Comments on Comments

My blog is fairly mid-range when it comes to comments. Some block all but the most elite. Some don't even moderate. I have one rule: Be friendly. Since I have one rule, I do moderate. Since I only have one rule, blocking comments is extremely rare for me. In fact, in the 13 years of blogging I've had only two people I've had to block.

Over the years I've enjoyed a wide range of commenters. Obviously I enjoy the conversations with some who agree with me. Then there are those who mostly agree with me but disagree with me here or there. Good stuff. There are some that have come in only to disagree with me, but in a conversational manner. No fighting, biting, scratching ... you get the idea. On the "opposition" side I've had conversations with people like Brian McClaren, author of A Generous Orthodoxy (which, in my view, has neither) and a lead figure in the Emergent Church movement. He was friendly while disagreeing with me completely. I had a self-declared atheist visiting and commenting for awhile because he could do so without being unkind. You've all, I suppose, heard of the infamous Dan Trabue, one of those liberal, "someone is wrong on the Internet" types who cruises conservative Christian blogs to correct them. In the early months when he first came to my blog there were lots of friendly disagreements. He certainly didn't agree with what I wrote, but he did it without vitriol. Even the recent Feodor started out in a reasonable give and take before turning bombastic. It can happen.

I've had conversations here that have expanded my comprehension. I've had dialogues that corrected my thinking. I upset a Mormon because, as it turned out, I wasn't particularly interested in converting, and a Jehovah's Witness because I told him why his views on Christ weren't biblical. I've defended the faith against Open Theists and Pauline Dispensationalists and others that I couldn't even name. I don't have a problem with dialogue. I'm not worried about disagreement. As long as it's kept at a friendly level, I figure everyone can benefit somehow.

I've had to block individual comments from some and, as I said, all comments from two. That's it. They were often riddled with vulgarities and, hey, my mother reads this blog and I won't have her (and others) reading that kind of language. For awhile I thought about just going unmoderated, but, as it turns out, there are all sorts of crazies out there that I just don't need commenting here. No, not disagreeing with me. Selling stuff. Robots that comment on my exegesis of a passage with, "You, too, can lose weight now." Don't need that. No one benefits from that.

So, no, I'm not blocking comments here because I'm afraid of disagreement. I'm always fine with it. I'm not preventing someone from commenting because they're smarter than me or better educated than me or they "just might be right!" I know people do that (in blogs and in conversations). Not me. As long as we keep it friendly, I can talk to just about anybody. So if your comment doesn't make it in here, I can simplify things for you. Either 1) I accidentally hit the "delete comment" button instead of the "delete email" button (Yeah, I have done that from time to time) or 2) you commented in a completely inappropriate way ("You, too, can lose weight!") or 3) I really didn't believe you intended me to post your comment (like "Don't post this, but ...") or 4) your tone was mean -- unfriendly -- and there is no real benefit in that kind of a conversation. I would venture that more than 90% of the comments I get are not blocked, so if yours doesn't make it, that makes you special. You can decide what that means, but it's not because I'm scared. Trust me.

On a final note, for those of you who are thinking at this moment, "Yeah, right, you liar," you're certainly free to think that. It's not true, but who am I to stop you? I just wonder why, convinced as you particular individuals are that I'm actually lying, you would read the blog of someone you think is a liar. What's the point? Just sayin'.