1. I moderate the comments before they are posted to the blog. I do this in order to insure that inappropriate content is not posted.
2. The purpose of the blog is to promote discussion. So long as the comments are appropriate in tenor and relevant to the discussion, I post them whether or not I agree with them.
3. As of 5/19/11, I am imposing relevancy limitations. Comments should be relevant to the blog entry to which they are made rather than veering off into unrelated topics. In gauging relevancy, I will be extremely liberal -- that is, if there is any way I can see relevancy to the topic of the blog entry, I will permit the comment to be posted for all to read. I impose this relevancy limitation because, in the recent past, some of the comments have been off-topic to the particular blog posting to which the comment is made. Off topic comments -- however good -- are distracting to readers and, moreover, quickly become inacessible because they will not show up when a search is made; the search will pick up relevant blog entries but if the comment is posted to an off topic entry, the search will not pick it up. I encourage those readers who want to make comments to find a relevant blog posting and post the comment to that relevant blog or email me the comments so that I can suggest a relevant blog entry or create one that is relevant. I will illustrate the problem. As of the date (5/19/11), I created this page to explain the comments rules, I had posted a blog item on the criminal charge via information against Michael F. Schiavo. The blog was titled A Botched Foreign Account Quiet Disclosure Draws Criminal Charges (5/19/11). One reader posted a comment that was not related to this discussion but rather related to the administration of the 2011 OVDI. I decided to moderate out that comment. It was a good comment and asked a good question about the administration of the OVDI program. But it was not relevant to the topic of the blog to which the reader was trying to append the comment. Readers concerned that their comments might be missed should keep in mind that recent comments are posted in the column at the right, even when the comments are made to older blog entries. (I did not impose this relevancy limitation before and do not plan to go back to older entries to impose it; this is on a go forward basis only as of 5/19/11.)
4. Beginning 3/29/11, I am not going to approve new comments that, in my judgment, are just uninformed rants offering nothing useful to the readers of this blog. I allowed those up to this point but have decided that the readers of this blog should not have to read uninformed rantings of people who, for whatever, reason rant rather than discuss. I feel that I owe it to the many readers who are looking for informed discussion. So, readers who rant will have their comments deleted. I am not going to go back to earlier comments to eliminate the rants. That would just take too much time. But future ones will not be approved. And, for a comment that is primarily ranting but may have some good comments buried in it, I will not take the time to ferret out the good comments.
I will just not approve the comment but the commenter can eliminate the rants and repost the good stuff. PLEASE KEEP THE COMMENTS AND THE TONE CIVIL, DECENT AND APPROPRIATE. YOU CAN COMPLAIN ABOUT THE IRS ACTION WITHOUT AD HOMINEN ATTACKS.
