By commenting on this blog, you are agreeing to abide by these public rules of conduct for CatHouse Chat. If you break these rules, you are subject to a) editing, b) ridicule, and/or c) banning, according to my mood at the time.
My main inspiration for these rules is a very wise lady, La Shawn Barber, so if you see anything particularly well worded and brilliant, it's hers.
Rule the First: I own this blog. It is mine, not yours. Therefore, I rule here with an iron fist. If you wish to comment, you will follow the rules. As La Shawn says, "this is my weblog and I pay for the hosting. The First Amendment protects my right to speak on this site, not yours. The amendment prohibits government from infringing on my right of free expression. On this blog, your expression is a privilege. On your own blog, your expression is a right. Learn the distinction."
Rule the Second: There will be no swearing, invective (look it up), or ad hominem attacks of a juvenile nature (see below for what I mean by "juvenile nature") in the comments here, either directed at me or at another commenter. Any links included in your comments that break this rule (e.g. www. "f*thesouth" dot com) will be removed or edited. Of course, racist, sexist (of any sexual persuasion), or hateful comments are included in Rule Two.
If you break this rule, you will be banned, and your comment will be revised or deleted. If you want to be removed from my ban list, you may e-mail me a personal and sincere apology. I will post it publicly (probably in the original comment thread) and remove your ban.
Rule the Third: All opposing opinions are welcome, as long as they are in conformity to Rules One and Two. If you really want to try to persuade me to your point of view, use well-reasoned arguments supported by documentation from places other than the Democratic Underground and other places infested by Barking Moonbats on Speedtm. Please remember that I am like most people: coaxing me works far better than beating me over the head.
Rule the Fourth: Here's where I demonstrate that I can be a benevolent despot. If I break Rule Two, above, and someone politely reminds me of it, I will post an apology. I will not make excuses, or try to avoid the fact that I was wrong. This rule applies only to the comments, and not to posts. My posts are effectively my journal, and I may rant and rave a bit in them. If there is a glaring violation of Rule Two in my posts, I will consider revising and apologizing, if given a rational reason to do so.
Now, "ad hominem of a juvenile nature:" I define this behavior as attacks on the level of using words like (and here I will break Rule Two) "bitch, cunt, bastard, asshole, nigger, spic, wop, kike, homo", and slurs of this genre. This is not, of course, an exhaustive list. These types of attacks are subject to immediate banning. I do not tolerate this type of thing AT ALL.
However, if the ad hominem is particularly inventive and "clean," and/or makes me laugh, I will probably allow it to stand. I will also, since I use similar terms ("Barking Moonbats" comes to mind...), allow things like "Repug" and so on, as they are in fairly common circulation and are relatively amusing.
Finally, I reserve the right to intrepret any of these rules to mean whatever I choose, and may at any point revise, retract, or remove them at my whim.
That is all. On to the fray.....
