I’ve been thinking a little bit about Steve’s BCC: “Banned!” post and some of the comments. In the process I’ve come up with two analogies to describe the way comments are moderated at Mormon Mentality.

Analogy A: Spammers go to outer darkness. All other commenters receive some degree of glory. Yes, on occasion a super-obnoxious comment gets deleted or a commenter is politely asked to shut up (a request that is usually ignored) – but basically any non-spam commenter is free to participate.

Analogy B: Comment moderation at this blog is like a very laid-back driver in a car full of kids. The driver is often distracted and usually only has one finger on the steering wheel – which means the car stays on the road but swerves all over the place. Occasionally the driver loses his patience and reaches back to swat someone – but everyone pretty much stays in the vehicle.

I consulted no one in coming up with these analogies and am thus wholly irresponsible for them. They may or may not actually be useful.

[Just for the record - the Mormon Mentality non-banning policy does not exist without quite a bit of background discussion. I advocated banning a commenter at one point but having only a small appetite for argument and seeing that it was clearly a losing battle, I gave up pretty quickly. We have vociferous defenders of freedom, mercy and goodness on this blog, and despite my plotting there is no way to defeat them.]