JasonColavito.com Blog Comments Policy Update

1/24/2014

This post is to inform readers of my blog of changes in policy regarding comments posted on my blog. I have received an unusual number of complaints from readers, including many who do not participate in the comments regularly or at all, complaining about the increasing barrage of comments that are off topic, verbally abusive, and repetitive. These readers inform me that such comments are negatively impacting their ability to read and enjoy the blog and the ensuing conversation. I take such complaints seriously, and I am therefore compelled to intervene.

As a result, I request that everyone who chooses to comment please exercise good judgment in making sure your posts remain focused, on topic, and are limited to a single repetition of the same argument.

I have made some changes in my policy on comments. Previously, I have been rather hands-off in letting readers post whatever they wished. This has resulted in many posts that have abused my hospitality.

As of today, off-topic posts will receive a warning to take the discussion to my Forums, where readers are free to discuss off-topic material. The Forums are publicly accessible and are the appropriate venue for material not directly related to the blog post. Any additional posts that are off-topic will be deleted without further notice.
Additionally, any posts that are verbally abusive or involve name-calling or personal attacks will be deleted without notice. I have been too lenient in enforcing my policy on abusive posts, and I will be taking a firmer hand.
I am also limiting posters to a single repetition of the same argument. I will issue a warning reminder if a discussion begins to become repetitive. Repeated spamming of the blog with repetitive posts that add nothing new to the discussion will result in deletion without notice.

I am not happy about having to take these steps, especially since the comment writers my readers complain about most frequently are all twice my age and should not need these remedial steps. Please note that since I work and also sleep on occasion, deletions may take up to twelve hours to occur. I am asking you nicely to please show good judgment and restraint in commenting and, when inappropriate comments do occur, please refrain from engaging.

I have sent emails to several regular posters here informing them of this policy change prior to posting it publicly here and requesting their cooperation in making the comments section of this blog a more pleasant reading experience for all. I hope that everyone will work together to help make this possible.

64 Comments

The Chief link

1/24/2014 02:12:41 am

My New Years resolution was to never read the comments. They seldom provide anything useful. I'll try again under new policy. maybe just maybe....

Rev. Phil Gotsch

1/24/2014 02:20:31 am

Excellent ...Sometimes the squeaking wheel does get appropriately greased …

NO MORE toleration of off-topic personal insult slinging sounds like a good move ...

terry the censor

1/24/2014 05:42:48 am

@Rev. Phil

Read Jason's comment: pointing out fraud and incompetence is NOT a personal insult.

So stop using that rhetorical tactic, please. You pointlessly bloat the comments with your endless repetition of a small set of stock phrases -- all employed to evade the discussion and acknowledgement of facts.

CFC

1/24/2014 05:48:44 am

I like this ground rule that Jason has established a lot:
"repetitive posts that add nothing new to the discussion will result in deletion without notice"

Rev. Phil Gotsch

1/24/2014 06:16:22 am

*sigh*

Gunn

1/24/2014 11:42:13 am

Seriously, Phil and Jason, they simply cannot help themselves.

terry the censor and CFC, don't you want a fresh start?

An Over-Educated Grunt

1/24/2014 02:20:53 am

For charity's sake, can you define personal attacks?

An Over-Educated Grunt

1/24/2014 02:30:21 am

Be real happy when I can get away from this phone... CLARITY, not charity.

Jason Colavito link

1/24/2014 02:43:37 am

I consider personal attacks to include verbally abusive language, name-calling, or off-topic criticism not related to another poster's comments. I'm not going to restrict the ability of posters to criticize one another's arguments, but I'd like to avoid name-calling and verbal abuse. This will apply to posters discussing with one another.

This of course does not restrict fair comments and criticism about any public statements by public figures or the subjects of my blog posts. The content and presentation of public figures' work remains fair game for criticism. So, for example, criticizing David Childress as a slipshod scholar for his self-plagiarism and stealing someone's master's thesis and publishing it as a book is fine. Critiquing his self-presentation as the "real-life Indiana Jones" is also fine. That's part of his public persona. Attacking non-public aspects of his life, however, I would attempt to police.

The Other J.

1/24/2014 08:49:47 am

I know this would be impossible, but an interesting experiment (maybe for a day) would be instead of deleting inappropriate posts, just adding some code that blacks out the language that offends your new policy. Then readers could sort of fill in the blanks and see examples of the contexts and kinds of rhetoric that would lead to a post being deleted. But I guess that would mean we'd also see who tends to bend the rules, which would either negatively tag those posters or, possibly, goad them into tidying up their posts.

And I'll apologize right now for any role I've played in this. I'm sure some of my recent encounters with a couple of regulars here got both repetitive and less than civil. Sometimes I should just bite my tongue and save us all some stress.

(See what I did there?)

The Other J.

1/24/2014 08:51:11 am

Or, instead of blacking out the offending language, perhaps just nixing the body of a comment and replacing it with

[DELETED]

The Spectre

1/24/2014 05:28:56 am

Ad-hominem attacks are against the person

Attack the subject matter, not the person

Ali Baba

1/24/2014 02:28:52 am

Open Sesame

Houdini

1/24/2014 02:36:01 am

When disagreeing, refrain from posting comments

The Invisible Man

1/24/2014 05:27:15 am

"unjustified/obsessive/irrelevant attacks against the owner of this blog."

If such things exist, desist from commenting

Gunn Sinclair link

1/24/2014 03:34:40 am

This is the most wonderful of all news to a natural gentleman like myself who likes to avoid having to defend myself on a rather constant basis. I feel the relief washing over me already.

Apparently, attacks against Wolter can continue unabated, as long as personal aspects of his life are respected. This will be difficult for many here, which is an honest and not unkind mention.

The blog setups and headings will continue about the same, I guess, with the changes made to suppress the commenters, but not the blog host. This is fine, as the host is footing the bill, but I am interested to see how Mr. Colavito will behave himself in the future, on his own blog, within the parameters of his own new code of ethics to be enforced.

Will his own comments become nicer, too? For the sake of all-around fairness here, let's hope so, because, oftentimes, he's the one who sets the mood, especially about racial matters. I think there may be an uphill battle over content here at times, though, so Jason may be a bit busier than usual.

I do feel "safer" here today, and I really didn't enjoy being unpleasant in response to what I had perceived in the past to be crude and therefore unnecessary comments. I am for a cleaner, nicer blog, too, and I hope this new policy works.

So, we are going to be diligent in looking for and exposing personal attacks here. Don't even try it. We do not want to upset this apple-cart, or tip over this boat. Also, I would like to add that mutinies are not allowed here.

Rev. Phil Gotsch

1/24/2014 06:26:54 am

Those of us of a *certain*age* probably do tend to be more calmly civil in our discourse …

I am reminded of the trenchant observation by Hervey Allen that, "Each new generation is a fresh invasion of savages …"

Unfortunately "Western" culture and society in general seem to have become ever more crude and rude and coarse as the years have gone on … and the internet facilitates that with anonymity …

So … One of the regular visitors here reported being commonly subjected to "personal attacks, hate mail, sexual slurs, threats, etc.," and indicated that such things were just fine … !!!

*sigh*

Mandalore

1/24/2014 06:43:05 am

You're overgeneralizing about older and younger generations, as well as the supposed decline of Western culture.

Tim

1/24/2014 07:26:40 am

Seriously Mandalore.

Rev. Phil Gotsch

1/24/2014 08:24:36 am

LOL … It IS true that as one's decades advance, MANY of us DO begin to sound like our parents -- "Dag Nabbit … !!! What is this generation coming to … ???"

But it isn't just crabby old guys like me who have noted and commented on the general coarsening of public discourse that does appear to be fueled in part by the anonymity of "the web" ...

Mandalore

1/24/2014 01:05:17 pm

Public discourse has always been coarse; these days are no different. I think the internet just makes such things more visible. It is human tendency to idealize the past, but often mistakenly.

B L

1/24/2014 08:01:12 am

Hey Gunn:

How about being the first to start a KRS thread in Jason's forum? He carved out a special place just for that. I, for one, would like to see where an open, direct, KRS-specific discussion would go on this site.

Gunn

1/25/2014 05:20:20 am

Hi B L, thanks for the suggestion. It sounds kind of appealing, but right now I'm more fixated on this "live" blog, where things are more open and airy and circular. I see the other idea as pigeon-holing, more like a straight line. Here, fresh waters flow in more easily, and I'm used to the currents.

Speaking of which, I was hoping for people to begin being nicer on this new river we're floating on today, but it looks like it's a real struggle for some here to switch over to the new, cleaner river-way (not you).

Unfortunately, I don't think Jason is really serious about cleaning up the attacks, as I've already experienced some and he's done nothing but give warnings--right after I comment, usually, instead of after an actual offender comments. But I'm not surprised.

To me, it looks like the combination of Steve, Phil and myself vigorously defending ourselves from unwarranted attacks took a turn for the worst for Jason...meaning, many of his usual devotees were taking a beating, and it might have seemed to him that he was losing control.

So now he's set up vigorous new rules, but it looks to me like he's waiting to enforce them on someone not from his own camp, but on someone from the other camp, perhaps, an innocent bystander...a victim of circumstances here in this oft-harsh world.

B L, maybe Jason will graciously open a new blog heading in the future, making this room for a thorough discussion of the KRS, in light of new linguistic/runic findings suggesting its viability as the Real McCoy. But one needs to realize that this runestone, suggesting pre-Columbus European activity up here, combined with Scott Wolter saying as much, too, is probably just too much for Jason.

I'm not saying this out of meanness...it's the double-blow that I think would be too much for him to handle, I think. I'm serious in saying that the idea may be somehow frightening to him, to think that Wolter might be right about something so upsetting to his current viewpoint of standard textbook history.

Jason Colavito link

1/25/2014 05:26:26 am

Gunn, I can't work 24 hours a day. I said above that it will take time for me to review every post. I have other and better things to do that spend all day policing posts.

Gunn

1/25/2014 12:23:32 pm

Thanks for taking the time to review and delete that thread. To me, this shows that you are serious.

Matt Mc

1/24/2014 04:07:53 am

That is great news Jason, I am sorry you have to go through this and have to do this, but I think it is needed

CFC

1/24/2014 04:21:17 am

Thanks for your great reviews and the opportunity to comment. This is your site and your blog Jason. Sorry that there have been abuses that require these types of policies but like Matt Mc I think they are needed.

Tara Jordan

1/24/2014 05:10:37 am

Excellent move,Jason,but you should have included "unjustified/obsessive/irrelevant attacks against the owner of this blog.

Tara Jordan

1/24/2014 05:44:04 am

Personally I`m going into hibernation mode,since it is becoming more & more difficult for me to post from my computers.Every time I publish one comment,I am unable to post for at least 7 or 8 hours.I get the same error message (There was an error submitting your comment. Please try again).

The Other J.

1/24/2014 08:53:55 am

Tara, you're in Japan, right? What if you accessed the site through a proxy -- would that make a difference?

Jim

1/24/2014 05:44:15 am

I would like to propose that you follow Twitter's lead and impose a 240-character limit to user comments and disallow commenting multiple times in a row. Some people write _much_ more content than the post on which they were commenting, and then proceed to reply to their own comment to ramble on some more. Oops, I just broke my own suggested rule with a comment that is 323 characters long!

RLewis

1/24/2014 05:58:50 am

I agree in principle, but they would probably just submit multiple post.
My personal preference is that the posts be kept a reasonable size (less than a screen-full on a typical laptop). Longer posts tend to be ramblings, mini-reviews, or rephrasings of the same point. If you have more than that to share, then include a web page or other link. Just my opinion.

The Other J.

1/24/2014 08:56:11 am

I don't know if Weebly could do this, but maybe some code that cuts off a comment at 300 or 500 words and adds a "more" drop-down. That way longish comments wouldn't take up so much screen real estate, and it'd be a little easier to breeze past comments you're less interested in while still being able to read a full comment if you choose to.

Jason Colavito link

1/24/2014 11:52:10 am

Unfortunately, Weebly sucks at this. It doesn't support any sort of control over comments. My choices are to accept or delete a comment, and to close all blog comments or none. I've brought this up with them in the past, but they still haven't upgraded the blogging platform as promised.

Jim

1/24/2014 03:05:02 pm

How committed are you to the Weebly platform? There are many options in the blogging space that have these advanced features natively or as plugins. Wordpress is easy to use and very customizable with plugins and themes, many of which are free. It is even possible to migrate your Weebly blog to Wordpress (see http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-properly-move-from-weebly-to-wordpress/ as an example)

PaulN. link

3/14/2014 01:14:08 pm

Yes, there is nothing worse than running into a rambling wall of text that meanders on and on signifying nothing. It's even worse when a similarly worded post is found further on. It comes to the point where when certain names pop-up, I scroll down through it to the next thread.

Only Me

1/24/2014 05:47:04 am

Thank you, Jason.

As to whether or not you'll follow your own rules, like you've said before, freedom of the press belongs to him that owns one. There are other blogs; no one is being forced to stay at this one. Keep up the commendable effort.

Gunn

1/24/2014 06:26:33 am

Hi Only Me, I come in peace. However, I would like to point out "The Press" is not today what is was in Ben Franklin's time...or thereabouts. Freedom of the press today, in the example of this blog, is completely different because of the nature of it's "live" public presentation. True, Jason owns this "press," and he must choose how open or closed it will be. Because it is "live"--except right now for Tara, perhaps, having difficulties posting, it must be monitored for abuse, to keep it friendly.

I think Jason, as the blog host, should also consider reforming himself to a shinier image here, which I think he'll attempt to do. Only Me, you seem to be making allowances for the host which shouldn't be made, saying openly that he need not be nice, in other words, because he owns the press.

A number of folks here think this is a good time for Jason to reform, too, and set new rules upon himself. Nothing bad about that. WE VISITORS expect Jason to run a decent, live, somewhat free-speech presentation, or--yes--we can go elsewhere if the format changes for the negative.

To a certain extent, Jason can control the number of visitors he receives here. He can tweek even his own performance!

Only Me

1/24/2014 06:51:52 am

As a rejoinder (and then I'm done--no thread jacking), think of the old saying, "My house, my rules." It is Jason's prerogative how he chooses to enforce or represent said rules. But, as this site belongs to him, and we are only guests, there is a simple solution if we don't like how he enforces/represents the rules...we just don't come back.

Yes, I'm conceding a certain latitude that is Jason's due to ownership. I don't tell you how to run your household, so I'm not telling Jason how to run his site.

Jim

1/24/2014 09:05:51 am

Gunn, First, you don’t need to put the word press in quotes when referring to this or any other blog since a US federal appeals court recently ruled that bloggers are covered by the same speech protections as traditional press (source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/17/us-usa-blogger-ruling-idUSBREA0G1HI20140117). If you perform a Who Is search on this blog you can see that Jason is living in the US and that the blog is hosted by GoDaddy whose data centers are, as far as I have been able to research, located in the US; therefore, the US federal appeals court decision applies to this blog. The changes of the mediums that the press employs since Ben Franklin’s time are irrelevant to its freedoms, the constitution is technology agnostic. Freedom of speech does not mean that press outlets must provide an uncensored forum from which the masses can pontificate. Likewise, there is no obligation that the press outlet must abide by the same code of conduct it places on the public when providing such a forum. In other words, you do not enjoy the same freedom of speech that Jason does on this site; however, you are free to start your own blog in which your freedom of speech is unrestricted by an arbitrary code of conduct. Your opinion that Jason needs to reform is just that, your opinion. I would suggest that Jason appears to be a pretty savvy individual who follows his site’s analytics closely. I imagine he has a very good grasp on what drives visitors to and away from his site.

Gunn

1/24/2014 11:30:20 am

Only Me and Jim:

"In other words, you do not enjoy the same freedom of speech that Jason does on this site."

Well, actually, I do, unless and until Jason puts restrictions on the site, in which case it impedes free speech. Jason owns the site and he can influence how open or closed it is for debate. Lately, the debate has been far-unnecessarily rude, and I see it wants to continue.

Only Me, you are making the mistake of comparing a non-public household with a public "live" blog, and you're not making a very good effort at being nice, nor is Jason doing a very good job of keeping his favorites in line.

The Other J. apologized...I wish you would. Apparently, you still want to be a trouble-maker, as though you can't help it. I was hoping Jason would help you be the gentleman we're all hoping you will become. You are putting Jason in an uncomfortable spot here by continuing to attack me...though now just a bit more subtly.

Scott David Hamilton was the first to disrespect me, above, and he got away with it. So far as I've seen, Jason's new rules are meaningless. I'm still finding that I have to defend myself from personal attacks here. I don't let them go, and Jason shouldn't either. The personal jabs and attacks were supposed to stop.

Jason Colavito link

1/24/2014 11:42:12 am

So, I go to work for a few hours and come back to sniping over the rules for sniping. This is the kind of thing I'd like to see less of. Since this is a post about rules, I'll just chalk it up to everyone sorting out their feelings about the comments policy. But that's it.

I don't really want to be heavy-handed about moderation, but essentially: my blog, my discretion. If anyone prefers a different policy, you're welcome to try posting comments on Scott Wolter's blog, or to start your own.

Thane

1/24/2014 11:47:22 am

Freedom of Speech is enshrined in our Constitution as a restriction of the Federal government from silencing speech the federal government does not like. The states were free to set their own speech standards and eventually then all adopted the standard in the US Constitution. A private individual does not have an obligation to protect your speech in his house or in his private enterprise.

IMHO, Jason writes well, present information in a clear manner, and has a good sense of humor. Is he sometimes snarky, sure, but who isn't on the Internet these days? and sometimes it's funny even if I think he's gone over where I think the line of civility lies. Do I think he's wrong or over stating some aspect of his opinions/interpretations, sure but I would not ask him to change.

This site is his brand and he can manage it as he wants. If I don't like it, I don't have to read it. No one does.

Gunn

1/25/2014 12:25:41 pm

Thanks for reviewing and deleting that thread. You were serious.

RLewis

1/24/2014 06:50:54 am

I think this is a good move, Jason. Unfortunately for you however, based on previous posts (and some of those above) I think it's going to take up even more of your time to monitor and enforce these new rules.
Sorry.

The Other J.

1/24/2014 08:58:52 am

Maybe time to bring in a volunteer moderator? None of us are probably qualified, since I think probably all of us have gotten into spats on here already, which could bias our opinions on offending posts.

CFC

1/24/2014 06:52:09 am

These groundrules (policies) are a great start and I'm sure Jason as the host of this blog will evaluate, modify and enforce them as he sees fit.

Shane Sullivan

1/24/2014 10:27:27 am

I'm sorry it's come to this. I know I've contributed a few off-topic posts in the past myself.

Thane

1/24/2014 11:34:39 am

From personal experience I can attest that moderating comments and message boards is never as easy as it seems. Though the policies seem reasonable, there will about be those that will question the judgement of the moderator. That can often devolve further into incessant challenges to and harassment of the moderator.

So, the only think I will add is that everyone should remember that this is Jason's blog on Jason's site related to Jason's areas of interest and career as a writer, reviewer, researcher, chronicler, and general "bon vivant" (ok, I added that last one...) and as the owner/proprietor has the last word and his judgement is final.

If you don't like that, I would suggest you return to your own blog/site (or create one) and show us how it's done.

Lead by example and not by being a ill-mannered complainy-pants.

That's my general philosophy especially when I am a guest on someone else' blog/site.

Gunn

1/24/2014 11:59:54 am

Thane, I implore you to stop being unpleasant.

Also, we CAN question the judgment of the moderator, and I am in fact questioning why he doesn't just tell you and a few others here to clam up and stop trying to stir up trouble here, as usual, after he went to all the trouble of spelling out new rules.

An Over-Educated Grunt

1/24/2014 01:01:07 pm

I understand the urge to point fingers and take advantage of the rules past to get your jabs in. Believe me, I've been resisting mine. But this is precisely why a volunteer moderator, unless the mod is totally anonymous, is a bad idea. Nobody here has clean hands. Fact is, it's Jason's blog and the rest of us just play here. He could just disable comments. Rather than suggest alternate enforcement, I suggest we trust the guy running it already. It isn't like we truly have a choice, other than post here or don't.

Clint Knapp

1/24/2014 01:11:22 pm

Exactly. No amount of sniping over rules, whining about being offended, or misunderstanding how freedom of the press works is going to do anyone any good.

I, for one, rather like the comment ability when something relevant comes up and think a lot of comments bring out quite a lot of extra information to supplement the things Jason writes. It's all the trolling and unnecessary post-hijacking that brought things to this. More work for Jason, and undoubtedly someone will complain when their thread is deleted, but it's his house and he can do what he wants.

Some form of verified sign-up process for comments would be nice if at all possible. Repeat offenders could then be more easily shut up with simple banning. It just remains to be seen if this is a functionality Weebly supports.

Gunn

1/25/2014 03:39:20 am

Clint, I implore you to stop being purposely unpleasant. New rules.

Walt

1/24/2014 02:39:32 pm

On a lighter note since you're making some changes, any chance you could slap together a favicon for the site? Just irks me a little that your's is the only site in my list of bookmarks without one.

Jim

1/24/2014 04:46:02 pm

The forums have user icons

Jason Colavito link

1/24/2014 10:34:08 pm

I actually have one uploaded to Weebly, but I'm going to have to ask them again why it isn't showing up. Once again, it's right on my end but something is wrong on their end.

Walt

1/25/2014 05:22:05 am

Ah, I just checked more browsers and on Windows 7 with IE, it does show up.

But it doesn't show up using Chrome or Firefox on Windows 7, Linux, or FreeBSD, so it's browser-specific.

Jason Colavito link

1/25/2014 05:25:07 am

That's bizarre. I'll have to find out why.

Walt

1/27/2014 06:08:56 am

Thanks! The favicon is now working in Firefox. Guess I should've brought it up much sooner.

An Over-Educated Grunt

1/28/2014 03:33:22 am

I've been thinking about this for a few days, and decided it wasn't a wholly terrible idea, so I thought I'd offer it for consideration.

Right now, the forum is little-used, very much an adjunct to the blog, which I suspect sees more traffic than the rest of the site combined. Why not tie each blog post to a forum discussion thread, linking back to the blog post in the first post in the thread? This would incorporate dedicated logins, encourage people to use the forum, and allow direct quoting rather than trying to figure out which message someone is responding to. It's not perfect, since it's easy enough for the discussion thread for ancient blog posts to be resurrected under this system unless the thread is locked, and there's no reason that civility would be increased. It just seems like it'd kick-start the forum, which saw a couple weeks' traffic early on and has been silent since (and yes, I'm part of the silence, I realize).

Gunn

1/28/2014 05:26:45 am

A circle in unending. A line comes to an end, unless it goes around far enough to become a circle again. People would prefer to be engaged within a circle, rather than at the end of a line.

I see what you're doing, though, trying to enhance the line with references back to the circle. People look at the circle as representing freshness and vitality, while the end of the straight line represents the end of the line: pigeon-hole. Maybe there is a way to make the line at least more crooked, and less straight, or successfully loop it back into the circle, but will it do any good?

The snake is a straight line, but can become a circle. The egg in the snake's mouth is a circle, because life is a circle. I think a circle is probably better than a straight line for explaining life. But the two can certainly be see together, no? Maybe something can be worked out.

Only Me

1/28/2014 09:55:59 am

I'm guessing that would mean the comments would have to be disabled for the blog post; otherwise, you'd have two discussion boards going for one topic.

Jason would still be able to monitor the forum, just as he does for the comment section. No matter what, there would still be a work load on his end. And we'd have to consider Weebly's platform; it may not be possible to set up your suggestion due to the limitations.

An Over-Educated Grunt

1/28/2014 10:31:20 am

True; however, in the unlikely event that someone gets stuck as an anonymous, theoretically-neutral moderator, forum software generally makes masking the mod's identity easy (easier than the blog, anyway). Since Weebly's forum platform requires login, I would hope that it'd reduce the number of one-shot idiots and encourage more long-term idiots (case in point, me). And yes, I'd envisioned the blog comments being disabled as part of this, precisely to avoid double-threading.

Jason Colavito link

1/28/2014 12:46:47 pm

It's a good idea, but unfortunately Weebly's blog is native to them but the forum comes to them from a third-party supplier, so they don't work together.

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