Why do I moderate your comments? Not one of you so far as been so crass as to pose that question directly, but it has been mentioned recently that, perhaps, I could give myself a break from the routine of moderating, that you would “be good” in my absence, to paraphrase the suggestion.
It isn’t that I don’t trust you to be good. In fact, I’d rather not moderate your comments at all; I’d rather let you post in real-time and be responsible for your own comments. However, I chose to moderate the discussions here because of my affiliation with United Media. I won’t go into the legalities, but UM and I are something like partners in this enterprise called Arlo and Janis. We have to keep one another happy. When I began this blog, I decided the best way to avoid any embarrassing and ugly dust-ups would be to exercise caution and moderate.
I must say, I’m pleasantly surprised every day how civilized the discourse has been. I really did not know what to expect at the start. I remember only one post, maybe two, that I partially edited because of content and that was to avoid potential misunderstanding. I’ve considered an un-moderated forum, and I may do that yet. With moderation, though, you at least know I’m reading your posts! Keep ’em coming!