It's my fault- Turner Report comments are out of control and I'm making changes

There's no way of getting around it.

It's my fault the comments on Turner Report posts are out of control

I have excused my role in the matter numerous times by using the dodge "if you think those comments are bad, you should see the ones I deleted."

And while it is true I have deleted racist comments and others filled with hate for one minority or another, I have allowed comments that threaten to turn this blog into another KZRG.

No more.

Over the past several months, Turner Report readers have seen an increasing number of the following types of comments:

-Commenters who feel the need to insert politics into posts that have nothing whatsoever to do with politics. That has especially been the case with posts about sex crimes. I haven't seen any reliable evidence that more Republicans or more Democrats commit sex crimes. For the most part, I am sure the commenters don't know the people who have been charged and have no idea what their political affiliations are.

-Commenters who attack other commenters and don't offer opinions on the posts. Sometimes, I get the feeling they haven't even read the posts. Offer an opinion. If you're responding to another commenter's opinion, do so without name calling. If your argument isn't good enough to persuade anyone, you're not going to help it by calling names.

-People who copy and paste long comments on numerous posts. If you didn't make your point the first time, the 32nd time is hardly going to do the trick.

-People who feel the need to put profanity in their comments. For the most part, I've deleted these posts, but I have published some profane comments. Usually, the profanity isn't even necessary and often, the comments are excellent, so I went ahead and published them. My inclination now is to simply delete the comments. I would love to be able to contact the commenters and tell them what they need to do in order to have their comments published, but nearly all of them are anonymous.

-Trolls. These commenters have only one goal- to provoke readers. I don't mind provocative comments- at least not when the opinions provoke thought. The comments I am citing are ones that come from people who make themselves feel good by bringing down others. These comments, almost always made anonymously, are the kind that make many news organizations' Facebook page comments unreadable.

As of this moment, I am doing what I should have done along ago and what many of you have been telling me for months.

If a comment adds to the conversation and follows these guidelines, I'll publish it. If not, it's gone.

Now to address a couple of things I expect to hear.

This will not violate anyone's First Amendment rights. The First Amendment prohibits the government from infringing on your freedom of expression- this is my personal blog. I love to have comments, even when the viewpoints that are expressed are completely opposed to my own. But I have every right to have guidelines for the comments.

Also, I'm sure some of you will suggest that I stop allowing anonymous comments. That's not going to happen.

While it's true that it's easier for people to make comments when their name isn't attached to them, I am hoping the steps I outlined above will take care of many of the problems associated with anonymous comments.

Another reason, however, is that it has been my experience that often people are unable to comment under their own names because they have a legitimate fear of losing their jobs or causing problems for their families, but they have information that needs to reach the public.

Additionally, as national events have made clear, there are people out there who have no qualms about targeting people whose views, whether political or otherwise, differ from theirs.

I've often received ideas and tips through these anonymous comments that led me to look into things that I wouldn't have known otherwise.

Longtime readers of this blog know this is not the first time I've had to deal with excesses in the comments, nor is it the first time I've taken too long to respond to the problem.

I'm interested in your comments on this shift in policy.

I thank those of you who have continued to make comments that have contributed to the conversation, even at the risk of being shouted down by the trolls. I'm hoping that by taking these steps, I'll have more comments that legitimately add to the conversation.

I know full well I may lose readers by making these changes, but if the success of the Turner Report depends on allowing the kinds of comments I described above, then this blog doesn't deserve to exist.

Thank you for your patience. The Turner Report, like its author, is still a work in progress.