Tim Lambert over at Deltoid did something pretty radical when he was banned from commenting on Tim Blair's posts regarding the Lancet study. Now, I freely admit, I don't cruise the net looking for people I disagree with. Of course, I can tolerate some disagreement, if people are polite and generally sympathetic. But not people who disgust me. It's just too depressing.*
One of the reasons I read Tim Lambert's blog, is that he doesn't seem to suffer from this. He seems always ready to engange people debate, in a calm and polite manner, but it seems that doesn't help. They just think he's offensive, and out to steal their mindshare. (He may be, of course, aren't all debaters? He seems to target the big conservative blogs such as instapundit and Tim Blair, but usually only when they talk about his favourite topics, like DDT/malaria or the Lancet study.)
Well, I've seen it a couple of times in textual communication, that what one person writes in one tone of voice, may be heard in quite another by the intended audience. Haven't we all? So I decided to register and write a post on his blog. I'd like to see if they are polite. This is what I wrote. I'm linking to it, but if they remove it, I'll drop the link. Although I have a blog ecosystem rating of zero, it's an important principle.
(I notice that Blair uses redirects when he links to Lambert, in order to not inflate his score. Lambert doesn't, but in fairness he doesn't have the same traffic)
"Hi, Tim. I followed a link from Tim Lambert’s site, to see things from your site.
I’m not a troll, I really am not, I just think that what Lambert writes on the Lancet study seems pretty solid.
...
(I wonder if the admins will delete this comment. Not that I mind, I’ve given my consent for my message to be edited or deleted for any reason)
...
Also, I’ve read Lambert’s account of going ons at this message board, and I can (sort of) understand why he would set up a public forum to discuss your posts, if what he writes is indeed true. And since the moderator called Andrea does indeed compare some posts to urine right above me in this thread, I wonder, why the vitriol? Can you give me some links to show your side of the story as to his banning?
Yours truly, Vintermann. "
* Apropos, another talented liberal blogger who apparently does read depressing posts in order to debate them is Daniel Davies of Crooked Timber. Unfortunately, he does get depressed. I don't blame him.