Newcomers

If you are a new visitor to Third Eve, welcome! Look around, then pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable. I’ll put the kettle on and make some tea.

Third Eve is about a lot of things I describe on my About page, so there’s no need to rehash my perspective here.

Comments are welcome; mean comments are not

This is not a usenet newsgroup, and it’s not a democracy. You don’t get to vote on whether I’m a good person or not, and you don’t get to call me or any of my regular readers names. If you get crazy or mean and start trouble, I’m going to delete your comment; and if you become really ugly and won’t control yourself, but feel compelled to continue to make an ass of yourself on my blog, I’m going to ban your I.P. address so that you can’t ruin our civil discourse.

There are many objectionable and infuriating things about me. So that you won’t feel shocked and surprised by this later, please orient yourself to Third Eve by actually reading some of the blog before you sound off on the one entry that brought you here. As you read, imagine that we’ve just met at a museum, the public library, or at the park, and that our children or friends are hovering nearby. Consider what you’d say if what I wrote here was spoken in a social setting by someone you knew nothing about, and respond accordingly.

Don’t be fooled by the apparent anonymity of the blogosphere. Try to be fair and sane. Save everyone some time and trouble by sorting yourself out. And if you hate what you think you see here, by all means, find the door and show yourself out. That’s just so much more dignified than having to be thrown out.

The sort of people who are welcome here are open-minded, open-hearted, open-handed people who have something to offer. My favorite regulars are people who have grown, or are growing, real selves; but I also appreciate people who are simply truthful and sincere, even if they are sincere only about their suffering, their anger, their oddness, or anything else. Sincerity counts for a lot in my book.

People who can discuss and debate intelligently, even if passionately, are also quite welcome here. I don’t care if you cuss up a blue streak, as long as you’re not being vicious about it. Part of the joy of having mixed company on a blog is that we learn about others and the world we live in when we learn about people who live differently than we do. The last thing I want to do is shun differences. If you can debate, chime in, or argue while showing a willingness to respect others, have at it. If not, well… you know what will happen.

I read a wide variety of blogs, and I link to them in my blogroll or in my blog entries from time to time. I encourage you to check out the blogs I read, too, because you’ll meet some really wonderful people by doing so.

The sort of people who are not welcome here are crazy people who will not respect a boundary; people who think that other people’s blogs are their own personal soap boxes; people who are confused and project their unwanted stuff onto others, precluding any real intimacy; and narcissists who think everything is always about them.

Now you know the rules, so jump right in. The water’s fine.