User Comments Policy

OK, the heavy stuff: In spite of the initial impression that some might receive, I do have standards. If you’re going to post comments at my blog, please bear these rules in mind:

• This is the absolute number one rule: I generally expect that authors of comments will attempt to engage the issues in good faith, in an irenic and polite manner, with the utmost civility. This means it’s probably a bad idea to use your comments to generally abuse me or others who use this blog, to troll off topic, to start flame wars etc. This includes direct insults as well as repeated and obvious passive aggressive rudeness. Be sensible and civil at all times.
• No spam or flooding (flooding is where you copy/paste/otherwise reproduce large amounts of material from another source. It is poor etiquette and in some cases it is not legal to reproduce another person’s work in full). A brief citation with a link for further reading is perfectly adequate.
• No profanity or obscenity.
• No blasphemous “cussing.”
• No personal abuse, harassment or threats.
• Do not accuse other blog users of lying just because you do not agree with what they say.
• No gratuitously sexual material.
• Do not advocate criminal activity.
• Do not use my blog as a venue to promote/advertise/gain traffic for your website/products. I generally frown on the practice of posting a comment that just says something like “Interesting post. Come to my website [insert link here] to discuss it” or “Hi, nice blog. I posted my views on this over [here]. Bye!” Links can be appropriate in context, but please add your own content here, rather than just visiting my blog to get people to visit yours.
• Do not falsely represent yourself as another person.
• While I am open to advice on running the blog, the comments section is not the place to offer it. You’re welcome to contact me about this.

Lastly, and this is a biggie – no libel. Please do not make accusations against people (whether individual or corporate) that speak ill of them or lower their standing in the eyes of a reasonable person unless a) it can be substantiated as true, or b) it can be shown to be reasonably held. Saying that it’s just your genuine opinion won’t cut it if you accuse somebody. For example, “I don’t like him, and I just don’t trust him, he seems shifty” might be a reasonably held opinion even with no specific evidence of wrongdoing, but “He is a liar and he admitted to lying” is not. The latter is the kind of thing that must be substantiated. My policy on libel is not just a matter of good manners (although it certainly is that), it is a matter of law. If a potentially libellous comment is made, I will seek substantiation from the comment author, and if full substantiation is not provided, the comment will be removed. While such comments remain at my blog, they make me liable for their existence. Publishers of libel (that’s me, if you post libel at my blog) are no less vulnerable to legal action than authors of libel (that’s you, if you post libel at my blog).

The purpose of my extending to people the ability to comment here at this blog is to cultivate interesting discussion. I’m not interested in flame wars or trolling, and I trust that most people who visit here aren’t interested in that either. Please bear this in mind when taking part.

Comments may be deleted in part or whole if they breach these standards. I don’t ask much, do I? I have never censored anyone’s comments just because I disagree with the opinion of the commenter and nor will I do so in future. I regard that as cowardly and wrong. I do reserve the right to edit content if I consider that it breaches these standards (or anything obvious that I’ve missed). As you’d expect, total discretion is mine in applying the above standards. If you have any concerns about comment moderation, contact me directly using the contact page. Do not raise those concerns at the blog.

Citation Policy

You may not reproduce my blog posts in their entirety at another website. If you’re going to quote this blog, out of respect please limit the size of your quotations so that reading the rest of my blog post does not become redundant. You’re more than welcome to quote a couple of paragraphs (unless the blog post itself is little more than that), with a link to my blog post for further reading. If you wish to reproduce more than this, please seek permission by using the contact link over on the right.