Deleting a Comment

I receive an email whenever a comment is posted here, so I see that even long-dead threads sometimes draw comments. For an amusing example of this, see the distraught students who google "Florida'a Culture" and find my short post on "Florida's Culture of Life" about Terry Schiavo and gun control in their research for a school assignment, and take the time to profanely chide me for my lack of helpfulness.

Wednesday evening, though, I received an email notifying me that someone had commented on a post I did way back in 2004 pondering "Why do They Hate Hillary Clinton so Much?" Believe it or not, this post appears near the top of a google search for "hate Hilary", and I regularly receive inarticulate rants about how bad Hillary Clinton is. Few commenters even attempt to explain the bizarre and over-the-top hatred of her, which was the central issue of the post. The comment section has become a dumping ground for weirdos who feel the need to vent about our probable next president.

The comment I received on Wednesday, though, included a suggestion that she should be harmed. I immediately emailed the FBI and provided them with a copy of the comment. According to a comment posted yesterday by someone claiming to be the same poster, the secret service visited him for a couple hours.

I deleted the comment this morning. So, from now on, when I claim that I don't delete comments for reasons of content (except for some spam), please add a mental asterisk to my claim. I will also delete comments that I think are threatening, or that could have the Secret Service knocking at my door for displaying them. Fair enough?