Our Policy on Comments

Keep it congenial. Keep it clean. Keep it classy.

“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here. This is the War Room.”

Here’s the good news. The readership of the Tactical Notebook has grown considerably. Now for the bad news. In every group of a thousand readers there are one or two people who post comments of types I refuse to tolerate. Thus, to save readers from encounters with such nonsense, and me from the trouble of deleting comments I find unwholesome, I offer three rules.

1. Please refrain from personal attacks of any sort. This includes addressing an author, whether of an article or another comment, by any term of derision.

2. Please avoid vulgarity, profanity, and other things of that ilk. I fully realize that the standard of language in the culture at large leaves much to be desired. Nonetheless, I hold the Tactical Notebook to a much higher standard.

3. Please avoid filling up the comments section with walls of text. (Shorter is sweeter. Pithy is best.)

In short, make sure that your comments are classy, family-friendly, and of interest to your fellow readers.

Any violation of these rules will result in the deletion of the offending comment. Frequent violation will result in muting, blocking, and removal from the mailing list.

I open the comments sections of most posts to all readers. When, however, the article in question deals with a controversial topic (usually involving an ongoing war), I restrict the right to post comments to paid subscribers. In addition to offering a bonus to those who help cover the cost of producing the Tactical Notebook, this policy preserves readers from encounters with the handiwork of wandering partisans.

Joseph Christian Leyendecker The Homecoming (1919 or so)