There's a kerfuffle over at Brad DeLong's weblog concerning some rules he's decided to enforce in his comments. Basically, Brad has said that he expects commenters to be polite, and if they're not he'd do something about them.

For some odd reason, this has inspired quite a few people to say nasty things about Brad in the comments to this post. They seem to be upset that the rules he's laid down for commenters don't apply equally to himself.

At the risk of being Mister States The Obvious, let me state the obvious: It's Brad's weblog. It's his forum to say what he wants. He's not required to give equal time to anyone else. He could turn off comments if he wants to. I note that all but two of the people who responded to him have their own blogs, so it's not like disabling comments would silence them.

I really don't see what's so controversial about this. If any of Brad's readers think that his policy makes him a wimp, or a hypocrite, or whatever, they're free to drop him from their daily blog reading and from their blogrolls. They're also free to handle feedback on their own blogs in whatever manner they see fit.

I've not had any problems with cantakerous commenters, but like Ginger, if I did I'd have no qualms about tossing them out. I'm doing this strictly for my enjoyment, after all.

In short, I am the Master Of My Blog. Soon I will be (as they say) Master Of My Domain. While I'm really glad everyone is here, and it's always a kick to hear from new people, my blog is not Usenet, it's not a town square, and it's not a bulletin board. It's my little home on the Internet. At the risk of making my wife spew Diet Dr Pepper onto her screen, I intend to keep it somewhat clean.