A Comment Policy Reminder
Published on 2 Jul 2009 · Filed in General · 225 words (estimated 2 minutes to read)I encourage open discussion and conversation here on my site, and I’m thrilled that readers feel welcome to share their viewpoints (even when those viewpoints differ from my own). To help foster this sense of free discourse, there are two rules upon which I insist for all comments:
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First, all comments should be courteous. There’s no reason to personally attack another reader or author—simply state your position, why that is your position, the facts you feel support your position, etc. Leave the personal attacks somewhere else.
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Second, all commenters should provide full disclosure. This helps avoid even the appearance of wrongdoing. Where a vendor’s products helps to address readers’ needs, I don’t mind a vendor mentioning their products. That vendor just needs to be sure to provide full disclosure. If you have a business relationship with an organization, disclose that. Be transparent and provide full disclosure.
Recently, I’ve had one commenter leave a series of comments on the site that blatantly and bluntly promote his employer’s products. Unfortunately, this commenter has failed to provide full disclosure. For that reason, I’ve been simply deleting this commenter’s comments. And I’m going to continue to delete this commenter’s blatant, outright comment spam as long as he/she refuses to provide full disclosure. Other readers deserve the right to know why a commenter is pushing a particular product or feature!