Scott has decided to enact some basic restrictions on his blog concerning when and where women can comment. This follows after a policy Cane Caldo enacted some time ago to cut off female comments entirely. While I decided against adopting Cane’s policy when he first announced it, I have been leaning in the direction Scott has taken for some time. A number of my comment sections have been completely derailed by female/male spats, and that has disrupted some otherwise good conversations. Not all did so because of malice; the disparity in communication styles was responsible for some of the disruptions. But disruptions are disruptions, and I would rather they stop.
Towards that end, I am going to start restricting certain posts to only male commenters. These will probably still be the exception, and won’t encompass my weekly posts. Such posts will have prominent notices in them to warn folks. Offending comments will be deleted. Those who repeatedly break the policy will be banned. If a woman feels that she can contribute to the discussion in a way that another commenter hasn’t done thus far, she can e-mail me with what she wants to say. Depending on the message, I might post it myself. However, I reserve the right to edit any such comments. And of course I will only post those comments I feel will contribute.
The first such post may come about later this week, depending on how much free time I have.