Thanks to a particular commenter who cannot seem to restrain his contempt for my failure to share his paranoia concerning Muslims while commenting on posts here, I have enabled comment moderation.
I do not wish to ban this commenter from the site, because from time to time he raises good points which are worthy of consideration and respect. But I don’t think users should have to wade through the name-calling and insults in order to find these points. Sadly, Blogger will not allow me to do this selectively for individual users, which suggests that I ought to once again consider migrating the blog to somewhere that gives me a little more administrative flexibility, something that I have not found the time to do and which I do not relish doing.
I will approve and publish all comments of substance, regardless of the viewpoint expressed therein. Comments which, in my sole discretion and exclusive judgment, contain trolling, insults, abusive language, or invective will be edited so as to remove the inappropriate content thereof and only the substantive, constructive, or useful content will see the light of day. This also means that if your comment does not relate in some discernable way to the topic of the post, I will not allow it to be published.
I choose to not practice viewpoint discrimination in exercising my power as administrator of the blog. That does not mean, however, that this is an open forum where anyone can say whatever they like. As I’ve said in the FAQ, constructive, factual, and interesting disagreement is welcome — trolling is not. I am not the government and therefore I am not bound by the First Amendment and I have not created an open forum. Just as I choose to not censor viewpoints other than my own, I also choose not to allow people to shoot insults at will.
Say what you have to say — on the topic at hand. Mind your manners. I know that 95% or more of the Readers here don’t need to be told that. If you are in that number, this is not aimed at you, and I regret the inconvenience.
We've done this at Popehat from the start. I think, on balance, it promotes open dialogue more than it detracts from it: trolls, hotheads, and loudmouths tend to deter good discussions. I'm not sure why anyone should feel obligated to treat their blog differently than they treat their porch swing; jackasses are not invited back.
You might look into other commenting programs that you can incorporate into Blogger, some of which may give you more moderation options. I use Disqus and have it set to moderate all comments posted by anyone I haven't put on the approved list. Comments from regular readers I trust bypass the moderation. Comments from everyone else require my approval. I can also prohibit commenters based on their email, username, or IP address.
I second the Disqus suggestion. Whenever I get around to updating HC, I am thinking of bypassing WordPress's commenting system altogether for Disqus.