URGENT: Rules for Leaving Comments

Posted by Taylor Marshall 

There was recently a little storm in the comments with two people claiming that I deleted their comments and that I'm censoring people's ideas on this blog.

First of all, I am open to debate in disagreement.People get on here all the time and make fun of me, disagree with me, tell me I'm ignorant, and so on and so on.

I could delete their comments, but I don't. I leave them up. It reminds me of King David and Shimei in the Bible. Here's the story in case you don't know it:

"And king David came as far as Bahurim: and behold there came out from thence a man of the kindred of the house of Saul named Semei, the son of Gera, and coming out he cursed as he went on, 6 And he threw stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people, and all the warriors walked on the right, and on the left side of the king. 7 And thus said Semei when he cursed the king: Come out, come out, thou man of blood, and thou man of Belial. 8 The Lord hath repaid thee for all the blood of the house of Saul: because thou hast usurped the kingdom in his stead, and the Lord hath given the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and behold thy evils press upon thee, because thou art a man of blood.

"And Abisai the son of Sarvia said to the king: Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? I will go, and cut off his head. 10 And the king said: What have I to do with you, ye sons of Sarvia? Let him alone and let him curse: for the Lord hath bid him curse David: and who is he that shall dare say, why hath he done so?" (2 Sam 16:5-10)

If you want to be my personal Semei, go for it. So feel free to throw stones. Feel free to disagree with me. It doesn't bother me one bit. Unlike other blogs, I'm not interested in silencing everyone who disagrees with me.

Now then, for the public good, there are a few rules that you need to know about.

This site is visited by about 150,000 unique visitors (unique persons) every month. That's like three NFL football stadiums emptying out through this blog. It's a lot of people - and each one has an opinion about something. Which is great. I really do want to hear from you! That's the point of comments. 

But I don't want people being exposed to porn, heretical websites, or websites that are selling stuff that doesn't relate. So there are some rules.

1) Any comment with hyperlinks in it (where you link to another page) is automatically sent to my "Comments Purgatory" until I manually go in and approve it. Why? I don't want evil links on my site. Period. If you chose to hyperlink in your comment, you must understand that your comment becomes "second class" and may not appear for 24 hours or maybe even a few days until I'm able to review comments.

2) Any comments with cuss words will automatically be sent to to "Comments Hell" where they will never see the light of day. They will be deleted. I don't like cursing on my page. It's not fair to the readers.

3) If you include a comment with several hyperlinks, I'll probably just delete it. I don't have the time to check all the links. I assume it's spam. It's deleted.

4) If you link to a heretical website (eg, "Hey check out this great page by womyn priests!") or you link to your personal private revelations...guess what. It will be deleted.

Here's how to leave a great comment: 

1) Address the person that you addressing by name. This prevents confusion. For example:

John,

I hear what you're saying, but didn't Augustine also say...

Use the person's name when you leave a comment.

2) Express your opinion and back it up. Cite some Scripture or a source. Don't just rant.

3) Share useful information. Be positive. Be inspirational. Be salt and light.

Okay, I hope this all proves for a more helpful and inspiring website. I think the comments are over half this blog so please keep leaving them. I love reading them and I LOVE engaging with you in the Comments.

So I'll open the comments: Please leave one. Are these rules reasonable?

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