As one of the TMV bloggers who has occasionally fallen into that error, I can tell you unequivocally that you are flat-out wrong, Christine.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republ…

A nice list of the Republicans who voted for End of Life Planning/Counseling, er.. death panels, back in 2003 before they had to derail healthcare reform.

As one of those “(dedicated) core of writers who work hard daily to bring stories, and who receive no pay, — and as you see, we are all famous… for probably not paying our parking tickets on time more than anything, or constantly running out of food and eating that ten year old can of olives til we can find time to get to the store– like our commenters, we all have families, children, ailing family members, grandchildren who have needs, day jobs… all the matters of life that most commenters have too,” thank you for both motivating our valued readers to be more cool and our fellow writers to continue to be underpaid and hopefully appreciated.

Dorian

re commenters. I reiterate because we have so many new commenters. The 'old hands' already know all this. We have asked commenters to help us keep TMV a place for civil discussion. We will continue to do that. The commenting rules which are at the top of the page say how to. Please read them if you have not.

We value our commenters and 99.99% of commenters follow the TMV policies which were designed for civil debate and discussion.

For those who are not aware, the layout is this. A commenter who attacks and name calls writers or other commenters, hijacks the discussion to revolve around themselves instead of the topic, floods with advertising, spam, or long comments of pages' length, will be asked to stop, just simply to follow the rules of the site.

My experience as an editor, is that once reminded of rules and asked to pull back, most any commenter will, and often with generous apology on their part. The apology is not necessary but it is often public, and a part of being civil to other commenters. However, if a commenter cannot stop, they will be asked again to act within the rules that all other commenters are following at TMV.

If they still cannot stop after warnings, and they continue to use language outlined as unacceptable re TMV written policies, attack writers or other commenters, attempt to use the articles for centering on themselves, etc., they will banned. This process is clearly stated in commenting rules.

None of us who are editors here can be at the computer full time to moderate, edit, etc. those who we hope come to discuss, debate in good faith and in decent enough good will. It's not that we cant; we dont want to have to. Rather give good faith that people will abide one another.

There are literally thousands of other news/politico sites where people can bash each other in a circular firing range until they all tire or go away, if that is what a person wishes/ needs/ wants.

TMV is, like a handful of other sites across the web, an outpost where we hope to hold to a standard of respect for others points of views, and if we disagree, to put forth our facts and discuss. Personally I've been proud of the respectful ways most of our posters reply to persons they disagree with intensely. That's not a 'good boy/ good girl' star. I receive email from people from other media who read TMV saying what a great model for others most of the commenters put forth here.

It is easy to note too, that as the public television and radio news has risen into higher than usual screech level recently, that a very few commenters seem to think that tossing off that all others are idiots, fools, and other words that derogate, is somehow discussing/ debating issues.

It isnt. Most of the time, other commenters reading such toss-offs stop reading the commenter who says 'all so-and-sos are idiots and varaious x words'. How do I know? Because they tell me by email. Commenters also mention hating to scroll through long strings of comments that are essentially invective between two people, often 'started' by one, and the other responds to defend.

Discussion/ debate/ forming opinion, means presenting ideas and facts and saying why one thinks as one does, and saying it with whatever passion one carries. The TMV rules are slim, but make it so people can be civil— and strong in what they have to say in endless ways

I'd add one other note: websites like TMV where there are a dedicated core of writers who work hard daily to bring stories, and who receive no pay, — and as you see, we are all famous… for probably not paying our parking tickets on time more than anything, or constantly running out of food and eating that ten year old can of olives til we can find time to get to the store– like our commenters, we all have families, children, ailing family members, grandchildren who have needs, day jobs… all the matters of life that most commenters have too

That's one of the reasons TMV has commenters' rules… so we can hold in good faith that commenters will abide by those well thought out policies, so that we– and you– do not have to take precious time reminding or watching over… so we can all do what we came to TMV for… to think, gather, write, be community of odd and very often interesting and inspiring people who learn from each other, act as emery against each others world views, and who ultimately clarify what each thinks, also.

The emails we editors receive are often enough about good things, and we appreciate those (hint hint) …. but if it's bash and trash of others a person wants, in terms of interactions with our commenters or with our writers, TMV isnt set up for backyard unsupervised 'fight club'. Nor will it be.

with kindest regards,
dr.e
(You can, if you wish, write to me projectscreener@aol.com. I may not be able to answer immediately but I will try to as soon as I can. I'm running as fast as I can. This addy is screened for spam, the few four letter and compound words one might hear on gangsta rap for instance, and will dump those emails automatically.)

As with most discussion threads here on TMV, this has once again turned from a discussion about the topic into a discussion about the discussion.

Personally, I think when the discussion turns from actual substance to name-calling and personal insults, the best course of action is completely ignoring the offending commenter. Let them put their own feet in their own mouth, no need to help them look like cranks or loons, when they are doing a fine job by themselves.

People from time to time get agitated. I understand that emotional response in a heated debate. Old DaveinBoca, however, insists on personal ridicule from the get go of his entries. I'm not sure what good bomb throwing from either side actually accomplishes.

I do know it does not add to the discussion that most all here want to have. If you want to throw bombs, go to a web site that is either far left or far right and bomb away. I believe the fact that this site appears dedicated to the proposition that both sides have legitimate contributions to make.

I for one would suggest an informal banning, just don't respond to those who believe insults are debating points.
Maybe just a one-word response – BOMBER – would make the point especially if three or four people made that reply. T-Steel certainly doesn't need to police the commenters when others could do the same. Maybe that's a little too cute an idea. Maybe not.
IMO

I really wasn't calling for you to take any action here except for the editors generally to reflect on whether or not they're living up to the standards that they set for the readers, since my comment was in response to Elrod using a personal insult to put down a commenter (deserved or not, is besides the point IMO.)

Secondly, CStanley, TMV isn't my (or the two other moderators) full time job. So we miss things. We try to do our best at “policing” but inevitably, certain comments fall through the cracks.

And the whole insult angle is wearing me down. We get roughly 75+ e-mails a day from readers saying they are insulted by a comment and/or post. So we can't win on this. All I can say is that WE ALL NEED TO BRING THE TONE DOWN. Now TMV isn't as bad as many other blogs in terms of comment “behavior” but it's getting worse.

Can we all just get along in rhetoric tone??

Nope and if you called him that in refuting his comment I would of said nothing. I just think if the only thing you say is an insult with nothing on topic then ………….
And I would say that regardless of the political leanings of the person commenting.

A fact which has been made abundantly clear for many months now. His dynamic does fit the subject though, all heat and no light.