Now Look Here

I know that the Internet is a free and often unruly medium. I know that people sometimes say things through a keyboard that they would not say in real life. But I am getting fed up with having to go through the comments to weed out unnecessary abuse of other posters or bloggers.

This is not a democracy, it's my blog. I started it to try to inform, to entertain, and to stimulate debate about something I care deeply about. I am not having schoolyard abuse cluttering up the comments because they are not just tedious, but they drive off people with a serious interest. I have already set a number of commenters to be pre-moderated, which means that nothing from them will be posted until I have looked at it. Vigorous debate, wit, comment are all welcome. Mindless abuse is not. I will block the names and IP addresses of repeat or particularly obnoxious offenders, and they can go and play elsewhere. No appeals, no second chances.