue that it's often with a program like the one I'm about to tell you about, that a party makes its reputation for standing up for the people and for what's right.   People remember the small things. With Ready Return , California State Democrats have a chance to do the right thing and to help the little guy.  Read below to find out what stands in the way and how you can help. The link you are about to click on below is to a page that lists the feedback of real California citizens regarding a State pilot program called Ready Return: * The program is innovative. * The program would increase California State Tax revenues. * The program would increase government efficiency. * The...
Read more