Nextbigfuture Comments Must Add to a Discussion of the Topic

Among other criteria for comment selection: Comments must be on topic. Comments must relate and be relevant to the article for which they are submitted.

Comments need to contribute meaningfully to the debate. They must directly related to the post in question, must use appropriate language, and must not be abusive to others. Civility counts.

In addition, a valid email address is required for a comment to be considered. Nextbigfuture is not a soapbox for political or religious views submitted by individuals or organizations.

There are valid arguments that can be made:
Here is a first principles analysis of the basic physics for a sanity check related to X and the post.
X will not work and here are technical or other reasons.
X will work or can be improved
X is too costly relative to Y. Here is a comparison of X and Y.
A, B and C are alternatives to X. Here is a description of those alternatives.
There will be no demand for X. X is meant to serve the following functions and provides a value proposition of … and promises these benefits.
There is the need to develop a supply chain and industry to X.
X requires critical materials that do not exist.
X relates to prior historic technological developments. Describe the related history.
X is similar to the business case of Z. Describe the prior business case.
The Use case for X is invalid because this is already satisfied with the alternative of V.

There are other ways to add value and information while staying on topic.

5 thoughts on “Nextbigfuture Comments Must Add to a Discussion of the Topic”

  1. Thx , sometimes there is trolls , and those trolls seems controlled by states rather than individuals.

    Thx Brian

  2. Well, I appreciate your hard work, love the site and have been coming here daily for the last 8 or so years, but the moment you enforce censorship in here, Brian, is the moment I say goodbye!

    • I don’t think it’s really censorship to demand that comments be on topic. Unfortunately, whenever Brian delves into a topic that’s really controversial, like the war with Hamas, the site attracts a lot of people who are just here to insult the other side. They’re not really contributing to the conversation about the post in doing that.

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