Some housekeeping

Given that I've had to deal with both of these more than once in recent weeks, I feel a primer is necessary ...

- I rely on email exchanges to do interviews. That's my preference for a variety of reasons. For starters it provides a written record to protect both me and the interview subject. It's also much more convenient for all parties, giving myself and the subject the ability to think through both questions and answers, and offer both on our own timeframes. I'm not bumping up against any deadline, so I rarely tell folks that I need something by a certain time. Likewise, I don't do this for a living. It's a hobby, quite frankly, and I don't earn a penny for running this blog. I have other, ongoing professional ventures that I pursue which do earn money and occupy my time, thus meaning email is my preferred avenue for engaging in dialogue. I'm not opposed to conducting an interview via phone or in person, but finding the time to do so can be tricky for all parties. Again, I'm not a full-time or compensated reporter, so finding time to make those requested phone calls or schedule a meeting can be difficult. My general rule, then, is to use email.

- I don't permit comments for roughly the same reasons. I'm a firm believer in moderating comments to help avoid slanderous and outrageous attacks on me or other commenters (as has happened in the past and is frequent on other blogs or online news sites) to also encourage more in-depth conversation and debate. Moderating comments, however, forced me to have to check my email on more-than-regular basis and, more times than not, having to reject comments which amounted to 'you and/or Commenter X are stupid.' Quite frankly, I just don't have the time or patience for that. As a result, I don't allow comments anymore. I do, however, strongly encourage feedback via email, and my email address is listed off to the side. I regularly put up a 'From The Mailbag' post that offers contrasting or reinforcing commentary from readers (using their initials unless otherwise specified), and I let it stand alone without any comment from me for that particular post.