There is no staff to correct spelling mistakes other than my wife.
There are no fact-checkers and there is no editor and writing coach.
I not only research my pieces fastidiously, I try to write interesting and provocative pieces that the mainstream media cannot or will not touch.
In this respect, I believe I have a small measure of success considering the number of people from all over the world who drop by each day.
I put the final piece through a bunch of proofreaders available online, but we all know the reliability of Google translate and most other software do about as good as a job.
In my last piece I presented a clause from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which all three proofreaders tagged as badly written.
I'm not really prepared to pay a professional proofreader/editor $50-$100 per blog piece, so readers will have to accept my missives as they are. I do my best.
Like you I have good days and bad days, some pieces get finished right up to the deadline which I try to adhere to because many of you accustomed to a fixed schedule.
I cannot monitor the comments section on an hourly basis, I too have a life outside this blog. PLEASE remember that when you are about to click up that flaming mouse.
Last year I opened up the comments section without prior moderation and I know from feedback most of you like to see your comment up ASAP.
I've asked for trust and have been largely rewarded, but listening to readers of late complain of the one-liners and insults, I again will tighten what is allowed.
These are general modifications which I'd like to share with you.
No inane or insulting one-liners. You all know what that is.
Vicious personal attacks will no longer be tolerated, even if attached to an acceptable comment.
No mention of any reader's real name as long as they are using an alias, outing people is forbidden.
Any comment that references a reader's name other than their screen alias will be redacted, regardless of the quality of the comment.
Sometime I allow an Anonymous comment when it is clear that the reader hasn't read the rules. It is rare and if that same person continues, I'll remind him/her of the rule under their comment.
There is no more wiggle room based on the overall quality of the comment. Break any of the above rule and the comment will redacted without a trace.
No multiple screen names and no more foreign screen names. The comments just won't be printed and you will not even see "This comment has been removed by a blog administrator' The comment will just disappear.
Argue with other readers over issues or opinions but leave out the insults. Again, a good comment with a personal insult will no longer be tolerated.
Let me reiterate that rage is part of our Anglo/Ethnic experience and this blog won't censor legitimate grievances peppered with fiery language.
All public figures however remain fair game as for insults.
Remember that I am not monitoring the board 24/7 and will delete stuff when I get to it, so please try not to take advantage to sneak stuff in. We don't want to return to moderating.
Sometimes this blog gets more comments than important stories in mainstream newspapers, so I know many feel that they can say here what is not tolerated there.
But that doesn't mean anything goes.
If you see a troll message, just let it go or add this underneath; "TROLL ALERT"
I'll look at these comments carefully and apply the rules firmly.
And remember the rules apply to all equally.
French comments continue to be allowed for those without English. For bilinguals, I'd ask that you write in English because much more people will understand your comment.
As for traffic, I happy to report that Google Analytics tracking software shows that we have crossed a million pageviews per year, but that number is seriously understated because the blog loads five pages at a time and people who just scroll down and read post after post, but who don't click on the actual title are not counted.
Thank you for making this blog a part of your day, I appreciate your time and effort because I would never have soldiered on without your support.
