Discussion Policy – Please Read Before Commenting

This policy was stolen, shamelessly, from John Quiggin’s blog, and very slightly edited.

1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here.
2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructive discussion of points made in the main post. Comments which include personal attacks on me or on other commenters (flames) will be deleted, or edited to remove such points. Commenters with a repeated history of provocation (trolls) will be banned. Comments that seek to score debating points at the expense of others (snarks) are discouraged; this is inevitably subjective, but please try to focus on substantial arguments rather than cheap shots.
3. Coarse language is prohibited, as are racist and sexist comments, and comments inciting violence.
4. Pseudonymous commenting is allowed, but commenters must supply an email address on which they can be contacted. Except in the event of disruptive behaviour (as described under 6 and 7) this information will be kept confidential. Pseudonymous commenters should take particular care to avoid remarks that may be offensive to other participants in the discussion.
5. Commenting under multiple names (sock puppets) or the use of multiple email accounts to evade bans is strictly prohibited and will lead to an immediate and permanent ban. Details of persons using sock puppets may be disclosed to others including the operators of other blogs.
6. In the event of a ban, do not attempt unauthorised posting of comments, or harassment through email, phone contact or other methods. Be aware that any such action will lead to an immediate and permanent ban from this site and exposes you to a range of civil and criminal sanctions.
7. Comments with large numbers of links will trigger spam filters and be rejected automatically. In general, comments linking to sites not directly and specifically related to the post in question (for example, links to generic climate “sceptic” sites in comments on a post discussing climate policy) are discouraged. Commenters who repeatedly link to such talking point sites will face deletion of such comments and possible further sanctions.
8. Comments are welcome from anyone willing to abide by these rules. Those who don’t like these rules are free to comment elsewhere or to publish their own blogs.