The End of the Bedlam

There are big goings on at the other blog I contribute to -- the washingtonpost.com has made
the decision to require registration for comments due to a notable drop in the already-low level of civility. If you've spent any time over there hacking around in the comment threads (which frequently grew to 400 comments a day), you'll know what I mean.

I kind of liked the bizarre community of anonymity and asinine flame wars that broke out there, even though I was frequently the target. But I think the general consensus has been that the nutty, anonymous folks have been driving away commenters (and guest bloggers) who would otherwise be contributing. Certainly, no one I know personally waded into that morass, despite the fact that I know a lot of pretty bright thinkers on work-life balance (including a lot of you).

So if you've been avoiding the On Balance fray because of the unhinged anonymous screaming, now is the time to jump in. I can't promise absolute niceness, but I suspect many of the trolls will end up elsewhere.