First off, I appreciate any kind of comments on my content. If you agree or disagree, great. Secondly: please use your real email address. If you don't or if I suspect you haven't I reserve the right to ban you. I understand about anonymity but gimme a break. Hit-and-run commenters are NOT welcome at thepete.com. I'm not going to sell your email or use it to sign you up for spam. Thirdly, I have a few rules for moderating comments on my site.

Things I will generally moderate into oblivion:

• 1) Spam of any kind. If you're trying to drive traffic to a site that you make money off of or that supports a particular agenda that I'd obviously disagree with DO NOT post links to it. Any links posted must have a specific connection to the topic of the blog post you're commenting on. If you link to a site you make money off of and want my help driving traffic, please contact me about it, first.

• 2) thepete.com is NOT a debate forum–I don't mind a discussion, but if things go on for longer than a few interchanges, it usually stops being productive. Plus, I don't have the time to approve of that many comments, so if you've got a lot to say about something I say, the best thing to do is to just post about it on your own blog. If you want, post a link to your response in the comments.

• 3) No flame wars. I think we all have better things to do that weather insults and pettiness from our fellow humans. What does this look like to you? The Internet? Oh, well, it is, but it's my corner of it, so take your insults and your antagonism elsewhere. As I say on the site's official “about” page (here: ThePete.Com), this site is for me to blog about my passions–not for you to change minds or win arguments or debates. Use your own website if you want to do that.

• 4) The right to call douchery is reserved by all parties taking part in the discussion. What this means is that when one party determines another is picking nits or is otherwise not taking the argument/post/comment seriously, said offending party can be accused of being a douche. Once this happens, the comments are closed.

All that said, I reserve the right to ban you or moderate any of your comments for other reasons I haven't posted here. I can't predict everything, so I have to be a little selfish and cover my ass. Don't worry–I'm a merciful god and will generally allow most comments I have issues with to remain on the site.

The Ultimate Rules of Commenting on ThePete.Com are twofold: 1) respect the Golden Rule and 2) when ThePete says a discussion or conversation is over, it is, at least on thepete.com (and any other sites ThePete runs). Take it elsewhere if you disagree. I hate to be so extreme, but sometimes I don't think it's fair to expect me to take time away from other things just so you can feel like you've expressed yourself fully. The Internet is indeed vast and endless. Go find another corner and start your own blog.

http://wiki.thepete.com/a/3rules These are three basic rules I follow when engaging in discussions with people I completely disagree with. They are very effective, I feel.