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So Scoble's found the secret to happiness, and part of it is comment moderation.

This is a huge change for me. I wanted a free speech area, but after having a week off I realize that I need to make a change. That, I'm sure, will lead to attacks of "censorship" and all that hooey. Too bad. I'm instituting a "family room" rule here. If I don't like it, it gets deleted and deleted without warning — just the same as if you said something abusive in my family room I'd kick you out of my house. If you don't like that new rule, there are plenty of other places on the Internet to write your thoughts. Start a blog and link here. Etc. Etc.

Of course, the big question is, will Robert manage to halt his own regular bad habits of being a bit of a flame-baiter and talking before even attempting to get all the facts. Errors are one thing, we all make mistakes. I've left a few of mine in as a reminder to double check even when I'm sure. But Robert still has these spasms of "FIRST!!!!111", and it's when he gets his facts messed up that he gets the most flames. So we'll see how this shakes out. I am rather amused at just how intense the reactions are to this though. It's rather interesting.

Oh, and to those who, for some stupid damned reason will scream "censorship"? Read a book about the concept. Private citizens do not in fact have to let you be dumb on their blog.

But, since there's a whole chorus of "Yeah! Comment Moderation! Down with Flames!"...will this affect this little bit of free-for-all that I run here?

Nah. I have my own ways of dealing with trolls, but I'm far better at being mean than Robert, and unafraid to beat someone like a baby seal when they beg for it. It's kind of fun sometimes. I mean, if it degenerates into nothing but lots of profanity back and forth, I'll gut that part of it, but that includes my comments too. However, it's got to get "Star Wars Post Flame Wars Stupid" to get deleted. if it's even REMOTELY interesting, i'll leave it up, it's not like they're actually in my house yelling at me. I rather like free-for-alls, they're nicely Darwinistic.

Besides...the idea that I'm going to start deleting posts just because they're loud and obnoxious? Um...nah, that would be so silly, I can't even comprehend doing it. The entire concept tells me that people take this stuff far too seriously. Remember:

It's Just The Internet

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