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Now I'm going to take the liberty of typing up the entire article, because I can't find it on the net, this is probably semi-illegal. But I recommend you all take out lifetime subscriptions to Wired Magazine due to my vigilante subscription getting efforts.
Is it OK to ban someone from posting comments on your blog?
A personal blog is pretty much an autocracy, so you're technically free to ban whoever rubs you the wrong way. But going all Joe Stalin on your commenters - even the ones who annoy you with their nit-picking or wacko views - doesn't jibe with the internet's spirit of openness. The best blogs are supposed to be a conversation. And anyway, if you're going to publish what you write, accept the fact that the responses are going to be neither 100 percent positive nor 100 percent civil. Journalists have known this since the invention of the letter to the editor. It doesn't mean however that you're obligated to let a potty-mouthed commentator ruin your blog. If a recalcitrant troll is scaring off your readers or dragging the discourse into the gutter a permanent ban may be the only solution. "I view the commenters on my blog like they're guests at a dinner party," says Eugene Volokh, a professor at UCLA School of Law and founder of the Volokh Conspiracy group blog. And if a racist, abusive or otherwise abhorrent guest is putting a damper on your shindig, you're well within your rights to kick the hooligan to the curb.
As for what constitutes bannable behavior, that's completely your call. Some people prefer running dinner-party-style blogs, where even a little swearing can kill the intellectual vibe. Others aim for the equivalent of a kegger, meaning only the most egregious speech is barred. Figure out what sort of atmosphere you're gunning for and craft some commenting guidelines accordingly. Repeat violators should get the heave-ho.
The key word here is repeat. "From time to time, everyone gets angry and clicks publish before thinking about it enough," says Dale Carpenter, a University of Minnesota Law School Professor and a Volokh Conspiracy contributor. "A person who is uncivil and non substantive one day may have something very important to say the next." Give the commenter a warning before pronouncing him dead to you. If he crosses the line again, you can disappear him with all Mr.Know -It-All's blessing.