SST has between 15 and 20 k readers/day. Around fifty or sixty comments are sent in for my contemplation or that of guest authors before they are posted. Sixty percent of those are hostile; professional hired trolls, ideologues, hyper nationalists from one cause or another and some people who just like being ugly.
I have decided that SST is essentially a "salon.' It is a place for well-meaning conversation among the learned and skilled. It is a dialog conducted in a benevolent setting among colleagues. In the situation that has evolved the "foule" is standing in the street outside that room screaming comments through the windows. Some comments are good but some are so useless and childish that I have decided to make a basic change in policy.
Henceforth there will be no comments from the general public. I will change the mechanism of the blog to eliminate such comment capability. The committee will consist of guest-authors, junior-authors and me. These authors will retain their posting privileges with the proviso that the junior authors' work will be screened by me before publication. Guest and junior authors can comment on each others' work by submitting posts for that purpose.
Any members of the public who want to join such a committee can write to me at ismoot@turcopolier.com to seek approval. pl
