Since this blog casts an agnostic eye on religion, politics, and existence, it sometimes attracts a lot of comments, some of them quite impassioned. But many of the longer comments threads have now reached the MEGO stage – “my eyes glaze over” – so it’s time for me to establish some guidelines, be a good host, and act as editor and mediator.
So, please do comment, but:
1. Try to keep comments reasonably brief: no more than about 20 lines or 250 words. I’ll be going through the existing comments threads and editing for length so that they’re manageable and readable. No secret to this: sections edited out will be marked as follows: [.....]
2. If you want to preach, please do so elsewhere. The aim of this blog is not to convert anyone to anything, but to explore, think, exchange ideas. It is clearly not for people who are convinced they have all the answers, let alone “the” answer.
3. If you cannot resist the urge to rant, at least do so entertainingly and in less than 20 lines or 250 words.
4. There is no one-woman conspiracy to reject unfavorable comments or comments that do not reflect my point of view. There is a conspiracy to be civil. Disagree, by all means, but respect other commenters. Question all you like, but do not assume anyone else has to be wrong simply because you disagree with them.
5. If someone goes beyond the bounds of basic civility, I will no longer hesitate to designate their comments as spam. If something slips by me nonetheless, take the advice of New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on his blog: “Do not feed the trolls.”
Filed under: agnosticism, existence Tagged: | comments policy, spam, trolls
Hear Hear!!
Sorry, Lesley…
At the very least, I suppose I should know it’s polite to keep my responses shorter than your blog post…
Please do not edit existing comments. Imposing a limit on characters at the time of posting is more than fair though.
Fatima — By “editing for length,” I don’t mean simply cutting off existing comments after twenty lines. I’ll only edit inside extremely long comments, and will do so carefully and professionally, with respect for their meaning and intention. If you feel that I’ve altered your meaning by doing this, please do let me know.
Don’t apologize, Lav, just keep commenting — I love where your mind goes! — L.
good for you
“A Consipiracy to Be Civil” — this might have to be the title to my next rant.
Great guidelines, Lesley.
Perfect! Thanks, Nancy.
Peaceful and reasoned provisos. Thank you!
Lez where my comments will go
if I do not preach but speak Islam
is it civil.
Thanks for guidelines
AJ, of course it’s civil — just please try to keep it briefer. Biblical and/or Quranic quotes are clearly a way to make your point, but when you use long strings of them, your point actually gets lost, since non-believers then tend to skip the whole comment. — L.
I like the idea, but I am going to dissent.
a) For serious readers of the blog the comments form an integral part of the process, often supplementing the blog. A future post may also derive from portions of comments, i.e. may suggest new lines of thought to the blogger.Shorter comments rarely do, because normally people find it difficult to express ideas coherently using abstractions, instead relying on analogies, concrete examples etc.
b) Very often issues, such as ones you touch upon, require a detailed analysis, while it is possible to point to other sources on the net or point to a book etc the reference may not be available with the reader, in which case it may be required to quote and hence increase the length of the comment.
c) If the logical derivation of any idea being presented requires a long chain of reasoning it may not be possible to put it briefly lest we were to use symbols as in math (we may need a universally accepted set of symbols .. ironic)
d) If there is an upper limit on length, shouldn’t there be a lower limit as well ? Leaving a comment which says “great post” contributes nothing to the discussion especially on such issues, why not just not leave a comment.
e) Why change past comments?
In (d) I don’t mean any disrespect to folks who do leave such comments.
Good points all, and all in less than twenty lines. (Sorry, Shishir — I couldn’t resist…)
Actually I ensured they were less than 20 lines primarily because I wasn’t sure which ones you’d edit
.
Lez thanks for sound advice.
If you don’t mind add this one also.
The Holy prophet said :”Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should either say something good or keep silent.” (Tirmidhi)
Dear Lesely
I have recently watched your youtube videos, and I can’t wait to read your biography on the Prophet Muhammed (saw).
I was wondering if you have ever heard of the Ahmadis. They are Muslims who believe that the Messiah has arrived. I’d love to see/hear your insight.
Thanks, Rana, but on messiahs, alas, no insight.
Hi Lesley,
I came across your talk “On Reading the Koran” on TED.com and was incredibly impressed by your impartial and enlightened view of the Koran. I’m an eighteen year old, Pakistani Muslim girl, living in the United States, and I’ve spent the last six years of my life (along with my father) trying to understand Islam and the Koran in context. I’m launching a project this summer -a thirty blog for each of the days of Ramadan- where I will be exploring the different interpretations of the Koran and trying to find out what certain parts of the Koran truly mean. I feel that your research and knowledge would be incredibly helpful and wanted to know if there was any way we can get in touch.
I read all of your posts by the way. Incredible work. Planning on reading the books as well.
Best,
Misha Euceph