Note to our commenters

To our readers:

You are welcome to comment here and we appreciate your participation, regardless of your point of view. This is a reminder that the opportunity to comment is a privilege and not a right. We want a civil discussion. To that end, we ask that you:

Make sure your comments are on topic, directly addressing the subject of the story or blog post;

Do not intentionally insult or attack other commenters (disagree but don't be disagreeable);

Avoid spamming (i.e. posting the same message more than once);

Avoid profanity (with or without the funky keyboard symbols) and gratuitously graphic imagery; and

Avoid abusive "abuse reporting" (i.e. flagging comments solely because you dislike them).

Commenters who violate these rules will be blocked and all their comments will disappear. We do not warn before removing violators. These rules will be applied to every post we see.

Pat Dougherty