Axing blog comments *

Not here, not yet — despite some recent talk in various comment threads. But Michelle Malkin, the former L.A. Daily News editorial writer and current syndicated columnist who blogs, has become so disgusted with the bloviage that gets written on her site that she is closing most of her posts to public comments (as Instapundit, Joshua Marshall, Gawker, Defamer, Andrew Sullivan and some other high-traffic political and media blogs already do).

A few weeks after I started the blog, Pollyana that I was, I opted to throw open the comments section against the recommendation of several savvy blogfriends. Initially, the quality of comments was uniformly high. Readers stopped by to share their favorite war movies, for example, and posted their keen insights into the costs and benefits of the F/A-22 Raptor program.

A small detachment of trolls has frequented the comment threads, and I have been extremely liberal--yes, me, a liberal--in my use of MT-Blacklist. I wanted to encourage debate. Instead, my tolerance has turned once-enlightening channels for discussion into filthy sewers. Today was the last straw; I was forced to shut off the comments on this post after it was overrun. Shame on the jerks who screwed it up, especially the miscreant who used my name to post his/her vile thoughts.

She plans to open her weekly column and selected other posts for coments, and makes some modest requests that I can relate to:

2) Stay on topic. If the subject of discussion is Joe Wilson, do not use this as an opportunity to insult the Bush twins, praise Fahrenheit 9/11, ridicule my hairstyle, or tell us what you had for breakfast.

3) If you have a personal beef with another poster or with me, take it to a backroom or another blog. Do this on your own bandwith. This is not the MGM Grand Garden Arena and I am not your Don King.

Link from Patterico's Pontifications.

* Not to overlook: Malkin, to be sure, may ask for it more than most bloggers. Her latest book, In Defense of Internment: The Case for 'Racial Profiling', apparently argues that the relocation of loyal American citizens during World War II and taking of their property was OK, because they looked Japanese. Her previous appearance on L.A. Observed was for bizarrely describing as "another ugly Jayson Blair-like scandal" the blip when New York Times' Charlie LeDuff relied too closely on a book for a light feature on the L.A. River. As far as I can tell, conservatives love her for being an ideological warrior ala Coulter, and liberals loathe her for being an ideological hack. 6:30 p.m.