re: #69 oneisnotprime

Personally I tend toward the approach of giving commenters enough rope to hang themselves, so when I see hateful comments that are allowed to remain posted, I don’t consider it an endorsement by the site they’re posted on, and therefore consider the comments as reflecting poorly on the commenter but not necessarily the hosting site.

Sorry, but this is a hopelessly naive attitude to have toward blog comments. I’ve learned the hard way that these comments can and do affect the reputation of a website. You may say that YOU don’t consider it an endorsement, but a lot of people do — including the nutjobs who will quickly take over if you let them. By not exercising moderation over the crazies, you’re giving them free reign — and they’ll take it.