Robots Are People Too

One of the minor subplots in the bomb-lobbing campaign between blogs of the left and of the right concerns comment sections - specifically, which side most welcomes discourse and community via a robust exchange of Haloscan abuse. Many hurtful things have been said about what a site's comment policy - and the standard of the commenters they attract - implies about the character of the site's proprietors. In a spirit of neutrality, then, I'd like to take a moment to congratulate the fine people who, despite the high levels of traffic their blogs attract, nevertheless go out of their way to engage with all of their commenters, not just those who reflexively spout their side's designated talking points. People like this guy.

Of course, no good deed goes unpunished in this world, and there's always some sneering amateur around to nitpick the details:

Neil, you appear to have started a conversation with a comment spam robot.

(Hat tip: Tim Blair.)