Hi folks! And especially to some of our Commenters – apologies. It seems that DISQUS has been taking what *I* think are relatively benign comments and put them into “NEEDS MODERATION” or were labeled as “SPAM” for no good reason at all. I’m just shaking my head – I’ve not seen this before since switching to DISQUS years ago. Sure, once in a while I’d come across a comment that made my eyebrow raise up because I couldn’t see WHAT was wrong with it – and approved it right away. I just put it down to “a very small percentage – nothing is perfect” category.
Not any more. After all, I just approved a comment that only had #”FJB” in it. You know, the more impertinent version of “Let’s Go Brandon!“. WOW, this was FAST. So why is DISQUS protecting President Asterisk like this? Right on their front page, they proudly display “Express Yourself“.
I also approved a number of other comments that weren’t quite so “benign” and changed some of the spelling so as to pass my Rule #1 – basically, Free Speech but making things kid friendly. Adult Themes but I have tried, since our inception, to keep this place family friendly.
Trolls are another thing – I take a dim view of them. They’ll get a warning, most of the time, but I ALWAYS reserve the right (and Steve as well), to boot anyone not playing by our limited Rules at any time.
Most of you that leave Comments here – please know that they are appreciated and we welcome them (even as it is taking more and more of my time to moderate them). I’ve always wondered why sites would stop allowing comments – they add to the original post and sometimes, create discourse that gets more interesting than the ,original post (like some of mine). I want them to continue.
So, if you are leaving comments and they are disappearing, LET US KNOW!!! I can’t be watching them all, all of the time. If they are in DISQUS (and sometimes, they aren’t), and they seem fine to me, I’ll approved them as soon as I see your email.
Also, if you see REAL SPAM, flag the comment and I’ll go look at it as well. Ditto for TROLL comments (but make sure that they really are TROLLS as opposed to just disagreement on world view). I’ve banned folks for being Trolls – will do so again but it has to be a pattern rather than just a single comment.
Anyways, this went long. Again, apologies to those that got their comments mashed by DISQUS’s meat grinder.
