I really didn’t want to do this, but it’s time to introduce a formal comments and trackbacks/pingbacks policy. For those of you that missed it on the left side of the page, I’ve reposted it here:
I almost always welcome comments, trackbacks and pingbacks here (the times I don’t allow comments here tend to be when I am “promoting” a better conversation elsewhere). That having been said, the massive increase of spam has led me to create a policy.
First off, what somebody says in the comments section, whether through an actual comment, a trackback or a pingback, is his or her responsibility. If you do choose to comment, keep that in mind.
I do log IP addresses of every comment/trackback/pingback, and e-mail addresses of every comment, but since it would take a court order (or an illegal hacking of the server) for that information to leave my server, please don’t falsify them. Your website URI, which is a voluntary disclosure, will be made available for everyone to see.
While I do not, as a matter of policy, edit or remove comments, I do reserve the right to do so at any time and for any reason. I am not the government, and specifically for those that don’t know the first word of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, I am not Congress, so don’t go whining about your free speech rights being violated if I do so. I may or may not tell you why, but spam will be one of he reasons why I remove a comment.
Those that use the trackback/pingback feature of WordPress can expect closer scrutiny as something more than 90% of trackbacks and pingbacks are spam.
I use several tools to help me filter out the copious amounts of spam. They may or may not be 100% accurate and effective. If you do have a legitimate, on-topic comment/trackback/pingback that did get caught as spam, be patient. I don’t monitor this blog 24/7.
Remember, this is my sandbox, and while I generally am a nice guy, I can be very mercurial. If you have a problem with that, you are always free to start your own blog (at least if your government lets you). There are a multitude of blogging solutions out there. Heck, I might even put you on my blogroll, though that is at my sole discretion.
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