ehillesum's poses Teh Tough Question:

would you want them to be as tough on Clinton ("Bill, how many times did you tell Monica you were in lover with her before you had sex or at least engaged in activity that some define as sex?"

And DCLaw1 raises an eyebrow:

I'm quite positive that most thinking liberals and Democrats would have little problem with tough questioning of "their side" if the questioning was based on relevant issues that matter to governance, and not based on fraudulent premises or trivial tabloid BS.

All one needs to do to know the truth of your statement is to look into Glenn's archives, read stories he has written criticizing Democrats and then visit the comment sections.

One other thing, and then I'll shut it: I think most of us would prefer that Glenn be able to spend his time writing, interviewing, responding to our comments and all the other valuable things he does rather than having to police his comment section. One may say that he should, then, just let the comments be, but this comment section is a gold mine. Glenn himself has said that he learns things from his commenters, and I definitely see these pages as an invaluable resource. I agree with Glenn's desire to protect it.

am not refering to Tweety's Gossip, Bullshit and Worship Hour.

Known in some circles as Hardly Balls at All. ;-}

I can't claim to have understood you, but if you are saying you and Be Bop are not the same poster, I apologize for the confusion and implied malfeasance.

(Side note: I'm not clear if they have been banned - Glenn?)

As anyone who has ever been here for any amount of time knows, there are few things I hate more than intervening in the comment section with moderation. It's a dreadful, tedious task, and I wish I never had to do it. In general, I think discussions of this type are far more valuable when they are free of moderation-interference.

When I do it, it's because I think that doing so is necessary to preserve the quality of the comment section, that not acting does more damage to the quality of the discussion than acting.

On many occasions in the past, I've asked those two in particular to moderate themselves so that I don't have to spend the time doing it. Today, I asked one last time: please limit the comments to one-per-page -- it gets to the point where between 30-50% of the comment section is from the same 2 posters -- and I said as clearly and politely as I could that if they ignored that request (as they have so many times before), then I would just have all of their comments deleted in the future. I just can't keep spending time and energy deciding on a case-by-case basis which ones merit deletion.

It isn't like a few days went by and then they violated my request. About 20 minutes later -- literally -- one of them posted 3 times in succession. When I saw that, I even asked him if he had seen what I had written, assuming he hadn't, and he said he had. About 15 minutes after that, the other one posted 3 or 4 times on the same page. How else to interpret that other than as a clear statement that they have no intention to abide by my request and will simply post whenever and however they want?

So yes, I'm now having all of their posts deleted without consideration of content or frequency. To be honest, I resent their obvious indifference to my time and energy, particularly in light of how many times they've already brushed aside what I asked as though it were the most irrelevant thing in the world.

For the people who love to be off-topic and read poetry that possesses sageiness(sic) and then provide comments that are rife with satire and sarcasm and irony, then I believe they have the option to start their own blog, as Glenn suggests.

They can indulge themselves in all the aforementioned "enjoyments" to their heart's content. They can do their little socializing things and exchange their "insider" compliments and describe their daily activities as if they are around the water cooler at work.

But I think Glenn works hard to provide timely topics that are worthy of meaningful discussion and he is frustrated. The people who are interested in topic discussion and not the off-topic accoutrements have to parse though all the comments that are personal and not relevant to wrote Glenn wrote.

I think its just rude.

So yes, I'm now having all of their posts deleted without consideration of content or frequency. To be honest, I resent their obvious indifference to my time and energy, particularly in light of how many times they've already brushed aside what I asked as though it were the most irrelevant thing in the world.

-- GlennGreenwald

Thanks for clearing that up, and for your candor. I posted something similar, above - it irritates me that they've caused you to have to waste your valuable time and energy policing the comment sections, after having given reasonable warnings. Your time is much better spent elsewhere [/Captain Obvious].

I agree with Glenn's desire to protect it.

-- UsedtobeKristin

I really didn't want to weigh in on this but here goes anyway.

There is a fire hydrant across the road from me. There is a sign above it that says, 'No Parking Within 15 Feet of Hydrant'. There is a reason for that sign being there. Everyone knows why the sign is there and why they should not park there. I can only assume that they are being disrespectful or dense when they ignore it and park there anyway. It irks me when people show disrespect and selfish judgement by parking there and ignoring the sign.

ehillesum drops trou and DCLaw1 tells him to put it away and stop embarrassing himself

Eww!

We're going to have to agree to disagree. However, based on your previous comments I'd like to suggest you study the history of the conflict more closely if you get the chance. I'll leave you with one final thought and a question. Palestinians are not allowed to travel freely by Israel. There is literally nowhere for them to go to escape. Do you believe that the people of South Africa should also have declined to spill blood over land and just left the country?