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| Please, do not feed the trolls! (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The presence of Christian trolls was what prompted me to develop the first draft of this comment policy in 2007. It was revised in 2009 to provide additional guidance to visitors who seemed to be unfamiliar with how blogs work. This was followed by a number of minor revisions, with the most recent taking place in July of 2018.
Introduction
Atheist Revolution is an atheist blog. The author is an atheist, and the intended audience is made up of atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, skeptics, and/or freethinkers who question the existence of gods. Believers in various gods who are genuinely interested in learning about atheism are welcome here; however, those who are primarily interested in argument, antagonism, or proselytizing should go elsewhere. Most blogs are not designed as places for prolonged debates between visitors, and Atheist Revolution is no exception. If arguing with others is what you are seeking, you want a forum instead of a blog. Many forums have entire sections devoted to debate.
What is a Troll?
You can find a definition and tips on how to accurately identify trolls here. There are several forms of trolls encountered on blogs. The worst hurl insults, make threats, or otherwise try to disrupt the blog. Others appear to be here primarily to argue with others. Many trolls do not seem to understand how blogs work and are not interested in learning; some are religious believers bent on converting atheists to their particular brand of superstition.
The best way for readers to deal with trolls is to ignore them. This deprives them of what they want most: attention. But since many readers cannot resist engaging them and some trolls can be quite persistent, a comment policy is necessary.
Comment Policy
The following comment policy was adapted from Lifehacker, Making Light, and God is for Suckers (blog no longer active), with modifications to increase applicability to this blog and better reflect the changing nature of the problems encountered.
- Stay on topic (i.e., the post topic) and try not to derail the conversation.
- Try to contribute new information to the discussion (i.e., comment because you have something to say and not just for the sake of commenting).
- Be respectful of others. We've all had different life experiences, and we are not all at the same place in our respective journeys.
- Recognize that brief comments are more likely to be read.
- Avoid personal insults and name-calling (see How to Disagree in the Atheist Community).
- Avoid Christianspeak. It makes you look stupid and contributes little of value.
- Absolutely no religious proselytizing will be permitted here.
- Do not feed the trolls. Many thrive on argument and will keep returning as long as they find folks willing to engage them. If you find yourself tempted to argue with a Christian troll, please read this first.
Violations may result in selective moderation of the violator and/or the deletion of offending comments. Serious or repeat offenders may be banned if necessary. Spam comments will be deleted as soon as they are detected, and spammers will be banned.
I'd prefer not to have to do any moderation, but this is not realistic. I have seen far too many cases where the comments sections of various blogs become so toxic that people are no longer willing to comment there and may even abandon the blog. I'm interested in promoting reason, skepticism, critical thinking, and freethought here. I am not interested in creating a "Thunderdome" sort of environment where commenters duel for my entertainment or are unleashed on unsuspecting visitors.
A Note on Comment Moderation
If your comments are going into moderation (i.e., not appearing immediately), the most likely explanation is not that I have sent you to moderation for something you did. The most likely explanation is that this happened due to a temporary bug with the Intense Debate commenting system used here. If you are commenting with either an Intense Debate or a Wordpress account, let me know. I may be able to add you to the whitelist to prevent this from recurring.
