Commenting Guidelines

This is a dialogue.  To further the dialogue, comments and feedback are very much welcomed on all posts published on this blog.    Since there are many perspectives on the interaction between science and an evangelical expression of the Christian faith, it is expected that some comments will be supportive while others will be critical, perhaps vigorously critical.    Criticism, even vigorous criticism, is fine as long as it is done in the spirit of respectful dialogue and Christian charity.   As such, the following types of comments are considered unacceptable:

1. Inflammatory comments that insult, demean, or question the integrity of the post author or other commenters
2. Comments that are not relevant to the discussion in the original post. 
3. Lengthy monologues that usurp the discussion rather than add to the dialogue. 
4. Comments whose only objective seems to be to direct traffic elsewhere.  Links are usually very good (particularly to avoid too lengthy a comment), but comments should have a healthy content to link ratio. 

For example, generic comments that don't interact with the topic at hand and simply state that "Christianity and evolution are not compatible", particularly if they are spiced with terms like "demonic lie" on the one hand, or "stupid superstition" on the other, rarely add to the discussion.  If you are tempted to leave a comment like this, please read the Evangelical Dialogue on Evolution Blog E-book first and provide feedback on the post (or posts) there in which you are disagreement. 

Now, there are many shades of grey in the above guidelines and there is much subjectivity involved.  It is our intent to err on the side of caution (ie. Not take action unless absolutely necessary).   However, if a comment is deemed unacceptable, the blog administrators may take any of the following actions:

• Send a warning to the commenter either privately via email or in a public comment that we believe a specific comment contravenes the guidelines above, pointing out why we believe the comment (or part of the comment) is unacceptable
• Deleting the comment, while providing feedback to the commenter on what part of the comment needs to be fixed for it to be deemed acceptable
• Deleting the comment without feedback

If you would like to provide feedback on these guidelines, or have comments on any specific actions that are taken as a result of these guidelines, please send an email with your feedback to steven dot dale dot martin at gmail dot com.