The comments have been off for, if I’m counting right, two weeks.

I’ve missed them. Well, most things about them.

I’m going to bring them back.

But there will be some changes.

Call Me “Pollyanna”. Once. As I pointed out last week, the goals of the comment section, like the blog itself if you think about it, are:

• To have debate (where debate is needed) without a whole lot of regard for what the various parties feel about the issue…
• While observing some standards in the argument – the basics of human respect, not to mention logic and social decorum.

If I want a barroom brawl, I’ll go to a bar. And since I got more than my fill of that kind of bar in my 20s, and of online universes that act the same way without the fun of girls and booze, it’s safe to say my cup has long since run over in that department.

Debate. Argue. But treat each other with basic respect, which means if you don’t respect someone, and feel the need to express it especially directly…

…don’t.

Take it elsewhere.

Maybe take it to Twitter, and have your ire swallowed up in the frothing sea of it. Or try your luck with Facebook’s censorship. Come up with things worth discussing. Perhaps start a blog, or other online outlet of your own, and build yourself an audience. Let them debate in your comment section any way you want to. See how it goes.

It’s a free-ish country.

Stick. Otherwise?

If you make a habit of threadjacking, or especially obnoxious dick-measuring, I’ll mark your comments as “spam”.

Which means your future comments will go into the spam queue until I get a chance to look ’em over. All of them. .

Which means a couple of things:

• As we’ve seen in this comment section over the past couple of years, not only do I not have a lot of time or energy to spend on playing comment police, I don’t want to. Your comments may just stay in the mod queue forever. I’ll try to stay on top of things – but there’s no guarantee stated or implied. So just don’t do it.
• Given that my spam moderation tool (“Aismet”) has gotten more opaque and automated over the years, it’s entirely possible I”ll never see your comments. I honestly don’t know. And if it gets to that point, I’m OK with that.

Unreasonable? Nah. Not for grownups.

So – if you’ve got it in your head that you want to try to change the subject in the comments, and make a practice of it (you know who you are)? You can’t. So don’t.

If your go-to is volume? Volume is for guitars and cars. Not arguments.

Carrot? I”ll be re-opening comments on Monday.

No, not today. The “rules” aren’t really open for debate.