Comments Policy Update
Written by Hadley Bennett Posted in Uncategorized
This is as much an update as it is your friendly neighborhood PSA. As Social Matter has grown in traffic, the quality of the comments has started to decline, and we don’t yet want to turn off comments altogether without first running a trial period in which we more clearly lay out a new policy. Time to apply the hand of Gnon. Quoting from the comment policy page:
“Enjoy your stay, but don’t run your mouth off. Wipe your boots off on the mat outside before you come in. If your comment isn’t up to decent standards of conduct and professionalism, then we’ll just remove it.”
Seems maybe a little too informal. This will hopefully be a bit better. We’ll make sure to update the comment policy page with the new requirements.
-One sentence comments in which you either praise or denigrate the piece are strongly discouraged.
-Keep foul language to a minimum.
-Be civil. No ad hominems. If it ain’t directly a fallacy, then it’s pretty much just an insult. And we don’t want those taking up valuable comment space, either.
-Commenting is a privilege, not a right.
-Do not comment with endless quotes. Quote as needed. Do not misquote the author or others.
-No shilling, no trolling.
-No whining.
–You will be banned if you consistently don’t bring anything interesting to the table. Add something to the discussion, whether it’s further development of a point or critique of a point. It takes a lot of time and brain power to write these posts, so if you want to comment on the same page as the article, you’ll have to use some brain power, as well. Make it intelligent. Make it interesting. Mind the tone.
We’re going to be more aggressive in policing the comment section. Again, to emphasize, what we would like to see: commenters who add something to the discussion, namely by expanding on a point made by the author for the edification of our audience. Or an interesting critique. Both are valuable and important.
Thanks for reading.
–The editors
Helpful post.
Speaking for myself: I don’t have a lot of experience participating in forum comment sections (especially not of this intellectual level), so forgive me if I lack proper etiquette. I’ll keep these rules in mind.
thanks for your instructions: as the previous commenter noted, it will be difficult for me to wade very deep in these waters. a great blog, and thanks for your efforts. As a first year boomer who is grateful for (perhaps some of the last) excellent public schools and collegiate education (as opposed to indoctrination), I find the neo-rx movement truly hopeful and am optimistic that it may help many people find some “dark enlightenment” in these depressingly cynical days. I am somewhat curious if there is an overview “out there” of all these excellent new thinkers and writers; does this movement have anything in common, eg. age, education, etc.? thanks again.
Most of the active writers in DE/NRx are actually millennials, with a few outliers in their 50s. Of the millennials reaching late twenties or early thirties, a disproportionate number have graduate degrees. The younger ones are usually in university going for a bachelor’s degree–some dropouts, as well. Commonalities in education, and also commonalities in culture. There’s a reason Moldbug came up with a caste hierarchy and why it has so much explanatory power. NRx is a very Brahmin-ish subculture.
Poseidon Awoke has a good overview here: http://poseidonawoke.blogspot.ca/2014/06/is-neoreaction-right-brahmin-signaling.html
I may be the Oldest Living Neoreactionary at the tender age of 54
Older than Steves, even older than Land! I’d be interested to hear of any older…
Thanks so very much for that link to Poseidon Awoke, also.
I just wanted to drop in and say that I do appreciate a lot of the comments that I get on my pieces, even the ones I don’t respond to. I know that it’s important to discourage frivolous commenting because or else you end up like Youtube. But, on the other hand, a core group of thoughtful commenters tends to add a sense of community and even accountability to a site. I’ve seen it happen on a number of them, and I think we’ve got the makings of that here.
In other words, I’m down with a comment policy that involves a high level of administrator discretion and a hair-trigger willingness to ban at the first sign of asshattery, but I do think it would be a shame to cut them off entirely. I like hearing from some of these folks.