This is a personal project; at this time, I do not plan to announce this blog to the world, just to invited guests like you who might be interested readers and possible respondents. And while I’m open to suggestions for topics, style, and so forth, ultimately it’s my blog. If you don’t like the rules, you can always invent your own game just as I’m doing with this blog. After all, we can all be writers and publishers now!
1. Although I encourage you to submit comments, they will be moderated. Specifically, they will only appear on my blog once I have reviewed and accepted them. The reason for this is to eliminate spam and other malicious postings. It is also to guard against knee-jerk and potentially offensive replies. If ever you should disagree so much with someone’s writing or speech that you “just have to dash off a rebuttal that very instant”, then it is highly likely you will embarrass yourself more than them once everyone reads what you wrote while so overcome with emotion. [Regarding emotion, I am a Vulcan.] In such cases, by all means write the response but sleep on it for at least a night if not two or three. Make sure your brain is in-gear before you press the “send” key.
2. When you submit a comment, I expect you to be responsible for what you write. Specifically, you must use your real name and email address. I can assure you that the comment, “Rex, thou reeky, flap-mouthed clack-dish!!!”, posted by someone calling themselves “Aphrodite” or “JuliusCeasar” will be rejected, whereas the same comment from a reader willing to put their real name behind their words will almost certainly make it through the process.
3. As you write comments, remember that more than a few of my intended readers have never lived in the US, and that their native language is not English. I say this not to try to confine your or their responses in any way, but to remind you that “normal is relative”. Not everyone drives on the right, writes a date “month/day/year”, has Christmas in winter, or uses the term college to mean a 4-year university.
4. In order to help me improve the quality of the blogosphere, if you have an English-language spelling checker please run it over your responses and add grammar checking if you can. It has often been said that, “You are how you dress.” or “You are what you eat.” I’d add to that, “You are how you write.” Try to set a good first impression.
5. Above all, have some fun and don’t be intimidated, especially if English is not your first language. Enthusiasm and a willingness to engage in constructive conversation count for a great deal. And if you learn something in the process that’s great.