Leaving a comment is an excellent way for a reader to engage with the author(s) of a blog post, but that reader should be mindful of the fact that a person wrote the blog post. (Surprise, surprise!) A reader is welcome to leave constructive positive or negative feedback, or long or short comments. The reader’s comment shouldn’t be a personal or circumstantial ad hominem attack, shouldn’t mansplain, and shouldn’t be otherwise prejudiced or discriminatory. For example, calling an author a “third-rate academic bottom-feeder” is neither constructive nor acceptable professional behaviour, and moderators of the blog reserve the right not only to delete such a comment but also to ban such a reader from engaging with blog post author(s) for the foreseeable future.
When a reader is preparing to engage with a post’s author(s), assume that the author(s) has (have) invested quite a bit of time and energy in preparing the post, has considered likely objections to her own work, and has decided to post for honest and constructive feedback from people outside of her own circle of trusted colleagues. Author(s) take feedback very seriously. Please treat a blog post’s author respectfully.
Here are a few guidelines for comments that we would appreciate readers to follow.
- Read the post.
- Sometimes posts generate strong visceral emotional reactions. Take a moment to digest the post. Sometimes, of course, we cannot help ourselves and draft a reactionary comment straightaway. Here’s what Joe Ulatowski likes to do: Write that heavily charged response, complete with derogatory comments and everything one would not ever say to the author(s) if the reader and the author(s) were to meet. Then, set that response aside. Leave for 24 hours and return to the comment. My bet is – based upon personal experience – one has a better and less emotionally charged grasp of the situation after 24 hours than they did 24 hours before.
- Sometimes comments are critiques, and the critiques are negative. That’s just what constructive feedback is sometimes. If the reader’s comment is negative but addresses a feature of the argument that is set out in the post, then that’s fine. Only those comments that are unfairly negative probably shouldn’t be published. If the reader’s comment attacks the author(s) personally or doesn’t contain an argument, the comment probably won’t be allowed.
- Comments should be directly relevant to the post. Scholars sometimes tend to pontificate about their own research in blog comments without that work being clearly relevant to the post. Try not to do that.
Should a reader egregiously violate one of these guidelines, in the words of Ivan Drago, we “must break you.” Just be respectful of authors and others who seek an outlet for their own work and the work of others.
Other guidelines may appear in the future. Please comment whenever you have something to say. Finally, the reader’s comments may not appear immediately. For the time being, it will be up to the author(s) to decide whether to vet comments.