Thursday, July 28, 2005
New comments policy
One of the best things about writing this blog used to be the extraordinarily high quality of comments and debates. Unfortunately, in the past 3-4 months, the quality of commenting has declined pretty drastically, at least in part because I've consistently allowed for anonymous commenting. As this blog has attracted a higher readership, it has gone beyond its initial niche audience and has attracted a large number of trolls. I thought I'd tolerate it for a while to see if the trolls could be dissuaded. Unfortunately, there's been no let up. So, the first change in policy on ZS is this: NO MORE ANONYMOUS COMMENTS. I understand it will cause a real problem for those of you who aren't registered with Blogger, but would like to comment. But, honestly, the downside is a bit much for ZS. So, if you do want to comment on here and aren't a member of blogger yet, please take a minute to register.
I have also allowed everyone to say just about anything in comments. However, that freedom has led to a great deal of ad-hominem attacks in the past 6 months. I have no problems if you have a functional brain and have something sensible to say, including sharp criticism and disagreement. But the fact is that empty vessels do make the most noise. So, if we perceive anything to be abusive or besides the point, the comment will be immediately deleted. Starting with this post, we are instituting a DELETE AT OUR DISCRETION POLICY with comments.
As I've mentioned in comments several times, this is a blog, not a newspaper of record. By extension, it will be heavily biased because it reflects the opinion of the blogger, not of the reader, a group of readers or the general public. What's more, we are not being paid to blog on here. We are blogging what we can when we can, which may or may not appeal to you. But guess what, you have the choice of not reading ZS. I believe it was Howard Stern who said famously, "If you don't like it, turn it off." Remember, if you consistently read something that you seemingly despise, chances are that it says more about you than about us.
I am sorry if this sounds unduly harsh and at odds with the general tone on ZS. I also apologise to those commenters among you who will now have to register to post a comment. Unfortunately, it is true that all it takes is a few morons to destroy the experience for reader and blogger alike. I also considered other options, for instance, to turn comments off completely or have the blogger not respond at all to comments. But I figured I'd give the less drastic method a try first. Once again, I apologise to the readers of ZS, especially the ones who've stuck with this blog since its inception.
I have also allowed everyone to say just about anything in comments. However, that freedom has led to a great deal of ad-hominem attacks in the past 6 months. I have no problems if you have a functional brain and have something sensible to say, including sharp criticism and disagreement. But the fact is that empty vessels do make the most noise. So, if we perceive anything to be abusive or besides the point, the comment will be immediately deleted. Starting with this post, we are instituting a DELETE AT OUR DISCRETION POLICY with comments.
As I've mentioned in comments several times, this is a blog, not a newspaper of record. By extension, it will be heavily biased because it reflects the opinion of the blogger, not of the reader, a group of readers or the general public. What's more, we are not being paid to blog on here. We are blogging what we can when we can, which may or may not appeal to you. But guess what, you have the choice of not reading ZS. I believe it was Howard Stern who said famously, "If you don't like it, turn it off." Remember, if you consistently read something that you seemingly despise, chances are that it says more about you than about us.
I am sorry if this sounds unduly harsh and at odds with the general tone on ZS. I also apologise to those commenters among you who will now have to register to post a comment. Unfortunately, it is true that all it takes is a few morons to destroy the experience for reader and blogger alike. I also considered other options, for instance, to turn comments off completely or have the blogger not respond at all to comments. But I figured I'd give the less drastic method a try first. Once again, I apologise to the readers of ZS, especially the ones who've stuck with this blog since its inception.
