Sure beats Lexis and Westlaw.

The Internet enables a lot of people to escape the drudgery of their jobs.

In reference to my comment above, I should note that my quip about “f___ the deaf” being a “polite request” is an appropriation of words from a review printed in the New York Times about a comedian’s act about the disabled. I’ve not seen the DVD myself, but the comedian seems to have won his share of esteem. You can see the review at the NYT website here, but since we are dealing with strong language, you may find the link not safe for work.

Anonymous-
I was thinking (uh-oh) that, if a single person made a request for a comment to be removed, DeafDC.com probably would have had to honor it in the past — regardless of who made the comment or that person’s justification. That would probably explain the “inconsistency” you noted. Now, they seem to have wisened up a bit — so isn’t that a good sign? That they’ve actually listened to the people who questioned their decision? And done something about it?

DeafDC -
Keep it up, but I’d like to see more blogs especially from Vikki, Shane, Adam and Allison :)

“Please don’t attack other users, or your comments will be reviewed for potential deletion.

1. Grounds exist for deletion if your comment uses the F word, as if ‘F___ you.’ If, however, you say ‘F___ the deaf’ as a polite request, your comment will be given a pass.

2. Grounds exist for deletion if you accuse another user of being part of the deaf diaspora.

3. Grounds exist for deletion if you accuse another user of, at the age of three, having bitten the neighbor’s dog.

paragraph 3a. An exception will be made to item 3 if the accused party provides court documents attesting to the conviction of the neighbor’s dog, at any time, on charges of audism.

paragraph 3b. An exception to paragraph 3a. will be made if anyone ever claimed that it wasn’t about audism.

4. Grounds exist for deletion if you accuse another user of being an extraterrestrial in such a way that proves deeply offensive to three readers of the website.”

To my mind, the new guidelines listed at the outset of this entry satisfy the goal of warning users that general categories of comments run a risk of being deleted. That is the most that we can ask for in a public venue like this one, and such guidelines are considerably more specific than those of many other blogs.

Anonyomous, if you were in charge of a blog like this one, what would your policies say? It is pretty common for blog owners to at least say something like, “That type of remark isn’t appropriate here.” But what would you specifically write that would satisfy your own expectations?

I have one suggestion; just reduce the font size under the comment box. Kinda overwhelming.