Comment Policy

Editor's Note: Way back in 2007, we here at the blog were struggling with a vocal minority of obnoxious commenters. I was stuck on a cross-country plane flight with my laptop, and took out my frustrations by banging out this proposed Comment Policy. Upon landing, I sent it to my co-bloggers for judgment. They were mildly amused, but didn't think it accurately reflected our actual sentiments -- and they were probably right. So we never posted it. But now, since I've been busy and those same co-bloggers are pretty silent, we're looking for content. So I've dredged it back up, just to offer as food for thought. So, to be clear: this is not our comment policy. It's simply what our comment policy would have been in a different universe, where my co-bloggers weren't as good at talking me down from my less well-thought-out schemes. Our current comment policy is ...