Commenting on Blogs

The Jesus Creed Blog is committed to the word “conversation” as what we want to happen daily at this site. Long ago Peggy Brown wrote up a post called the parable of the Jesus Creed, and it was about how to behave in the comments, and I think she captured the subject of this post.

Instead of writing a parable, though, I’ll write some straight prose. My prose is about words, and these words make clear what we want to happen here.

First, the word conversation: imagine yourself at a cafe with me and RJS and Michael Kruse and David Opderbeck, not to mention so many others and I better quit now or I’ll list too many and start wondering names I have forgotten and shouldn’t have. One of us starts up a conversation, asks a good question or two, and then everyone else speaks up for what they think.

But the cafe is an important word here. We are not in a debate hall (where polemics rule). We are not in a lecture hall (where long-windedness can be found). We are not behind a church podium (where evangelism or authoritative sermons are heard). We are at a cafe. Others are around. We are in a conversation over coffee. We are talking about important subjects but no one raises the voice; no one starts lecturing. We have to respect that others are around and we have to keep our voices down.

Second, the word debate. Debate, while it is designed to lead to truth, is more about winning than anything else. We are not gathered to win but to converse. We aim at truth and facts here; we don’t aim at winning an argument.

I have banned less than ten people over the years here, and everyone one of them — in my judgment — were not conversants but debaters who showed themselves driven to win. The other side of the problem here accusations and name-calling, which don’t need any kind of comment.

Third, the word contribution. When you comment, ask yourself what contribution you will make to the questions and topic. This leads to one of the most intractable issues blogs have: some commenters have a knack at distracting the questions or the topic to something they want to talk about, or their comments become the focus of the comments thread. This is not easy to detect, but over time I’ve gained some experience at recognizing the problem. If you find yourself the focus of the comments, you may well have distracted the conversation.

Contributors accept the questions, deal with the topic at hand, and carry the conversation forward by contributing. Who can question how Michael Kruse contributes here? Sometimes I’m just waiting for Michael to make a comment because I know he will both shed light and contribute to the conversation.

Fourth, the word argument. Some people like to argue and debate and get into intellectual fights. Fine. Just not here. While we want folks to buttress their ideas and comments with arguments, we don’t want the comments to turn into an Argument. I think you see the difference. Avoid the Argument.