While I've been ignoring politics for the last year or so, focusing only on crime issues and cases, we seem to have attracted a lot of Obama-bashers in comments.
It's time to re-establish some ground rules for comments. I have my hands full with moderating comments on my criminal law threads, and don't want spend any more time than necessary moderating the political threads.
Big Tent Democrat's analysis is a gift here. I couldn't duplicate it, nor would I try. He doesn't have time to moderate comments, nor should he be expected to. Blogging is a hobby for both of us, not a job.
Neither of us wants to write posts, only to have people in comments go off on some tangent, ignore the points we've raised, and then initiate an attack against someone or something we support.
So here's a fair warning to anyone reading what we write who does not support President Obama's re-election for President: You will be limited to four comments per thread expressing your disapproval of Obama. You must still comply with our other comment rules. And you may not shill for an alternative candidate or urge other readers not to vote.
Elections are important. TalkLeft is a Democratic site. We may be harsh in our criticism of specific Administration policies -- even I have given Obama a pink slip notice a time or two over the past four years -- but now it's election season and it's very important to Big Tent Democrat and me that the Democrats keep the White House and hopefully win control of both houses of Congress. You can't work at cross-purposes to this goal in comments at this site.
During the 2007 primary season, TalkLeft gained thousands of new readers because I supported Hillary. When she didn't get the nomination and I threw my support to Obama, thousands of new readers left. It was okay then, and it will be okay if it happens again.
What makes independent blogging so rewarding is that we get to choose the topic, when and how often to write about it and advance our own agenda. We don't have to worry about maintaining or increasing traffic levels -- we aren't selling anything. And we can write unfiltered, free of editorial control.
While we are not a neutral site, we are a professional one. Our information is factual, we do a lot of research, and if we make an error we fix it. We don't allow profanity, personal attacks on other commenters or insults to the authors or friends of the authors.
People can disagree, that's called spirited discourse, but they can't post demonstrable falsehoods or call other commenters liars or stupid. They can say things like "I disagree" and why, or "I don't think that's accurate" and explain. It's called civility. We don't aim for quantity of comments, we hope for an intelligent discussion.
In two weeks, Talkleft will turn ten years old. That's long enough to know that people of like minds will find their way here while others will complain we've lost our way and choose to spend their internet time elsewhere. It's okay.
So, as we begin yet another election season, please keep in mind that Big Tent Democrat and I support President Obama, and that while we will undoubtedly continue to criticize various policy decisions, we want him re-elected, and won't have the site used by others who are at cross-purposes.
We sincerely appreciate every commenter who has taken the time to contribute their thoughts at TalkLeft. We know there are thousands of places on the Internet to choose from. It's gratifying to know that so many of you have chosen us. We hope you stick around. If you don't want to, we understand. We thank you for reading and contributing your thoughts to our site in the past, and we wish you the best.
