In a departure from past practice, I am not allowing anonymous comments on The Living Room Times blog. Anyone can view the blog, but users wishing to comment must either register with this blog (pseudonyms are OK, but a valid e-mail address is required) or log in using their Facebook, Google, OpenID, Twitter, AOL or Yahoo account, or an existing Living Room Times account.

Why am I requiring this? Because in the past, anonymity has too often served as a cloak for trollish behavior and vicious personal attacks. Although I always want to encourage free-wheeling discussions and debates, I simultaneously want to discourage the unbridled nastiness that has sometimes prevailed, and I hope that imposing a modicum of accountability vis a vis one’s own comments will help accomplish this goal.

Having said that, I truly hope people will not feel “chilled” by this new registration requirement. There is no intention to censor anyone on the basis of who they are, what they believe, or how they express themselves. Free, open, robust debate is always encouraged, and all manner of viewpoints are welcome. Heck, even UCLA fans are free to spread their hateful pro-Bruin ideology. :) The only type of comments that are banned are those that blatantly cross the line into nasty personal attacks and the like, or violate a specific rule against “blogging about work” or what-have-you.

For more details, go to my blog rules page.

On a more positive note, universal user registration will make it easier to integrate new “guestbloggers” into the fold. If you are interested in guestblogging, please contact me at irishtrojan [at] gmail.com.