Thank you all for your comments on the “We hate DD thread”. I am not going respond to everyone individually but I do want to address a couple of issues. I hope you understand.

I did not take the decision to ban people from this site lightly. It was not done in a fit of anger but over a long time of accumulating experience with discussions here. I have repeated over and over again that I do not stop people who disagree with me from commenting here. Your comments force me to think and question too. I don’t have all the answers, as you all know, so it all helps to clarify my arguments. However, I do draw the line at insulting, offensive remarks. Many people who have commented here have crossed that line on occasions and they have not been pulled up on it. Why?

I am not always in front of my machine babysitting my blog and comments do slip through.
Sometimes a short warning from me has been enough to get the discussion back on track.
Some people have thrown insults on occasion but for the most part are civil and willing to debate without being rude.
In all honesty, I like some commentors more than others, but even they have been warned at times.
This recent decision to ban certain people from this blog has come from a long and tedious history. Since finding out what was being said about me, on a blog that I find appalling, I have found it hard to swallow. I am talking about a blog where the owner openly admires Le Pen and actively tries to prove that black people are inferior. I will be honest with you, I feel threatened by it and by these opinions. It hurts to read those comments and not just because of those ones in particular, but because of a history, a lifetime of it. By saying this, I do not want to give the impression that I am defeated by it. Far from it, it makes me more determined to carry on for myself and for others that are affected by it. To speak out against that kind of treatment.

Some people may be of the opinion that I should just let it go, ignore it and move on. Perhaps grow thicker skin. Even if this was possible, I wouldn’t want to. I am an emotional person. I get hurt by insults and injustices and prejudice. That emotion drives me. It is what informs my creativity. If I didn’t have that anger or those tears, I fear I would lose the drive to create, to speak out, to speak up.

One of the things that has been increasingly disturbing to me is that when certain people comment here, the threads turn into marathons. Not because that discussion is more interesting or enlightening but because of the fight itself. I think of it like this. Say an argument starts on the street. As voices are raised in anger they bring attention to themselves. People stop and stare, anxiously waiting to see what might happen, perhaps even a little excited. Some might try and calm down the situation. To try and reason with the people involved. To resolve the argument. A few enjoy the adrenaline rush. The rest of us are preparing for flight.

So now it turns into a punch-up. The vast majority will get out of the way as quickly as possible, perhaps standing at a distance to watch. Our desire is to protect ourselves but still observe the outcome. There are those who will still try and break it up. There is a tiny minority of people who enjoy the fight itself and will wade in to throw a few punches for the hell of it. Nothing is resolved until someone backs down or is defeated. What disturbs me about this situation, apart from the violence and futility of it, is that the interest becomes focussed on the fight itself and the outcome rather than the dispute that started it.
Obviously this is an extreme parallel to draw. No one has been physically hurt here but you understand what I am getting at.
So what it comes down to, is that comment moderation is activated. This will not affect those who have written here before and are approved or to new commentors who follow my comment policy which is at the top of the blog, but will give me the opportunity to see certain comments before they appear on the site.
I have said this before but just to reiterate: I do not want this blog to turn into a “well-done well-said” place. I want to encourage dialogue. Continue to comment. Put forward other points of view but keep it civil.

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