Currently, this blog is set up so that anyone can write a comment, providing they have an account either with Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, or Google.

Comments are welcome from all political and religious viewpoints.

Please be respectful of other people. There is a difference between challenging an idea and attacking a person.

For example, one of my long-time readers is a Christian and political conservative, while another is a left-wing atheist. Both are welcome to comment with their views, and even to question the other person’s views (and mine).

If directly challenging something I (or other readers) have stated as a fact, please provide links to sources. (If links get caught by the spam filter, I’ll find your comment and make sure it goes through.)

Personal attacks are not allowed.

This includes harassment and name-calling. It is fine to attack a viewpoint, opinion, belief, etc. Those are not people.

Examples:

Non-personal attack (allowed): “Religion is based on baseless assumptions.”

Personal attack (not allowed): “You’re an idiot if you’re religious.”

See the difference? It’s one thing to talk about an idea; quite another to debase a person. There’s a little more leeway for public figures, especially elected ones.

I can’t control whether someone decides to take it personally when an idea is challenged. They might be on the wrong blog if that bothers them.

Let’s stay on-topic

Within reason, tangents are allowed — as are links to related articles, blog entries, or photos. Just try not to turn a discussion about a football game into an argument against a specific religion, for example.

Do not use a link-shortening service

Relevant links (URLs) are allowed/encouraged in the comments, but any URLs generated by a link-shortening service such as bitly or TinyURL will not be accepted.

Let’s use the best language we can

This isn’t a social networking site or a text message. At least attempt to use complete sentences and standardized spelling and punctuation. Doing so will make it easier for all of us to understand what you mean. Using ALL CAPS is considered “shouting”, though sometimes raising one’s voice is expected.

(If English isn’t your primary language, that’s fine! Please type in your own language and I’ll use a translator to read it.)