This comment policy is a reflection of the values at paulelam.com, and the fact that this site is an instrument designed to advance the welfare of men and boys.
With that in mind, please recognize that you are a guest here and are welcome to contribute to any discussion you like, but you do not have an absolute right to be here nor to behave in any way you please. Participation in comment threads is contingent on your compliance with the policies set out on this page, and neither violations by others nor our failure to enforce the rules are licence to ignore them.
We value free speech and therefore aim to moderate with the lightest possible touch and to provide as unrestricted a space as possible, but there are certain standards that are required to maintain a useful and stimulating environment. Per the Terms of Service, neither individual comments nor whole threads may be interpreted as representative of my position on a given subject.
In a nutshell: stay on topic and argue the point, not the person.
Content
Every comment should be on topic, meaning directly or indirectly relevant to the article to which they’re attached. Dissent is welcome from a pro-male position. Feminists and their allies are not welcome to comment. Any disruptions from feminists or their allies will be met with swift eviction and banning.
Unconditionally off-topic
Comments involving the following are always off-topic, and are subject to the escalating sanctions as described below:
- Violence, including threats, advocacy, ideation and even insinuation of violence is strictly forbidden. This is the fastest way to get a permanent ban, potentially without warning.
- “Doxing”. Everybody is entitled to their privacy, and those who violate the privacy of others in our comment sections will swiftly have their comments deleted or edited.
- Libel. Your opinion of somebody else is fine, but you had better be prepared to back up anything you state as fact to a high standard of evidence.
- Bigotry. All humans deserve an equal opportunity to succeed and to be treated with dignity, therefore bigoted statements will not be tolerated.
Moderators, and by moderators I mean Paul Elam, have the right to declare a specific subject, aspects of a subject or thread off-topic at their own discretion, at which point the rules described here apply.
Conduct
Disruption and derailment will not be tolerated, and what exactly constitutes disruption or derailment is left to the discretion of individual moderators. Individual moderators being, of course, Paul Elam.
Badgering of other commentators and/or excess repetition (particularly after a moderator has declared a subject a ‘dead horse’) is likely to be considered derailment, where debate over the issue at hand that is constructive (in some way advances understanding of all perspectives concerned).
Ad hominem and personal attack are forbidden. Insults between commentators are a grey area and will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis at the complete discretion of the moderators though, who will err on the side of preventing the derailing of threads with personal flame wars. Profanity itself is generally okay provided the rest of the comment complies with the rest of the policies described on this page.
Challenge the message, not the messenger
You are not your ideas, and the same is true of your opponents. Though personal attack is forbidden, any proposition you offer is fair game and you must expect to be challenged on it by others who feel strongly but differently from you. Do not interpret this as an attack on you personally, and likewise you must make every effort to tackle your opposition’s ideas rather than your opponent him (or her) self.
Free speech and “anything goes” are not the same things
To be clear: this minimum standard of decorum is not tone or language policing. We welcome robust and forthright debate for as long as it remains constructive, on-topic and revelant to the subject of the debate, but we will not tolerate the degeneration of comment threads into pettiness.
We value free speech (including speech we disagree with) and we want comment threads to be as unrestricted as possible. The limitations we impose are pragmatic measures designed to maintain the usefulness and relevance of comment threads as a platform for debate. In other words, there is an important difference between what you say, and how you say it.
Sanctions
My management decisions are final and there is no right of appeal however, if you feel I have seriously erred, then you can email me. Good luck with that, lol.
Serious infractions, particularly in respect of violence will usually get you banned immediately.
Please take the warning seriously. We welcome your contributions, but we will not permit individual commentators to degenerate the conversation until it becomes all about you.
What to do if banned, especially if for no apparent reason
I routinely ban the entire domain of disposable email address providers (such as drdrb.net) because these have been (ab)used to circumvent prior bans and for throw-away accounts used for drive-by commenting.
If you inexplicably find yourself unable to comment (particularly if you’ve never commented here before, or if you’ve suddenly found yourself banned when you’ve not so much as skirted this comment policy), check that the email address in your Disqus profile editor is valid and is not a disposable address.
If that appears to be in order, then email me and ask me to investigate.
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