Rule 2:
A. Play nice. This is my place, you do not get to shit on my floor. You are free to disagree with me and with each other, but please do it nicely. Do not use words that you would not use face-to-face. Please give each other the courtesy and respect due to a person who is armed.
[1] If you need to respond snarkily or nastily, then say "my response is here", throw in a link to your blog and post it there (but be a stand-up person and let readers comment).
B. Comment moderation in effect due to an assortment of bad actors. They know who they are. I moderate comments when it is convenient for me to do so. Please don't repeatedly post the same comment because you don't see what you wrote. I may end up deleting all of them.
C. Included in "playing nice" is not dropping comments that are off-topic and only serve to promote your pet cause or, worse, a commercial product. This is my soapbox, not yours. You do not make any friends or persuade people when you spam a blog or use another person's blog to promote your hot-button cause. Trust me on this one. If you have a cause to promote or a product to sell, set up your own blog. If you do not know how to do that, send me nine grand (in non-consecutively numbered bills) and I'll set one up for you.
D. Hijacking a comment thread by posting long screeds about anything will be handled without mercy. If you have a very long comment, then write about it in your own blog and then post a link to that post in the relevant comment thread.
E. If you have something good to say about somebody, don't keep it to yourself. (This isn't just a blog rule, it should be a general rule of life.)
F. Yellow cards are warning. Red cards mean that the offending comment has been deleted. Yes, I have a delete button for comments. I am not adverse to using it.
G. If it seems to me that a comment thread is becoming circular (the same arguments keep being made) or that the comments are devolving into insults, I reserve the right to shut off further comments.
H.
Holocaust denial is off-limits. (I see no need to explain this one to you.)
I.
Election denialism is also off-limits. Comments that deny that Joseph Biden is the duly-elected 46th President of the United States and/or repeat Trump's big lie that the 2020 election was stolen will be deleted without warning.
J. Blatant racism, homophobia, sexism, and transphobia are off-limits. If you would normally preface a remark by saying "I'm not a bigot, but..." then can it. Or be canned.
_______________________________________
[1] In other words, if you would not say what you are going to say to a person standing before you who has a loaded pistol in their hand, then shut the fuck up.