Blog Rules

Neorenaissance attracts diverse perspectives and I want to allow an open exchange of ideas, but I also understand that some moderation is necessary.  A working, real email address is required, so that I can contact you.  Because I am the king and this is my autocratic domain, objectionable posts will be rejected or snipped at my sole discretion, and I will do my best to spot them in a timely manner.  Repeat offenders will be blocked from posting. 

Strategies for making effective posts:

• Respond to the argument, not to the person.
• Changing your mind in response to new evidence and arguments is valued here.
• As I write in Fool Me Twice, in politics you should only respond to comments that you feel are worthy of your attention, either for engagement or instruction of other readers, and ignore the ones you don't want to grow into threads.  The same goes here.
• Don’t make personal or emotional attacks.  Rely on data and reason to make your arguments.
• Similarly, don't take criticisms personally, and don't respond to baiting comments by others. 
• Offensive words like bad, stupid, dumb, asinine, etc indicate low quality thinking and will usually result in my deleting your comment.
• No ad hominem attacks, slurs or personal insults.  Do not attribute motives to another participant.
• Snarkiness is not appreciated here; nastiness and excessive rudeness are not allowed.
• Don’t grind personal axes by filling up the comments with extensive posts that are not relevant.
• I generally will not permit the site to become a dissemination point for antiscience propaganda.  If you want to respond for example to a point on climate change or vaccines, you'd better support it with more than rhetoric from denialist sites.  I will let some nonsense stand but I reserve the right to delete it at any time.
• If you make a mistake, acknowledge it.  There is no shame in mistakes and both good science and good art are full of them.  The point is to recognize them, acknowledge them, and learn from them.  In fact, it could be argued that that is usually the way we arrive at good things.  Email me if you would like a “take back” - a strikethrough of your comment that absolves you from any need to further defend or discuss the comment.
• A comment with more than two links will require approval. 
• Open threads are rare and will typically have word limits; longer posts will be moderated.

Thank you and enjoy