All- 99% of our commenters are respectful and thoughtful. We have had a recent increase in nasty comments, and today a somewhat threatening and disturbing comment, from an anonymous commenter named Eli Rabbett who even after several requests from Kevin and I has continued this pattern of behavior.

Unfortunately if these posts continue we will likely have to go to a registration-based comment policy, to ban certain URLs from commenting if they refuse to follow our rules, or publicly expose the identities of anonymous posters who engage in such behavior (and yes, we will). We do not want to go down this route, and would prefer an open site and to allow anonymous comnents.

We respectfully ask that all commenters here help to enforce the comment policy and that we all engage in respectful discussions, even on topics that we disagree about. That is the value of the site, and it would be a shame to see it suffer because of the efforts of very few.

For the immeediate future, Kevin and I will ruthlessly delete any comment deemed out of bounds as we see fit. For just about everyone, this doesn’t matter. For those few others, keep it respectful and substantive, and you are welocme to participate.

Thanks!