Paul Krugman, just another blogger:
One thing readers may not realize is that although this blog is located at the New York Times, it’s essentially a personal not-for-pay venture. It’s mainly a scratchpad where I can try out ideas, lay out some of the data and wonkery behind columns, and blow off steam on matters not worth spending the precious 4830 characters including spaces that the Times grants me twice a week in the column proper.
One of the implications of all this is that comment moderating is, of necessity, something that has to be done quickly. Sometimes Times staffers moderate, basically as a favor to me; sometimes I do it myself; either way, we’re not going to have time to do more than quickly scan to see if there are obscenities and/or if something runs on forever. My 3-inch rule is a rough guide; no, I’m not going to make it precise, because then I and other moderators would have to spend time counting characters or something, and I don’t have that time.
And for the big whiners out there: this is my blog, which I do for free. I welcome a lively discussion, and don’t edit out hostile comments if they’re brief and free of obscenities. But if you want a soapbox for interminable rants, I have no obligation to provide it; go start your own blog, and find your own readers.
That this resonates says as much about me as it does about Krugman. The similarities end there. He’s got far more work to do and far more comment crap to shovel than I ever will. The britches may be bigger, but they still go on one leg at a time.
