I'm sure some of you are wondering why your excellent post, that is "the truth" or "the facts" or is properly on-topic and sourced is not making it online.

The problem, in many cases, is that there is one line or phrase that goes beyond the pale of what I can accept on the message boards. If you write a posting critical of Abraham Lincoln, for example, and you have sourced and expressed yourself without insults or extreme or inflammatory statements, your posting is normally going to appear. If you write a posting that is perfect in every other way, but you end it with "Abraham Lincoln was a Nazi and his horde of minions are all tools of the Devil.", then I'm not going to edit or redact your posting. I'm going to delete it. I don't have time to read and edit every posting on the message board.

I must be doing something right, because both neo-Unionists and neo-Confederates or pro-South and pro-North posters are claiming I'm showing favoritism to their opposite side. If the content of the above statement shows my favoritism for supporters of Abraham Lincoln and "his horde of minions", then please read the following:

If you write a posting critical of Jefferson Davis, for example, and you have sourced and expressed yourself without insults or extreme or inflammatory statements, your posting is normally going to appear. If you write a posting that is perfect in every other way, but you end it with "Jefferson Davis was a Nazi and his horde of minions are all tools of the Devil.", then I'm not going to edit or redact your posting. I'm going to delete it.

Howzat? Now, write good postings and leave off that last jab or insult. You'll find you can be pretty aggressive making your points, as long as you don't get too carried away.

I'm not going to allow posters on this message board to insult, degrade or threaten other posters individually or as a group. I'm also not going to allow extremist rhetoric and remarks about revered and important American historical figures that only result in a fiery response and disrupt the decorum on this site.

Jim