On this blog we welcome discussion. Although we welcome discussion, we expect that discussion to be civil and have no time for some of the vitriol that appears on many other blogs and forums around the internet. There are many different world views represented amongst the people that read here and therefore the conversation has a high potential to get out of hand. We think we can do better than that and be a good example of people of differing thoughts coming together in discussion. So to keep the conversation good and safe, here are some guidelines.

Anonymous comments are not allowed. Anything that appears as “anonymous” will be deleted.

We ask that you use a name when commenting here. That name can be made up, but we would ask that you use the same name whenever placing a comment. This is to avoid confusion. When we have more than one person posting anonymously, it can easily get confusing and personalities can get mixed up.

We would also encourage that whilst we are happy for people to exercise freedom of speech to a point, we generally prefer polite, respectful discussion. We would encourage not using saracasm as it can easily cause a discussion to become inflamed. Remember you are talking to other PEOPLE… treat others as you would wish to be treated.

We understand that some of the things we post involve topics that can cause high emotion. We do it because we believe if the discussions can be handled respectfully, with disagreements being approached as a sharing of views rather than an all out attempt to change another’s thinking and if that’s not achieved, doing your best to demean the other’s thoughts, then we can foster a better understanding between people and groups that do not see eye to eye.

So, here are the ‘rules’ on commenting:

1. Give yourself a name and use it consistently. “Anonymous” comments will be deleted no matter how good they are.

2. Be respectful. Talk to others in a manner that shows that whilst you may not agree, you see them as a valuable human being (as you should). Disagreement is fine, demeaning another person is not.

3. Be polite. Negative sarcasm is not appreciated. Obvious jest, where it is taken as obvious humour is another story.

4. Where you find your emotions boiling over because of another person’s point of view, don’t respond.

…. and yes, we will need to work on some of these ourselves.

Understand that comments will be deleted at the discretion of blog administrators.

Persistent ignoring of the the values and “rules” set out in this comment policy will result in being black-listed and blocked from commenting on this site. The purpose of this is to maintain a safe environment where all commenters feel respected. Once again, such an action is at the discretion of blog administrators.

Let’s keep the conversation at a level we can all enjoy and benefit from.