It's worth just quickly reminding people about the rules on this site for posting and commenting.

In the last few weeks we have had some incredibly nasty comments posted on the site. The posters were surprised to discover that their posts never saw the light of day. Comments from 99% of visitors to the site have to be approved now before they appear on the site. Gone are the days of posting something silly, knowing that it would probably be seen by at least a few people before the mods got to it! These days, if you post something silly/ nasty/ inappropriate the chances are that only one person will see it. Me. And frankly I've seen it all before!

This policy isn't about stopping people who disagree. Free discussion is okay. But we ask that all comments be polite and respectful. If what you post is likely to cause disproportionate offence; or if I judge that you are trying to wind people up; or if I judge that you're not really interested in having an open discussion... then I will bin your post. It's that simple. I don't care how long it took you to write it, and I don't care that you will probably post it somewhere else on the web with an added footnote about how cruel and oppressive this site is!

This might all seem a bit totalitarian. If so, then that's a shame, but this is a result of a long process of determining what sort of a site is best to have. We spend over four years using a 'forum' model and we decided after a lot of hassle that this wasn't really the best model for what we saw as our primary purpose. We still have a forum in the background, but the site is now more of a news and information site (yes, okay, a blog if you want to call it that!). The main purpose of the site is to support and enable youth ministers. Some content can be commented on - either in the forum, or using the Disqus system - but comments will be approved if they contribute to that. This isn't a place for people from outside the Church to vent their frustrations, and it's not a  place for people inside the Church to police others.

Apologies if this seems a bit harsh and direct, but I have been quite troubled by some of the comments I have had to delete in the last week or two and I think it's worth reminding people what we're actually trying to do here.