The downside of this (besides wasting more of your time) is that you automatically assume some kind of editorial responsibility. If a retarded comment sneaks through, people will think "it's your fault" - or even that it somehow reflects your opinion...

It still beats silently deleting comments though.

You're right Razib. Save this fine, informative blog from trolls.

Hmm. I actually like the commentary on pieces here as much as the pieces. Also I like to see my comments appear after I write them. As far as I can see right now the last four articles have achieved no comments, although some may be enqueued. One of the probems with that kind of moderating system is that commentators cant really quote, or react to other comments, just to the main article, which clearly limits discussion.

Your call, of course, and your time on the line. You may want a quieter life.

The downside of this (besides wasting more of your time) is that you automatically assume some kind of editorial responsibility. If a retarded comment sneaks through, people will think "it's your fault" - or even that it somehow reflects your opinion...

it's actually not taking too much time. unlike at scienceblogs most people here are "known" quantities.

Hmm. I actually like the commentary on pieces here as much as the pieces. Also I like to see my comments appear after I write them. As far as I can see right now the last four articles have achieved no comments, although some may be enqueued. One of the probems with that kind of moderating system is that commentators cant really quote, or react to other comments, just to the main article, which clearly limits discussion.

how do you explain this thread? ;-) i personally hate the latency that moderation imposes on me too, so i sympathize. but i actually spent nearly as much time cleaning up after trolls before. now that they can't get through the queue they just give up....

how do you explain this thread? ;-)

yeah, I read that thread after I published my comment. Now, I understand :-)

An alternative suggestion is to put a strike through the troll comments when the trolls appear. Use the del html tag to do it. The comment remains, so you can't be accused of censorship, but it would be a big public "warning ignore this comment" to the readers. The trolls don't get any traction if they are ignored.

The comment remains, so you can't be accused of censorship

LOL. i don't mind being accused of censorship!

I wish I could turn off the automatic moderation flags at my blog (though I've come to like the spam filter). I'm with HA on my preferences in blog comments.

I'm with HA on my preferences in blog comments.

the interests of those who tend to comment on blogs vs. those who generate the content is going to be a bit different :-)

Our blogs having a very low ("select" in Spinal Tap terms) readership is likely a big factor as well. You're a victim of your own success!

Our blogs having a very low ("select" in Spinal Tap terms) readership is likely a big factor as well. You're a victim of your own success!

at the level of traffic GNXP has been receiving between 2004-2008 i would say that the rate of the increase of trollishness is directly proportional to the % of trolls at any given time. IOW, a positive feed back loop. the more trolls there are the more comfortable they get, and the less inclined intelligent people want to allocate their marginal time to leaving a well thought out comment (time = $$$ remember).

btw, the reason that mindhacks doesn't get comments is that most people don't know enough about their topics to spout off (or, they feel like they should know something about cognitive science before they offer a comment, which is not true with all fields). look the variance on this blog right now....

at the level of traffic GNXP has been receiving between 2004-2008 i would say that the rate of the increase of trollishness is directly proportional to the % of trolls at any given time. IOW, a positive feed back loop. the more trolls there are the more comfortable they get, and the less inclined intelligent people want to allocate their marginal time to leaving a well thought out comment (time = $$$ remember).

I have no problem with moderation or "censorship." In almost all cases, comments get deleted mainly because they are stupid and/or make major unsupported statements and/or are unfocused and/or are angry, not because someone is a Nazi, Commie, pro-terrorist, etc.

Not only does moderation keep out trolls, it also keeps generally intelligent people from degrading into trolls or getting into flamewars. Now, flamewars can be fun, especially with big-time haters and major league wackos, and they can be even more fun when you've had a few too many, but they aren't informative of anything other than the flamers' biases.

I can be guilty of trolling myself, especially if something really irritates me. e.g. I check out a girl, she gives me the evil eye, therefore I look for a topic that allows me to trash feminism and/or social and sexual conservatism.

I think most people already know this, but hitting the blogs when someone has got you PO'ed over something with some marginal political or scientific angle is usually not a good idea.

to be clear: moderation is to clean up more than just trolls. there are some people who aren't really trolls who are simply stupid or uninformed, and they don't have the cognitive wattage or inclination to really advance any discussion. in real life i never really tell people who are like this that they're dumb...i just prune them out of my life to the best of my abilities (or go on autopilot talking about something inane if i have to engage with them for politeness sake). but on the internet anyone can press *submit*

the reason that mindhacks doesn't get comments is that most people don't know enough about their topics to spout off
Yeah, registration didn't seem like a big deal to me. Coincidentally enough, I just shot off an e-mail to Mencius about how the Mises blog vs the Austrian Economists illustrates the point you're making. The latter actually gets into boring economics rather than RAH THOSE GUYS ARE BAD so I behave differently there than I did at Mises before I was banned.

than I did at Mises before I was banned.

how often have you gotten banned? you've mentioned this sort of thing multiple times. is it because you comment all over the place?

I had a comment listing them all at HA's, but it seems to have dissappeared. This should be a decent substitute:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/at...em/message/ 5646