Rules and Facts of the Blog
1. You will be addressed in the style you choose. Insults and disrespect will be treated with a contemptuous and derisive disdain. Substantive and civil criticism will be met with a similarly civil response. The form the interaction will take is up to you.
2. You are expected to back up your assertions, so don't be surprised if you happen to get called on them. If you fail to back up an assertion when called on it, but refuse to retract the statement, understand that we reserve the right to delete the relevant comment and all subsequent comments you attempt to make. If you are asked a direct question relevant to the topic, then you will be expected to answer it in a straightforward and non-evasive manner; providing links in lieu of answers is not acceptable. (Links providing additional information in support of your answer are great, of course.) The dishonest and evasive tactics that are so common in Internet argumentation are not permitted here. If you refuse to either answer a question or admit that you cannot answer it, then you will not be permitted to comment here and all of your subsequent comments will be deleted.
3. Cross-comments and off-topic comments will usually be deleted. If your comment gets deleted, don't try to argue with us about it. If you have a problem with the deletion of a comment, then email us. If cross-commenting and off-topic comments persist, you will be banned from commenting.
4. This is not a democracy. Commenting here is a privilege, not a right. If you are instructed not to comment here, for whatever reason, then please go share elsewhere. There are thousands of blogs out there and perhaps they will value your input more. On a related note, please don't respond to the trolls.
5. You are expected to be polite to your fellow commenters, especially if you don't know them. The regulars, who know each other reasonably well, often engage each other in a manner that you should not try to imitate. Take your best shot, by all means, but attack the idea, not the individual.
6. The long-time regulars will always be favored over drive-by commenters.
7. Do not attempt to hijack posts and direct the discourse towards a subject of more interest to you; if you are interested in a discussion of a particular subject, email a request. Repeated efforts to hijack posts will result in banning. Monomanias of any kind are not permitted.
8. If you have made several comments that lead a moderator to observe you have nothing interesting to contribute to an ongoing discussion, we reserve the right to tell you to stop commenting on that post. A refusal to abide by that decision will lead to a ban. You will receive only one warning before being banned.
9. In general, you will be well-served if you stop to think for thirty seconds and read everything twice before responding to it. It's also wise to ask if your assumptions are correct before launching into criticism. Remember, there are few original thoughts under the sun.
10. If you have repeatedly shown yourself to be the sort of petty, ankle-biting critic who has no genuine interest in discussion or debate, but merely wishes to criticize by any means necessary, it is very unlikely that you will receive a response. This failure to respond should not be interpreted as the difficulty of the former or the strength of the latter. If you are not willing to argue in good faith, then there is absolutely no need to pay any attention to you. Furthermore, if you are one of the small group of persistent anklebiters who insist on making the same tedious and incompetent attacks over and over again, your comments will be deleted.
11. Attempts to claim that a refusal to further engage with a commenter whose arguments have repeatedly been demonstrated to be flawed are the result of cowardice or an inability to respond are false and will be deleted.
12. If you give a moderator reason to believe that you are not interested in honest, straightforward interaction, he will simply spam your comments. Continued attempts to post comments here will be considered harassment and dealt with accordingly. It will not be a problem to identify you and contact your local authorities if necessary.
13. No data from visitors is collected, used, stored, or disclosed except for information provided via the Blogger comments and whatever data is collected by Google and used, stored, or disclosed by Google.
14. These Rules may in no case be interpreted contrary to the purposes and principles of Phoenix, as solely determined by Phoenix.
Summary: To preserve quality discourse, refrain from any off-topic commenting, pettiness, dishonesty, evasiveness, insults, cross-commenting, etc. Behavior destructive to quality discourse will get comments spammed, and persistent destructive behavior will result in banning. Proprietors of the blog are sole determiners of what constitutes destructive behavior.
Adapted and pretty much ripped off Vox Popoli's "Rules and Facts of the Blog"
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