Comment Policy Issues
May 20th, 2006Posted by: Roger Pielke, Jr.
All- 99% of our commenters are respectful and thoughtful. We have had a recent increase in nasty comments, and today a somewhat threatening and disturbing comment, from an anonymous commenter named Eli Rabbett who even after several requests from Kevin and I has continued this pattern of behavior.
Unfortunately if these posts continue we will likely have to go to a registration-based comment policy, to ban certain URLs from commenting if they refuse to follow our rules, or publicly expose the identities of anonymous posters who engage in such behavior (and yes, we will). We do not want to go down this route, and would prefer an open site and to allow anonymous comnents.
We respectfully ask that all commenters here help to enforce the comment policy and that we all engage in respectful discussions, even on topics that we disagree about. That is the value of the site, and it would be a shame to see it suffer because of the efforts of very few.
For the immeediate future, Kevin and I will ruthlessly delete any comment deemed out of bounds as we see fit. For just about everyone, this doesn’t matter. For those few others, keep it respectful and substantive, and you are welocme to participate.
Thanks!
May 20th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
Hmm, let me see, need I repeat those things that you have said about Donald Kennedy, Kevin Trenberth, Gavin Schmidt, James Hansen and others? Oh yes, you appear not so fond of the FCCC either.
But it is your lemonade stand
May 20th, 2006 at 11:47 pm
Threatening and disturbing?
Obnoxious perhaps, but it is essentially the same criticism he has made many times before. Assuming Eli’s blog is accurate, I don’t see how it can be interpreted as a threat, or as particularly disturbing, or even why you would think it deserves a response.
May 21st, 2006 at 2:15 am
Roger
I think it would be quite sensible to disallow anonymous comments on your blog as anonymity tends to bring the worst out in people.
Experience shows that commenters who hide behind anonymity often use weblogs as a vehicle to publish foul, inappropriate, and sometimes illegal content.
http://www.dba-oracle.com/oracle_news/2006_04_18_no_anonymous_blog_comments.htm
“Eli Rabett” claims to be a university professor at a research institution. If this were true, and not just a façade, his frequently derogatory comments would bring his position into disrepute. One way of reducing inflammatory or odious comments is to request identification which would raise the shame level. All the same, even this safeguard would not prevent comparable forms of harassment by well-known people who appear to be impervious to ignominy.
May 21st, 2006 at 6:44 am
We are going to experiment with accepting comments only from registered users. Please send us feedback on how you think it is going. Thanks!