Okay ladies and gents, here’s the deal: yesterday, I turned comments off for a while. You may have noticed that new posts today are accepting comments, while old ones are still locked. The law of gradualism has found its way even to these sterling shores.

So far, so good.

I’m now going to re-open comments on old posts, too. If that isn’t done by the time you read this, it soon will be.

I will remind you again of our comment policy, which is explained here, and found in bare-bones “commandments” form here. (These have been updated as of today.)

I do not have time most days to read all comments carefully. We have too many. I will skim and spot check. If I see a comment that violates the rules, I’m just going to delete it. I’m not going to argue about it in the comment box, so err on the side of caution. I no more want to lecture you than you want to be lectured. Whatever it is that you really think, let prudence be your guide.

This will be a place where those who are questioning but not yet sure what to think will feel welcome. If you need a place to vent beyond that, say a prayer that I find the time to implement my plans to add forums to the site. In contained discussions, I’m willing to give a lot more latitude. In the public forum, everything you say reflects not only on you, but on us as a publication, and the search engines don’t make distinctions. Make your discourse laudatory. Let us be ambassadors of Catholic sanity to a world (and a Church) gone mad.

If any of you have read the rules and agree with them and would like to help as a volunteer moderator, send me an email. If I know you (and if you’re a regular, I’m sure I do) I may knight you.

Finally, comment flagging is on. Any comment that receives five flags will automatically be pulled by the system for my review. If you see a comment that crosses the line, use the little pull-down menu on the right side of the comment and flag it. This will help tremendously. (Please don’t abuse this, though, just because you disagree with someone.)

As you were. And remember: before posting, a deep breath and a prayer to the Holy Spirit go a long way.