Further Adjustments Made to Blog Layout and Comment Form

Hello again, everyone! As some of you may have realized, I have continued to perform minor tweaks to the layout of this blog as I feel a need to do to make the look, feel, appearance, and accesibility of all blog elements the best they can be. I appreciate the patience exhibited by all of you as the process of making such adjustments and tweaks is ongoing. In addition to that, I wanted to note some changes made to the comment form.

Bearing in mind the purposes for which this blog has been established, and balancing the needs I see to maintain a good blog where conversations can take on a deeper quality, I have adjusted the wording to the comment form ro now read as follows:

"In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.

"At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.

"I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.

"And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.

"Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters."

I realize that is rather lengthy for a comment form. Any suggestions any of you have that would better capture my intent but be more brief would be particularly welcome and appreciated. In the meantime, it has saddened me to see my requests to those using the "Anonymous" and "Unknown" monikers has been largely ignored by a majority of those who use such identifications.

The point made by one such individual who commented under one of those generic monikers is well-taken: I should not be treating all comments from those generic names as if they were from the same individual. But I also don't know whether or not I am dealing with the same person unless I have some way to tell. So in order to preserve the etiquette which I hope will prevail among those who are regular readers here, for the foreseeable future, I am mandating the use of any name (whether a pseudonym, nickname, or an actual name) for everyone who comments here.

The mark of someone who is good at leading discussions, which is how I see my role as the author of the blog on which you all comment, is that he acknowledges contributions by the name of those making them. And I cannot do that if I don't know with whom I am dealing. So anyone commenting specifically under the "Anonymous" or "Unknown" monikers needs to let me know who they are. If I can get to know you all better in that way, I am more likely on my end to take offered feedback more seriously.

And I'd rather not have to delete any earnest or sincere comments simply because I don't know who might have made them. So it has sadly become necessary for me to make that mandatory. Barring anything unexpected, that will remain the status quo on this blog for the foreseeable future. So I'd encourage us all to help each other, whereby you all can help me keep this blog more in line with the intents and purposes for which I have established and continue to maintain it. My thanks in advance for your understanding and cooperation in these matters.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreicated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established gudelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.