The Rules

(Source)

Lest ye think me to be some ancient fuddy-duddy who cannot abide forthright language...

So the other day, on Juvat's Monday post (for those keeping score at home), I removed a comment, didn't delete it, but removed it so that the lack of a comment is readily apparent. If I delete a comment, it's gone for good, all trace is removed. (FWIW, readers can delete their own comments and trace elements of that comment will remain. Until I tidy up. I wish Blogger would provide an "edit" feature for comments, but sadly it does not. So if you don't like your comment, you can delete it and re-post it. The old one will get removed permanently when I go through the "books" at the end of the day. I don't like leaving deleted comments lying about, cluttering up the landscape AND the statistics.)

Huh? What are you talking about Sarge?

A removed comment looks like this -

I do this to give the person who left the comment the opportunity to come back and repair his or her "transgression," I pass no judgement on the commenter, there are just certain things that I will not, cannot, allow.

After having mentioned that on Juvat's post, it struck me, just what are the rules here at The Chant about commenting? I've never really codified those other than the "Just be polite" bit which I added after my mentor Buck's untimely demise, now going on three years ago as of Monday instant. (Really, three years? Man, I miss that guy.)

So here are "The Commenting Rules" here at The Chant, they are very simple and very clear.

1. No racial epithets, slurs, insults, anecdotes, and the like. You're all grown ups (I assume, not being a grown up myself) you know the words I'm referring to.
2. No personal insults.
3. Try to use language that you would be comfortable using around your mother. Better yet, your spouse's mother. (A rule I have "sort of" violated at times. Sometimes I will use a "bad" word for emphasis, or, in my occasional forays into fiction, words that a soldier might use in the heat of battle. I will not use a racial epithet even if a fictional character might. Color me squeamish about that sort of thing. In the Air Force we were all "blue," there were no blacks, whites, browns, or yellows. Had that beat into me (figuratively of course) from day one.)

Just be polite... that's all I ask.

And that's pretty much it.

While going "off topic" in a comment isn't frowned upon, it will sometimes irk me. We put a lot of effort (for varying definitions of "effort") into writing these posts, so when we spend a hundred words talking about Topic A and casually mention Topic B in passing, don't go wild commenting on Topic B, try to stay focused on the topic at hand.

Like I said irksome, and then only sometimes. (When the main topic is the Nimitz Museum in Texas, going off on the alleged racism of someone photographed at the Museum is annoying. But, it's history, for better or for worse, alleged or proven. And please, don't throw long Wikipedia sections at me, that's my job.)

Most of the "off topic" comments are very interesting and will often cause me to think, sometimes a post will come out of it. But be judicious with the "off topic" comments. Often interesting but...

Okay, I'll put the shovel down and get off my soapbox.

(Though, obviously, I reserve the right to mix metaphors. Especially if they make no sense.)

Like I mentioned above, my dear friend Buck Pennington passed away three years ago Monday. I had this to say about that, a day or so after his boys released that sad fact.

Buck was a fun guy, taught me a lot about blogging, corrected my comma placement often (okay, all the time) and was quick to point out other grammatical errors when I made them. (Which was, and still is, far too often for my own tastes. But hey, I write like I talk. Which is sometimes a good thing, sometimes a bad thing.)

Buck's picture is at the top of the header, on the right (for those who didn't know it). Right next to Lex, the guy who inspired this here blog.

Miss them both I do.

That is all, carry on...



Note: I can be a cranky, er, cantankerous old fart at times. I am, to quote Lex, "an incipient curmudgeon." (Can't say cranky, Joe gets touchy if I use it... The big poopy head.)