![\"\"](\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-wYNzMT8AGPE\/TfG-Krkf78I\/AAAAAAAABb4\/CYBDEsHIoUk\/s1600\/amewarexit.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nA couple comment threads have gotten a little nasty\/unproductive lately, so I want to jump in and try to reestablish some expectations of productive dialogue. \u00a0Before I do, I want to give two bits of information up front.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t censor comments and that\u2019s not changing.<\/strong>\u00a0 I only delete comments that are spam unrelated to the site. \u00a0Google\u2019s overenthusiastic spam filter may delay your comment for a few hours, but I will always let it through once I get back to Blogger. \u00a0That means you\u2019re free to ignore anything that follows in this post and it won\u2019t impact your commenting abilities, but I hope you don\u2019t. \u00a0The problem isn\u2019t that bad commenters victimize me or readers, it\u2019s that when you get nasty, you usually end up delegitimizing your argument and discouraging people from engaging with you (there\u2019s a reason that this post is tagged \u2018handing weapons to your enemies<\/a>\u2018).<\/p>\n I\u2019m not trying to single out any particular commenter here.<\/strong>\u00a0 The problem has bothered me more of late, so I\u2019m going to talk about a recent thread in this post. \u00a0That\u2019s not to say that the thread I\u2019m using as an example is the nadir of conversation here or I have a general problem with some of the people participating in it. \u00a0It was just ready at hand.<\/p>\n Ok. \u00a0Those warnings out of the way, let\u2019s talk about what\u2019s going on in \u201cCall him Voldemort!<\/a>\u201d (the thread on HPV vaccination) and the problems that surfaced.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t slam the kids\/Keep ad hominem to a minimum<\/em>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n When a discussion about parenting comes up, it\u2019s reasonable to talk about how choices affect the well being of children, but don\u2019t go overboard. \u00a0It\u2019s fine to talk about general trends and statistics for certain upbringing styles, but I sure didn\u2019t like seeing speculation about the future sexual activities of Kaczor\u2019s children. \u00a0Still worse was the glee or self-satisfaction that seemed to tinge some predictions of their ruin.<\/p>\n That kind of talk is\u00a0unnecessary\u00a0and unkind. \u00a0If you have data or a clear chain of logic, let that speak for you, but don\u2019t write anything that would make you ashamed if the target or his children stumbled across your post.<\/p>\n It\u2019s ridiculous to imagine you\u2019ve got a clear insight into someone\u2019s character and worth from one 1000 word essay. \u00a0The only person with personal knowledge of Kaczor or his kids in that thread was K.L., and she was right to try to quash the unpleasantness.<\/p>\n It\u2019s fine to be anonymous.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I don\u2019t mind when anyone comments on this blog anonymously (there\u2019s a reason I configured the blog to allow it) and I don\u2019t assign a credibility hit to any commenter based on the choice to use a pseudonym, a private Blogger profile, etc. \u00a0Religion can be a fraught topic and it\u2019s completely reasonable (and non-suspicious) to try to keep a boss or any casual Googler from getting their first impression of you based on some comments you made in a long running thread on a controversial issue. \u00a0(P.S. I am screwed w\/r\/t that last one.)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If you want to say something inflammatory, take to time to explain yourself<\/em>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n During the thread, Anonymous claimed misleading a child about the purpose of a vaccine was analogous to rape. \u00a0And man did things go downhill from there.<\/p>\n I, like many commenters, was\u00a0flabbergasted\u00a0by the comparison, so it took me a while to understand the logic behind the comparison. \u00a0In fact, I\u2019m probably mostly in agreement with Anonymous about the terrible consequences of misleading people to subvert their bodily autonomy,\u00a0especially\u00a0when this abuse is justified by the limited understanding of the victim.<\/p>\n Perhaps the point would have registered better if the analogy stayed in the same genre as its target (think the Tuskegee study<\/a>, or just the way doctors used to defer to a woman\u2019s husband or father when making medical decisions). \u00a0But, one way or another, the galvanizing comparison led both sides to think of each other as totally unreasonable, and then the cusswords and personal insults started flying and the germane point was lost.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n