A few words about the comments board

In the wake of a few comments that have been posted by readers to the Bottleneck Blog, I thought this would be a good time to have a little Web chat about what will and will not be posted here in the future.

The comment board works like this: You post a comment and then either myself or an editor at The Times approves it or declines it for publication on the blog. We don't edit them in any way for both legal and time reasons.

I let a couple of comments slip through recently that on second thought I shouldn't have published. One used a three-letter word that is sometimes used to describe a donkey. The other referred to rail proponents as "rail Nazis," a phrase that is at best highly inappropriate and at worst extremely offensive. Because I made the mistake of publishing them, I'm going to leave them be because I'm equally uncomfortable with the idea of deleting material that we've published.

I really like the comments board section of the blog and I think it's important to have: Readers fill in holes in my reporting and can agree or disagree with what I say -- in more or less real-time. That's something the digital age offers that the paper cannot and it's something I intend to preserve.

So, a few ground rules as to what I will and will not publish in the future on the comments board:

1. Profanity is not acceptable. No ifs, ands or buts. That's not to say we're going to be prudes around here. But we're going to avoid certain language.

2. You must stay reasonably on topic, although I think it's best to have a wide latitude on this -- part of the fun is to see where conversations lead.

3. No direct name calling. If you want to attack someone's ideas, that's fine. Attack the ideas -- not the person. The best guideline I can offer is to try to be civil.

Those are pretty simple, eh?

On weekdays, I'm going to try to post a "comment of the day," in which we highlight a comment that I think is especially interesting or provocative. To boost the fun, I'll comment on the comment, and then you comment on how misguided you think both reader and blogger are. Fun!

And, of course, thanks for your cooperation and for spending time at the Bottleneck Blog.

-- Steve Hymon

Comments

[yours truly, Johnny Dollar]

People are only offended when they choose to be offended. These are the people who don't want
grades and/or tests for their children in school;
and they don't want anyone to keep score in
little league. Get real. (no offense intended).

[Richard H]

Interesting that the term "railnazi" supposedly is so offensive that the post should be struck. LOL.

How about somebody that regularly uses the spanish term for human excrement to describe other people's ideas that they don't like on these boards? I''ll point it out next time I see it, although I've taken to ignoring certain commentors so I might miss it.

For myself, I'm a USENET veterano. I've been on boards where it was anything goes. The rules were simple. Don't like it, leave. The only things I find objectionable are the posting of computer viruses and pornography.
I guess this is a family comment board, rated G.

[Spokker]

Colorful language and outspoken personalities can help with the monotony of discussing an admittedly boring subject such as transit.

[calwatch]

Daniel, as you probably know, that was only for the 55 freeway carpool lane, one of the first. I think we should go to Bay Area style carpool lanes, although the other problem with those is that when someone sees a cop they will just jam on the brakes and try to merge back in and pretend no one saw them. I wonder how often that happens.

[Max]

Steve, I enjoy your blog immensely, but you've got to be living in Mister Rogers' neighborhood if you are truly outraged by"Nazi" being used as shorthand for "anal control freak."

Perhaps you're forgetting one of the most popular and memorable Seinfeld episodes ever written centered around a guy called the Soup Nazi?

No soup for you, Steve. Keep up the good blogging, but please don't contribute to the already swollen ranks of the perpetually offended and outraged.

[Cahwyguy - Daniel]

Well said. I had very similar guidelines on a mailing list that I moderate. I think it all boils down to respect: respect the right for people to have different points of views and arguments, and if you disagree with the idea, respectfully present a convincing counterargument for your position. No ad hominem attacks (i.e., attacking the speaker).

And since you indicate readers can fill in the hole in your reporting, in my review of legislation for my recent changes (www.cahighways.org/changes.html), there was an interesting piece of legislation passed you might explore: AB 2906 (Tran) Vehicles: high-occupancy vehicle lane: buffer area. Previously, the law required specified high-occupancy vehicle lanes to be separated from adjacent mixed-flow lanes by a buffer area of at least 4 feet in width. This bill repealed these provisions.
Chaptered June 6, 2008. Chapter 27. Does it make things safer?