A Stern Note to Readers

While we encourage well-informed, well-argued, and sometimes energetic discussions, rancor is another matter. Yesterday, a long thread on Lambert’s post on the RFK, Jr. speech where RFK, Jr. excoriated the contemporary Democratic party and endorsed Trump too often descended into advocacy and bile.

Several times in the past I have had to shut off comments entirely for a period of time to tell readers we mean business about maintaining civility in the comments section. We have already lost our longest-standing moderator thanks to toxic comments on the Gaza conflict. We aren’t even in the expected-to-become-even more-intense post Labor Day campaign, yet temperatures are already running way too hot.

I will not allow the partisanship successfully stoked in the political sphere destroy this comments section. Tribalism and partisanship are the antithesis of critical thinking. Indeed, they are designed to shut down critical thinking.

So if these food fights do not stop immediately, you are leaving us with three choices:

1. Halting coverage of the US election

2. Shutting down comments for an extended period or alternatively, not allowing them on US politics posts

3. Forcing us to moderate for new behavior violations, including:

– Endorsing or advocating for a particular candidate. That includes saying who you plan to vote for and criticizing readers for being too soft on the other guy (which is not the same as pointing out errors or sloppy reasoning)

– Flogging talking points, like “Harris is a Marxist” or “Trump is weird”

Implementing #3 will entail either moderating all comments or ripping out comments (and threads if they grow into threads) by readers normally in good standing.

So I ask you to take this message to heart and think carefully before you publish a supercharged comment.