No, not of the emergency broadcast system. I’m testing comments on this blog.

My original decision not to allow comments was heavily influenced by Language Log‘s experience, documented here and here. I’ve since been convinced that it would be really useful to allow comments on this blog, but I’m going to be very, very cautious about it. After doing some extensive research, I have some safeguards set up — and if the whole thing becomes too much for me to handle, I reserve the right to kill the experiment (just as I reserve the right to kill all of phonoloblog). I don’t want to do it, but I also have better things to do with my time than to mess with a blog. So don’t tempt me. ;-)

Comments for individual posts are by default not allowed. A contributor must choose to allow comments for each individual post. (If any contributors think this default should be reversed, let me know and I’ll consider it.) Note to previous contributors: you can go back and edit your previous posts to allow comments. To do so, click on the “Allow Comments” checkbox on the page where you edit your post. The relevant part of the page looks like this:

I just did it for all of mine, just to get things started.

Pings (basically, citations from other blog posts) are by default allowed. I strongly recommend not changing this. Pings will automatically be filed under comments, but there are some hacks/plugins out there that will display them separately. (I’ll get to it eventually; one thing at a time.)

The right to comment on a post requires a name and valid e-mail address, minimum. I will also be personally moderating comments, at least until I figure out a better system for avoiding comment spam. Here are some general rules for comments (by way of H. Paul Grice). Disobey them and your comment will not be approved.

1. Quantity
• Make your contribution to the conversation as informative as necessary.
• Do not make your contribution to the conversation more informative than necessary.
2. Quality
• Do not say what you believe to be false.
• Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
3. Relevance
• Be relevant (i.e., say things related to the current topic of the conversation).
4. Manner
• Avoid obscurity of expression.
• Avoid ambiguity.
• Be brief (avoid unnecessary wordiness).
• Be orderly.