This is an update to the comment policy for this blog that I posted in 2013. Unlike that post, this post is is most certainly in response to some comments I have received lately. I used to get excited when I saw I had comments waiting for me and they helped me feel that I was not blogging in a vacuum. But lately, I’ve started to cringe. I thought of just turning off comments for a while, but then I realised that I just needed to update  A Life By Design‘s comment policy.

-This blog is my home on the web and my readers are guests. I practice an open door policy and welcome dialogue. However, if you consistently use the comments section to make passive-aggressive remarks that have nothing positive to contribute, you will be blocked from commenting without notice.

A good measuring stick for whether a commenter deserves that is when I start getting emails from folks who are essentially strangers commenting on those comments and wondering what’s up with the commenter. To those emailers, I appreciate the solidarity, but please reply to the comment instead. If they’re not shy about being ridiculous in public, why should you be shy about calling them out for being ridiculous?

-I receive all comments by email, regardless of the age of the post. So you do not need to email me to let me know you commented on an older post. 🙂

-All comments on this blog are moderated unless you are a previously approved commenter. So if your comment does not show up, please do not recomment. Either I will get an email with the comment and, if it is legitimate, I will approve and reply to it or you were banned from commenting.

-Legitimate comments with a lot of links or no text (such as someone just commenting with an emoticon/emoji or with a punctuation mark) may end up in my comment spam folder. I do not get these comments by email. I go through the spam folder every few days and usually catch the odd legitimate comment, but if I don’t, please don’t be insulted. I get hundreds of spam comments every day and out of the thousands each month, I might get one legitimate comment in there so I really don’t spend a lot of time going through the spam folder. If your comment had something you felt I should know, then, please, do send me an email with the info!

-I reserve the right to edit comments. For example, sometimes someone will post a comment with typos and then comment to apologize for the typos. I will delete the second comment and fix the first one (I will not correct typos until the commenter points them out!).  Or if someone posts erroneous information and then follows up with the correct info, I will delete the incorrect information.

-I do not moderate comments, unless I feel that they are particularly inflammatory and will not lead any valuable discussion. I will never delete a comment from someone respectfully disagreeing with me or offering a contrary opinion, but, again, I may choose to eventually ban that commenter if all they ever do when they come here is nitpick.

-I reply to comments when I have time, usually within a few days.