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That would be because of all the time I've been spending policing bigotry and pettiness in the comments on my earlier post about Minneapolis' Somalis' efforts to create a Halal food pantry.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2014\/09\/people-i-have-a-comment-policy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"People! I Have a Comment Policy!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over this past week I have been growing increasingly frustrated at the growing number of people violating my comment policy. Some of these violations are committed by newcomers who may be unaware that I have a comment policy, but others are committed by regular readers. I have a lot on my plate right now, and stepping in and moderating all of these conversations to warn or ban those who violate my comment policy is really starting to take its tole. You've noticed that I don't have my Created To Be His Help Meet post up today? 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{"id":23543,"date":"2014-09-26T16:11:11","date_gmt":"2014-09-26T20:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=23543"},"modified":"2014-09-26T16:11:11","modified_gmt":"2014-09-26T20:11:11","slug":"people-i-have-a-comment-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2014\/09\/people-i-have-a-comment-policy.html","title":{"rendered":"People! I Have a Comment Policy!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Over this past week I have been growing increasingly frustrated at the growing number of people violating my comment policy<\/a>. Some of these violations are committed by newcomers who may be unaware that I have a comment policy, but others are committed by regular readers. I have a lot on my plate right now, and stepping in and moderating all of these conversations to warn or ban those who violate my comment policy is really starting to take its tole. You\u2019ve noticed that I don\u2019t have my Created To Be His Help Meet post up today? That would be because of all the time I\u2019ve been spending policing\u00a0bigotry and pettiness\u00a0in the comments on my earlier post about Minneapolis\u2019 Somalis\u2019 efforts\u00a0to create a Halal food pantry.<\/p>\n

When\u00a0reprimanded for comment policy violations, the most frequent complaint is that I am not being fair\u2014that I am not holding the regulars or those I agree with to the same standards as newcomers or those who espouse views I disagree with. There is some merit to this claim, but it is a result of the fact that I don\u2019t have time to go through every comment making sure my comment policy is being followed. As a result, I often only notice a problem when people start flagging posts, and it is newcomers or those who disagree with the majority here who are typically flagged.<\/p>\n

So, several important points.<\/p>\n

Regular commenters, and those who agree with the views I express in my blog posts, are just as\u00a0bound to my comment policy as are others.<\/strong> Please step it up here. I understand that reading and responding to others\u2019\u00a0comments can be frustrating, I really do, but I don\u2019t have a comment policy for it to be ignored.\u00a0I believe it is possible to demolish\u00a0sexist arguments (or what have you) with reasoned arguments. There is no need (in this space, at least) to resort to\u00a0personal insults or other nastiness.<\/p>\n

Please cut down on the gratuitous flagging of others\u2019 comments.<\/strong>\u00a0Do not flag a comment just because you disagree with it or don\u2019t like its content. When a comment is flagged, it disappears into moderation. This means it cannot be seen or responded to in the thread. I\u2019ve had numerous complaints that people flagged comments they were about to respond to with epic takedowns. If you guys can\u2019t keep the flagging down, I am going to talk to Patheos to see if there is a way to change the settings, because this really can\u2019t go on. Please only flag comments that are actually abusive.<\/p>\n

Feel free to warn others when they violate my comment policy, but please do so evenly and by simple word of explanation. Do not boss other commenters around. That is not in keeping with the spirit of my blog. If someone has violated my comment policy, been warned, and violated it again, flagging would be appropriate (but even in that case, please don\u2019t flag every single one of that person\u2019s comments).<\/p>\n

Above all else,\u00a0please read my comment policy<\/a>.<\/strong> It can be boiled down to three things: Attack arguments<\/em> rather than people<\/em>, engage other comments in good faith,<\/em> and do not<\/em> engage in bigotry. Comments that bigotry will either be deleted or demolished by other commenters. When I decide to let a bigoted comment stand, it may be to document the bigotry that sadly\u00a0does exist or to be instructive, with the replies that follow it, for future readers.<\/p>\n

As a side note, if someone is asking a question or is engaging in discussion in good faith and makes comments that involve\u00a0sexism or other isms, those should be pointed out, refuted, and discussed. It is overt\u00a0and unrepentant bigotry that I am most concerned about here.<\/strong> I and many of my readers once held bigoted views ourselves, and I believe in giving others the chance to see where they went wrong, to educate themselves, and to adjust their viewpoints. In other words, what really matters is not so much their first comment as\u00a0how they respond going forward.<\/p>\n

One last note: Starting now, my\u00a0prohibition on bigotry includes bigotry against religion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"