Terms of Service

by Jon Sullivan - 2019-08-27 - Status

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In which we set down some ground rules for you crazy kids.

To paraphrase the unstoppable Josh "cortex" Millard: I want this website to be a place where people are good, and kind, and smart, and excited to see what others have to share. Sure, it's mostly just me and my posts. But it's also a community and a discussion, and you're here, so we can share it. While that's all a nice sentiment, as of 2019, much of the Internet is toxic and subverted.

So while I would love to say this is a straight up free speech zone. It's not. It's my home. And I don't want it shit all over.

I let anyone who wants to post comments here do so unedited. In return I ask that you be responsible and constructive.

I promise to be very tolerant of strident and conflicting comments, and even heated arguments. In return I hope you will act in good faith, not troll people, and accept that we are all in this together. You don't have to like me, I don't have to like you, but we do have to get along somehow.

As I write this one of the things I struggle with is the issue of fairness. If I expect you to be polite, then it's only fair that I'm always polite as well. Being polite is hard for me. Especially when people are stupid or abusive. And shouldn't I be able to be rude to assholes? Shouldn't I be able to be an asshole on my own website? Aren't people objectively stupid sometimes? Aren't some ideas so dumb that constructive discussion is impossible? Maybe. Maybe not.

But I will try. And I hope you will too.

Try to advance the discussion rather than shut it down. Try to avoid approaching it as a zero-sum game. Try to at least entertain the idea that on some level we're pretty much all the same.

Having said all that, there are many things I just won't tolerate. And there are posts I will delete. And people I'll ban. Racist comments, joking or not, are out of bounds. Calling people names is not a valid argument. Bashing people because of race, gender, sexual orientation, political party, religion, etc is strongly discouraged. Threats are right out.

As for politics...... Fine. Go for it. I'm sure I will. But no one should be surprised if it gets shut down.

It's just my opinion. It's just your opinion. Lighten up. Don't pour gas on it and burn the place down.

Please.

Thank you.

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