David Lat of Above the Law explains in the WaPo why his blog has dropped comments. The subhead is "I used to rely on Above the Law commenters for tips. Now they just spew bile."
We have no plans to drop comments here at C&C. Our commenters on the whole remain multiple levels above the degeneracy seen elsewhere. The comments section adds valuable perspective and spices up the blog.
So let's keep it clean, folks, and keep the focus on facts and ideas, not name-calling. Our policies on comments are noted in this post as updated in this post.
Over the years, however, our comments changed. They had always been edgy, but the ratio of offensive to substantive shifted in favor of the offensive. Inside information about law firms and schools gave way to inside jokes among the "commentariat," relevant knowledge got supplanted by non sequiturs, and basic civility (with a touch of political incorrectness) succumbed to abuse and insult.Lat notes that comments became increasingly racist and sexist insults. Equally offensive, I should note here, is the comment that accuses someone else of racism, etc., with no rational basis for doing so. ("You support Policy X, and Policy X has a disparate impact. Therefore you are a racist," and drivel such as that.) He also notes that the administrative burden of actively policing the comments is just not worth it. Comment degeneration not only diminishes the blog and the post to which the comment is made, but gutter comments drive away commenters who actually do want to discuss ideas in a civil manner, creating a downward spiral.
We have no plans to drop comments here at C&C. Our commenters on the whole remain multiple levels above the degeneracy seen elsewhere. The comments section adds valuable perspective and spices up the blog.
So let's keep it clean, folks, and keep the focus on facts and ideas, not name-calling. Our policies on comments are noted in this post as updated in this post.
A major reason the commentary level here remains high is that, except for commenters who are "trusted" because of their history of compliance with the blog's rules, comments may be moderated. In other words, they have to be approved by the post author before they appear.
Contrary to what we sometimes hear, this policy advances rather than inhibits free speech. As yet another blog shuts down its comments section, it becomes even more clear that speaking is not the same as spitting, and that the latter drives out the former.
I stopped participating on one otherwise quite valuable blog largely because the comments toward me (and, amazingly, my wife) degenerated into anatomical, sexual, religious and other insults. Other conservative commenters there have also departed or considerably cut back. How this advances free speech is a mystery to me.
C&C is the private property of CJLF. I am only a guest blogger. That said, I could hardly agree more with CJLF's rules, and, obviously, with the concept of HAVING rules and enforcing them. For that reason, comments on entries I write are not going to be insulting, nor will they be allowed to start in that direction.
I enjoy discussing things with commenters and do so more, perhaps much more, than most legal bloggers. I expect to continue in that vein. A clean and respectful approach from my correspondents helps me do that, and I am grateful for it.