Guys: raise the tone, keep it on topic

Ok. Don't know how my fellow bloggers Scott and Andrew feel about this, but it seems that, more and more, Time's Middle East blog is becoming a place where commentators vent their spite and venom against each other –-or they plaster in long screeds on one pet peeve or another that sometimes have absolutely nothing to do with a particular post.

This issue was raised by one reader, Jared Chalom: “I have been quiet and on the sidelines, but after reading … [that] last comment, I am going to cancel my fifteen year old subscription to Time magazine and send the appropriate persons a letter citing his blatant racism as the cause. As an American-Israeli Jew, I am highly offended by his remarks and have to say they are not representative of Jews at large.

What kind of publication allows people … to post on their website without any form of moderation? Not the type I would like to subscribe to.”

I've deleted the name of the offending commentator because I don't want to make this personal or want him or her to feel singled out. But I think that Mr. Chalom has a point. The Middle East is a place that attracts extremes of opinion and uncorks dangerous obsessions. But should we institute some kind of moderation so that we can stick to the subject and maybe, just maybe, raise the tone a little?

By Tim McGirk/Jerusalem