Welcome to the Playpen

Look, I don’t want to make a major production out of this, but it’s apparent after yesterday’s shitshow in the comments thread to this post that my laissez-faire approach to commenting is being taken advantage of by folks who are convinced of their own political righteousness.

It’s gotten to be a boring drag and it’s a pain in the ass to moderate, to be honest with you.  So, like it or not, I’m making some changes.

If you insist in going off on a tangent in a comment thread, I’m no longer going to suggest politely that you back off.  I’m simply going to remove the comment, no questions asked.  If you persist in doing so, I’m going to remove your posting privileges.

Before you go all ballistic on me or start asserting your (nonexistent) 1A rights, I am offering a compromise.  Starting tomorrow, I’m going to put up a weekly post for open comments, where you can freely jaw about any subject near and dear to your hearts.  You want to rail about a crappy movie you saw recently?  Go for it.  Taking a trip to Tuscany and looking for recommendations?  Ask away.  Tried a fabulous new bourbon and want to share?  Lay it on us.

More to the point, want to engage in a political wankfest that winds up resembling the later rounds of the first Rocky Balboa — Apollo Creed fight?  Enter your own private Thunderdome, brother.  I won’t stop you.

I figure this lets those of you who really want to get into the nuances of things that bore the crap out of most of the readership here have a way to do so, while marking out a clear space for those readers to avoid.

This does not mean that I won’t touch on political things in my other posts.  Politicians are like people.  (So are college athletics administrators and head coaches, for that matter.)  They say and do stupid things just like the rest of us, and when those stupid things touch on college sports, well, I reserve the right to bloviate.

What I expect, though, when you comment in response to posts like that, is that you stay on topic.  Going off on a tangent is what ruined yesterday’s discussion and that’s not going to be tolerated in the future.

If you want to complain that you’re uncertain as to what constitutes a tangent for me, consider me Justice Stewart:  I know a tangent when I see it.  Trump’s syntax and grammar?  Tangent.  Obama’s golf game?  Tangent.  Insight into Hitler’s mind as to what he meant when he included “Socialist” in the name of the party he headed?  Tangent squared.

Bottom line, if you’re not sure whether a comment of yours might run afoul of the new rules here, best not to post it in a regular thread, but save it for the weekly open thread.

Sorry I’m having to do this, at least to some extent.  Please don’t waste your time or mine trying to explain in the comments to this post why it’s unnecessary or wrong.  That’s kind of like wrestling with a pig.  You should probably save your energy for tomorrow’s Playpen.