Comment moderation and other housekeeping
Sharp-eyed Sola Panel readers will have noticed that the evil spam monster has, just once or twice, crept through our defences and left us inadvertently advertising the latest—well, less sharp eyed readers don't need to know. We've also had a rash of posts (from just a couple of people) that we had to delete, according to our 'be godly' and 'stay on topic' guidelines.
So while we continue to iron out the small wrinkles in our fresh new blog, we are enabling comment moderation. That means we will be moderating all comments in line with our guidelines, and you may experience some delay in seeing what you or others have posted.
As we do this, we're trying to strike a balance between highlighting the actual content of the posts, yet also allowing open and lively discussion (including disagreement!), while at the same time establishing a tone for our interaction that will, we trust, be of the most benefit to participants and readers.
So at the moment our Sola Panel ‘L’ plates (‘L’ for ‘learner driver’, in case you don't have them in your part of the world) are still firmly in place. Please be patient with us as we explore our options in this department! If we make mistakes, the easiest way to let us know is via the comments on this blog. Only please remember to mark them ‘Not for publication’ if you don't want your views spread throughout the blogosphere!
Please keep reading and commenting, and we, for our part, will keep you updated on where we're going and what we're thinking.
It seems to me that your “Be godly” guideline is notoriously vague and is open to a considerable degree of abuse. Could you please explain specifically what is meant by that guideline?
Brian, I’m not sure what you mean by ‘notoriously’ vague, which seems a somewhat vague use of the word ‘notorious’, if I can be cheeky enough to make such an observation.
However, I would suggest that it’s no vaguer than the command ‘Love your neighbour’. I notice that Jesus himself was what some might call evasive when pressed for detail on what he meant by this.
I suppose the best way to find out, however, is to stay with us for a while and see if you agree with our (invariably fallible) judgement.
PS. Having just deleted a comment advertising Texas Hold ‘Em Poker, and another one advertising Life Insurance, it’s possible that I’m feeling a bit more pleased with myself than a strict reading of ‘Be godly’ would allow.
Gordon, personally I think moderating the comments is the only way to go. It is all too easy to find blogs where the discussion is less than valuable. As long as the moderation is not removing disagreement just because it is an alternative view then it is worthwhile to keep moderating the comments.
Greg,
Well put. We certainly won’t be winnowing out posts that are critical or taking a different view. Iron sharpens iron, and all that.
The over-riding principles are the ones expressed in Paul’s moderation policy for the Ephesians in their conversation with each other:
So Tony, have you decided to keep pre-approving comments permanently?
[moderator hat on]
David, I’m not Tony, but we will most likely stay with comment moderation for at least several more weeks as we review how things are going.
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