Comments?

In a piece for The Washington Post, David Lat, founder and managing editor of the legal news website Above the Law, explains why it has discontinued comments from its postings: Offensive and/or irrelevant remarks, creating what’s known as the nasty effect. “[W]hen readers are exposed to uncivil, negative comments at the end of articles, they trust the content of the pieces less . . . and their views on issues become more polarized.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/04/21/comments-are-making-the-internet-worse-so-i-got-rid-of-them/

I was familiar with the nasty effect (although I didn’t know it by that name) when I launched Letter V. It was the reason I decided not to enable comments on this blog.

Comments are welcome here, but they are, in blogosphere parlance, moderated. To comment or ask questions, click on “e-mail Letter V” at the upper right-hand corner and say your piece.

If it’s germaine, insightful, witty or otherwise reader-friendly, I’ll append your comment to the appropriate posting.

If it points out an error, I’ll correct the posting.

If it’s nasty or irrelevant, you’ll vent into the void.