Below are my filters for comments; I've made them as simple as possible.
- If your comment resembles the immature and nonsensical gibberish on YouTube, then it won't ever see my web site.
- If your comment is simply hate mail, then it would be unprofessional for me to post it. No one needs to read about someone else's insecurities.
- If you ask me an in depth question or bring up a conversation topic, then I will, of course, answer the question through the appropriate channel of e-mail. This isn't a forum or a discussion board, it's a blog that allows for one-way intelligent statements. My blog and comment system are designed after the idea of a scholarly lecture: there will be no questions in class except for clarification with further conversation being in private sessions. Responses will be posted to the blog when appropriate, otherwise they will be sent via e-mail (see next rule).
- If you don't include your real e-mail and ask a question, then I obviously can't post it or answer your question. Again, this isn't a forum. I don't like forums and avoid them whenever I can.
- If I have to hire a professional linguist to parse your comment, then I'm not going to read it let alone post it.
- If you are going to object to a point, you must obviously cite your reference and/or give precedence.
- If you in any way suggest that a rule, standard, law, regulation, code, specification, or guideline isn't a "good one" (not sure what that means), then I cannot post your comment. We cannot come to the law to judge the law; rather, are judged by the law.
In the past two weeks I've read some really insane comments ranging from people saying that memorization is bad (weird!) to calling "home made" techniques something "hackers" do (this was very much a YouTube-style comment). Honestly, I have little time for comments like these (or the hate mail ones), so please be aware that I have a very well defined process I follow when considering a comment (FYI, this process was adapted from my process for filtering recruiters-- getting 8 calls a day for jobs is a bit excessive when you already despise the industry).
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