Welcome to my blog! I hope you find it interesting.
Purpose of comments
The purpose of me providing readers with the opportunity to comment at this site is so that they can use well thought out comments to discuss the content of the specific blog entry (or podcast episode) in question, ask questions about the issues they cover – or answer questions, bounce their thoughts on the subject off other commenters (and me), and enjoy positive, irenic, stimulating conversation that is interesting and enjoyable (even when challenging) for all participants. I am reluctant to intervene and remove or edit comments, but if they clearly do not fall within this description they may be removed.
Everyone is welcome to comment (subject to the policy described below), but I’m afraid I can’t guarantee that I’ll interact with every comment or answer every question that people ask. Sorry!
User Comments Policy
OK, the heavy stuff: In spite of the initial impression that some might receive, I do have standards. I will preserve the stated purpose of the comments section in order to maintain a good quality blog and an environment of respect and good faith. If you are going to comment here you will need to follow these rules:
- Be civil. Rudeness, abuse, flaming or expressions of hatred towards other users will not be tolerated. Do not use profanity (this includes cursing using words like “God,” “Jesus” etc).
- Stay on topic. This is important. Comments should be on the topic of the blog entry or podcast episode on which you are commenting. Leave your pet issues at home (if you have any). Please don’t just bring up whatever you feel like discussing instead. Start a blog and write about whatever you like, but at this blog, I decide the topic by writing a blog post about it. Comments that violate this are very likely to be removed.
- Use your real name. If you think that your circumstances are special and you need to use a pseudonym, contact me about it before you comment. Otherwise, if you don’t use a real name I may remove your comment, or I may add your real name to your comment if I know who you are.
- No mass pasting It is poor etiquette and in some cases it is not legal to reproduce another person’s work in full. A brief citation with a link for further reading is perfectly adequate.
- Get to the point / no flooding. There is a character limit on blog comments. If you need to write an essay, start a blog. Don’t post back-to-back comments to get around the limit. And don’t post multiple back-to-back comments in reply to the same person, filling the comment thread. Keep it tidy.
- Do not accuse other blog users of lying or being dishonest just because you do not agree with what they say. By the same token, no lying. Truth is very important at this blog. If you’re found to have lied here, or if it has been demonstrated that your claim about somebody is not true but you continue to make it, you may be banned, and at a minimum your future comments will go into moderation and your further use of this blog may be dependent on you making a public and explicit retraction and apology here at this blog. Also, do not falsely represent yourself as another person.
- Links to other sites may be fine in context, but don’t just post a link in lieu of a comment, or comment in order to link to your site, or another site (this is sometimes called drive by linking). The comments section is for you to take part in a discussion.
- Let it go. There’s nothing worse than reading a discussion where people just repeat their previous comments over and over to ensure that they get the last say. Let’s have quality discussions. If a thread becomes excessively repetitive and it looks like you’re having a hard time letting go, just repeating the same claims without things moving forward or arguing for the sake of arguing, the thread may be closed or you may find your comments being moderated.
- I promote free discussion. I allow your comments to appear at my blog unless there have been issues in the past with your comments falling outside of the purpose of this blog. If you have a blog, I require the same in return. If I try to comment at your blog but my comment does not appear, your ability to comment at this blog will be removed until you remedy this.
- Save your advice. While I am open to advice on running the blog, the comments section is not the place to offer it. The comments section is for discussing the topic of the blog entries or podcast episodes.
- Lastly, and this is a biggie – no libel. Do not make accusations against people (whether individual or corporate) unless you can prove it or at least show that there are reasonable grounds for believing it.If a potentially libelous comment is made, I may seek substantiation from the comment author, and if full substantiation is not provided when requested, the comment will be removed.
By commenting at this blog, you assert that your comment conforms to all of these standards, or else it may be removed or edited. If your comment is deemed to have breached these standards and is edited or removed, you may contact me privately about this if you feel you need to. The comments section is not the place to complain about it. Repeatedly violating these standards may result in you losing the privilege of commenting at this blog.
As you’d expect, total discretion is mine in applying the above standards (or any obvious ones that I have missed).
Copyright / Citation Policy
- I (Glenn Peoples) own the copyright to all the material at this website, including all blog entries, podcast episodes, articles and all other pages of any kind, unless I have stated otherwise.
- You may not reproduce my blog posts in their entirety at another website, in any publication or in any other medium without my written consent and provided all terms of that written consent are adhered to by you.
- If you’re going to quote this blog, please limit the size of your quotations so that reading the rest of my blog post does not become redundant (this is known as fair use).
- You’re more than welcome to quote a couple of paragraphs (unless the blog post itself is little more than that), provided you supply your audience with a link to my blog post for further reading. If you wish to reproduce more than this, please seek permission by using the contact link over on the right and we will discuss this.
- Do not link directly to the audio files in my podcast. If you wish to link to a podcast episode, you must link to the blog entry containing that episode. If the episode deserves to be heard, then let people come and find out where it came from.
- Do not reproduce any of the podcast episodes other than by downloading them to listen to. You may not upload them in whole or part to another website without my written consent and provided all terms of that written consent are adhered to by you.
Breaching the above terms may constitute an infringement on my rights as copyright holder and be treated as such.