Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Comments on Comments

First, for the record, comments are pain in the neck. If anyone is thinking of starting a blog, we recommend not permitting comments about subjects that are close to come and fraught with dispute. Disputes in real life tend to become flame wars on comment boards. It had been hoped that this wouldn't happen here, but that was naive. Allowing unfettered comments is not really a good idea. So, that leaves moderation. Moderation is tiring. Which comments to publish or not? It becomes a thankless task. So, comments will be disabled on future posts, and comments on past posts will eventually be "aged" off.

The comment sections have not be productive in illuminating new ideas. Rather they have only served to forum to regurgitate disputes already playing out in other public forums. There is no need to enshrine these disputes online for all of the world to see, for all of time. Do we all want someone who is thinking about visiting Bethlehem to be reading about dirty laundry instead of the area's natural beauty?

What about the "good" comments? Again, it takes too much energy to moderate which ones to keep and which ones to dismiss. Our idea of a good comment is probably different that your idea. So, we will eventually just take them all down once people have had a chance to "get it out of their system". What about the "exchange of ideas"? This is America, there are many avenues to offer different ideas. We are confident that one of the many other forums will suffice.

Our apologies to those who are disappointed.

 

 

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