Commenting Rules

Commenting rules on blogs are generally pretty passe.

Mine can be summed up as:

  1. Please do, unless you’re a spammer.
  2. If you disagree with me prepare for me to argue my case. For a long time. Making sure I have the last word. Unless your name is Andrew.*

There are times when I wonder how Christians should be governing their behaviour online. Justin Taylor had some good guidelines. He took the high road and used the Bible.

  1. I hope this can be a place where we “seek understanding” before critiquing, where we are quick to listen and slow to speak, where we judge others charitably not critically, where we encourage and build up each other rather than tearing down and destroying each other.
  2. I would encourage commenters to consider carefully the following commands and principles regarding our speech:
  3. “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt” (Col. 4:6).
  4. “By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt. 12:37).
  5. “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor” (Rom. 12:10).
  6. “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Eph. 4:29).
  7. Speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15, 25).
  8. “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless” (James 1:26).

Those are great if your commenters are Christians… I like these ones (via Gordo) from Triablog (they expand on each point in this list on the post).

These are the first five, of ten.

  1. You can say pretty much anything you please about the team. Attack us with impunity. We don’t care. We can take it.
  2. It is not, however, equally acceptable to turn the combox into a free-fire zone whereby one outsider can heap personal abuse on another outsider.
  3. Dialogue is a two-way street. If someone comments on what we say, we reserve the right to respond.
  4. By the same token, we reserve the right not to respond. You don’t pay the bills around here. We choose where to put our time.
  5. Expletives, abbreviated or not, will not be tolerated. Ad hominem invective, as a substitute for reasoned argument, is unacceptable.

*He sometimes gets the last word.