Business Blog: Hoover’s Business Insight Zone

Like a moron, I deleted a legitimate comment last night. Sheila Scarborough commented on my post about her post from the other day, but in my frenzy to delete spam comments, I hit the wrong button on her comment, too. And — so far, at least — I haven’t figured out any way to retrieve such mistakes in the new version of WordPress. C’est la vie, I guess. It’s my own fault for moderating comments while bleary-eyed.

Anyhoo, thinking about all this reminds me to put up one of those write-it-now-for-future-reference posts, on the topic of . . . Comment moderation.

Here’s the basic principle:

Be Nice.

That’s pretty much it.

You don’t have to agree with me or with other commenters, you don’t have to accept my basic premises, you don’t have to toe any particular line — except to be civil.

By the way, I hold myself to the same standard, so I hope you’ll never find me being catty or rude or tendentious in a comment. If I ever stumble in that regard, feel free to bring it to my attention.

One more key thing to keep in mind, even though it’s never been a problem to date: if push comes to shove, yours truly is the sole arbiter for determining which comments meet or violate the basic principle. Don’t fret, now — my standards are quite broad, I have a thick skin for criticism, and I relish debate. But, just so you know, this blog ain’t a democracy.

Okay, that’s all. Fire away — in this comment thread or any other!