Comments policy

Some guidelines for commenters:

Be brief. Blog posts may be long or short; blog comments should be short. If you have a lot to say, post it on your own blog and link to it. If you don't have a blog, you could start one easily (for example here or here). Or you could link to a document that you've published on your own web site, or (for example) here.

Be relevant. As bloggers, we write about whatever we want to. As a commenter, you should comment on the contents of the post you're commenting on. If you want to write about something else, do it on your own blog.

Be informed. If you don't know anything, please don't say anything. If the topic is new to you, do some research  before you comment. And take the time to be specific: "<specific person> discussed this in <specific reference>" is better than "I think that I once read something about this"; and "this seems to be inconsistent with <specific documented fact>" is better than "I don't agree with you".

Be polite. If you don't know what this means, don't comment.

Comments that violate these guidelines will be deleted. Repeat offenders may be banned.

Note that comments will be enabled on some posts, and not on others. If comments are not enabled on a particular post, please don't use the comments on a different post to discuss it. If you have something to say about a post where comments are not enabled, you can email the author.

1/11/2009: I'm going to add one more suggestion: Read the post before commenting.  Comments often ask questions that are answered directly in the post, or make statements that are directly contradicted by something in the post.  When you do this, it frustrates the blogger and makes you look like an idiot.  For an example, see my comment on this comment.

And one last thing: the software asks you for an email address, which is not published for other readers. Though there is no automatic check, this should be a genuine address. Comments from addresses like noone@nowhere.com are likely to be deleted.

As always, the Language Log Complaints Department stands ready to refund double your subscription price if you are less than fully satisfied.