Dear readers, this is a “Dear John” letter

For a couple of weeks now, a person named “John” has been posting comments here. John strongly disagrees with the tenor of this blog. He’s called me some pretty nasty names and argued with my conclusions, but I’ve ignored him for the most part. I didn’t feel his facts, analyzes, or conclusions were compelling enough to merit my attention. Many of you, however, have been engaging with John, whether for fun (I know who you guys and gals are), or to try to make substantive points about what he’s said. I’ve enjoyed very much what you all have written.

Once other people engaged, John expanded the scope of his abusive language and his obscenities. I’ve turned a blind eye to a lot of it, because I do believe in having a free and open forum for ideas.

However, even I have limits. This was my limit:

That goes beyond the rhetorical pale. There is no place whatsoever in the civilized exchange of ideas to advocate drowning children. That’s not an argument, that’s vile abuse. I’ve therefore banned John from this blog. If I did the ban correctly, his past comments will remain, but he will no longer be allowed any future comments.