Rules of the Blog

Empire Must Fall is not a public square. You are a guest, and I reserve the right to exclude guests exhibiting bad behavior. I find Vox Day's rules for Vox Populi good and practical, so I'll adapt his for my purposes.

1. This is not a democracy. Commenting here is a privilege, not a right; if I tell you to go, you go.
2. No Anonymous comments. You are expected to assume a name and stand by it. Violators will be punished by deletion, and eventually bans. No, "Unknown" does not count.
3. You will be addressed in the manner you present yourself. You come in full of piss and vinegar, and you'll get it in return.
4. You're expected to back your claims with verifiable evidence. Failure to comply will result in derision at first, and then deletion.
5. Cross-comments and off-topic comments shall be deleted. Focus, stay on topic, and engage in good faith or I get out the Banhammer.
6. Address the argument and not me. If your argument is about me rather than the topic, if you attempt to address a macro topic by referring to me as a micro counterexample, or if you attempt to bring me up in any way as the basis, relevant or irrelevant, of your argument, I am going to delete your comment. If you do it more than once, I will spam you.
7. I am the sole interpreter. You try to bullshit me about how the rules work, you're gone. My house, my rules, my call- and mine alone.

UPDATE

I see that stupid, lying motherfuckers passing themselves as journalists, writers, artists, or game designers didn't get the memo to cease and desist their fraud.

It's time for the next step: legal sanction.

While dwellers in other states may be stuck with civil action, I have something more potent where I am: a Criminal Defamation statute. Allow me to quote the important parts:

• Subdivision 1. Definition. Defamatory matter is anything which exposes a person or a group, class or association to hatred, contempt, ridicule, degradation or disgrace in society, or injury to business or occupation.
• Subd. 2. Acts constituting. Whoever with knowledge of its false and defamatory character orally, in writing or by any other means, communicates any false and defamatory matter to a third person without the consent of the person defamed is guilty of criminal defamation and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than one year or to payment of a fine of not more than $3,000, or both.

There's a reason you rarely see Minnesota's media do the dumb shit that's routine out of New York or Los Angeles, and that's because you can go to prison for it here.

Every state should have this statute in its penal code. We are not served by letting people fling false and defamatory matter about like monkeys flinging shit at each other. If people cannot be convinced by reason to cease and desist, then the pain of fines and imprisonment will come next. If that still isn't enough, helicopters will be made available. One way or another, this stops.