Blog stuff 101

Perhaps it's a good idea to issue a little refresher here for readers on the lay of the land around The Inside Dope.

First, comments are moderated. If it's personal attacks and smear attempts that you're looking to post, don't bother. They'll likely not get published.

If your comment consists of contrived, over-the-top PR fluffery and lavish praise for one candidate or another for some minor accomplishment, don't bother. It probably won't be published.

Honest, individual endorsements and explanations of what a reader likes about a candidate and why are fine, as long as they bear some resemblance to established fact and don't sound like the writer has some creepy crush on the candidate.

Manufactured fluff from paid staffers of a candidate is discouraged unless it can be kept "real" and doesn't insult reader's intelligence and sense of credibility.

All messages, hate mail, etc. directed to me personally is to be sent via e-mail. The reasons for this are obvious. I don't want to engage in an argument with an individual in comments. I don't think readers want to hear it, and it detracts from the subject of the post, and takes up too much space. Secondly, if you have a problem or accusation, I resserve the right to respond. Comments are not designed for this, and for the reasons above, it prevents me from responding fully.

Got a beef? Suggestion? Complaint? Question? Technical problem with the page? Spot an error? Want to publicize an event? Want to contact me privately?

Reach me at theinside dope at gmail dot com.

Stuff in the above catagories sent via comments stand a good chance of not being published. (With the exception that I will acknowledge on the blog mistakes or errors brought to my attention via e-mail at the time I correct them. (except spelling and grammar errors. Please point them out, but I confess I'll probably correct those and hope no one noticed. I'm so ashamed.))

If you have further information or can provide more light on anything you see posted, please share it with readers and send along a comment. The more GOOD information, the better. I most certainly don't know everything, and often don't know much. So I grately appreciate anything that helps myself and readers to be better informed and better educated about an issue or story.

While I want to share what I know or discover with readers, I've always hoped that those out there with more knowledge or experience with a particular subject or topic would share it with us and in turn both myself and readers could learn more and end up better informed. The collective knowledge of all readers is enormous. Now if we could only get that flowing, it would be a fantastic resource.
That's the goal. Help out if you can.

As a final thought, with elections approaching, it's been my experience that comments become increasingly shrill, dubious, nasty, vicious, and more disgusting at election day nears.

I've let such comments stand in the past due to inexperience and found that it gets far more ugly and disturbing than I'd imagined. This time around I hope to be a bit more ruthless in what I allow to be published.

Just so you're forewarned, if you write in comments containing several unsupported and unsourced knocks or smear attempts against a local candidate and it doesn't get published, don't be surprised.

I prefer to err on the side of allowing opinions to be heard, but neither do I want to go down the same road as previous campaign seasons.

And Rule #1, as always, is that bullshit in all but humorous form will not be tolerated.

Thanks for your understanding.