First, the old set of rules still applies:

• Ad hominem attacks, blasphemy, profanity, rudeness, and vulgarity will not be tolerated (although heresy will always be encouraged). However, vigorous attacks against a member’s position are expected and those who cannot handle such should think twice before they post.

• Long-running debates that are of interest only to a small number of individuals should be taken elsewhere, preferably via private email (i.e. if the moderator gets tired of reading posts concerning the population density [N] of terpsichorean demigods inhabiting ferrous microalpine environments, the posters will be encouraged to “settle it outside”).

• Pseudonyms are permitted but real names are preferred. However, if the moderator suspects that someone is posting under multiple aliases or pretending to be someone else, they will be permanently banned from the blog.

• Mutual respect and sensitivity towards those with opposing views is essential. In particular, posts containing what the moderator feels is “creation-bashing” by evolutionists or “evolution-bashing” by creationists, will not be tolerated.

FURTHERMORE:

Both statements of fact and statements of opinion are welcomed, in both posts and comments, with the following provisos:

• Statements of opinion should be clearly indicated as such, perhaps with “IMO” in parenthesis.

• Both statements of fact and statements of opinion may be challenged by anyone, so long as the challenge takes place within a reasonable length of time (and please remember, time online passes much more swiftly than time in the real world; three days is a virtual eternity).

• If a statement of fact is challenged, the person challenged should make a good faith effort to either provide supporting evidence or make a logical argument as to why such supporting evidence is unnecessary.

• NO statement may be challenged or attacked by ad hominem arguments or by changing the topic of the thread (i.e. “hijacking”). In particular, anyone directly or indirectly referring to another commentator as either a “liar” or “having lied” (including semantic equivalents, such as “dissembling” or “mendacity”) may result in the perpetrator of such an accusation being banned from further participation.

• Rather than accusing a poster or commentator of lying when they have made a particular assertion, one should post a rebuttal that documents that there is evidence that the assertion is false and/or misleading.

• Speculation about motives, either directly or indirectly, by anyone commenting on any topic is never allowed and will be immediately deleted, as this clearly constitutes “hijacking” the thread by changing the topic (unless the thread began as a discussion of motives). In other words, if you want to talk about motives, start another thread to that effect (and if people can’t remain civil in that thread, we reserve the right to delete it).

• Decisions about moderation are entirely and exclusively the prerogative of the moderators (and in case you haven’t noticed, the moderators include one person from each “side” of the Evolution-Design divide, who have already agreed on the foregoing rules). If you don’t want to abide by our rules, please DON’T waste our time (and yours) by attempting to post or comment here.

• Please be aware that any infraction of these rules will result in limitation or rescinding of your commenting and/or posting privileges. A brief untoward statement in a long and otherwise reasonable comment fully justifies its deletion and may result in the deletion of all your future comments, reasonable or not (so keep backup copies if you want to try again with a more “civil” version).

• If a post or comment has been deleted by the moderators, please don’t repeatedly try to repost them. They won’t ever be allowed, it wastes bandwidth and the moderators’ time, and simply reinforces the decision on the part of the moderators to delete the post (and maybe ban you).

• Appeals of moderation or complaints about the behavior of your fellow commentators are NOT appropriate on any thread and, even in cases where they are not ad hominem attacks, they still qualify as “hijacking the discussion”. Any such appeal or complaint may be emailed to evolutionanddesign@gmail.com. Both moderators will receive a copy and the situation will be jointly reviewed.

That’s it for now: as Chief Seattle once said, “I have Spokane” ;-)