As many of you know, occasionally I have bounced someone from this list, or barred them from a particular thread – in which case they usually take their duckies and go home.  Is this controlling on my part?

Yes and no.  I see these discussions as a kind of wide ranging seminar,
and I have taught face to face seminars for years.  What this means  is
that when someone makes an extensive comment they should address the
topic of the blog, or use it to branch off in a logical way.  If
someone wants to bring in a topic that I have not addressed, or that
cannot reasonably be extrapolated from an existing discussion, I offer
Open Threads.

When someone participates in an ongoing discussion, I treat them as a
participant in a seminar – address the conversation.  If you have a
position that has been criticized, address the criticisms.  Simply
restating your position is sort of irrelevant, and restating your
position while ignoring other expressed view is  insulting to those who
have taken the time to make their case.  It is also an opportunity for
me to ask you to respond to previous criticisms, or drop out of that
discussion.

There is a growing feeling in this country, more on the “right” than
the ‘left,’ but present everywhere, that intensity and sincerity count
as reasons.  On this blog they do not.  I can be as intense as anyone,
and hopefully am always sincere, but in the past I have been wrong on
important issues, intensely and sincerely so.  So can anyone else.  I
think Fundamentalist Christianity helps strengthen this attitude culturally, but
it is destructive to civilized life, and I will ultimately squelch
anyone who believes the strength of his or her convictions counts as
arguments against someone else’s attempt at a rational criticism.  I
promise.

Everyone gets several “strikes” on these points, and warnings, but it is possible to strike out.  I
believe I can say honestly I have never bounced anyone simply because I
think they are wrong, for that would be an abuse of my position, and
deeply disrespectful of all my readers.

But I have bounced two people and bounced at least two from threads that in my opinion they were abusing.  And please note the blessed rarity of trolls!