Comment moderation policy

The overtly satirical aspect of this weblog has now wound down to the point where it makes no sense to continue to mimic Paul Staines' seemingly random comment moderation policy and/or those who help him to abuse his self-serving approach to online discussion.

The comment moderation policy on this site is from this point forward to be the same as that at Iain Dale's Dairy:

1. Only registered users of Blogger.com will be allowed to post comments.
2. Comment moderation will be on full-time, and all comments will be read by a moderator prior to publication (or deletion).
3. The new version of Blogger.com does not allow for editing of comments, so we will be forced to delete any insulting or abusive comments outright. If ever a situation arises where a comment includes insults/abuse and constructive/intelligent input, the onus will be on the relevant contributor to repeat their comment (minus the insults/abuse).
4. As the majority of comments will be moderated in their pre-publication state, not all deletions will be noted/apparent (i.e. no 'removed by a blog administrator' notice will appear). It should be taken as a given that any comment deleted was deleted in line with this policy. If we feel there may be some confusion or if a reason is requested, an explanation will be given.
5. Any libellous comments will be deleted as soon as our attention is drawn to them. Please note that proof, either for or against, may be requested in order to substantiate the complaint.
6. Sock-puppetry and astro-turfing will not be tolerated. IP addresses will be tracked if we suspect either, and we reserve the right to 'out' repeat offenders.
7. The decision of the editorial team is final. You may plead your case by email and we are open to debate, but there will be no free-for-all in the comments.

Cheers all.