Rule the first. Have a fucking sense of perspective. This is a blog. It is an ephemeral arrangement of electrons. Someday I will die, and it will fall into unread neglect, and maybe it will get archived somewhere, temporarily, but it will be completely forgotten. And when our civilization falls, it will fade into nothingness, lost and unreadable forever. Eventually our species will go extinct, and no one will even mourn the loss of the great things, let alone a blog. You are a mere burble in the flux of energy through the universe, and this collection of transient words is little more than the almost undetectably tiny hiss of static briefly put out by the collision of burbles.

Rule the second. This blog is mine. It started as an avenue for self-expression, nothing more, and that is all it is even now. It is not yours. It is not something more. It allows you to leave comments, but only because a) that is the convention of a blog, and b) I do enjoy some conversations with some people. But one thing I’ve learned over the years is that a lot of people are assholes who see comments as an opportunity to piss on everyone and assert their dominance. If that’s your intent, you have no power here and can just go away.

Rule the third. There are no other rules but this: do not annoy me. I have tried setting specific rules to constrain some of the worst behavior, but they are ignored and they do not work. I have tried setting goals, but those are treated as invitations to subvert them. This is my place to shuffle electrons and make short-lived patterns that please me, and if you decide to distract me or interfere with the business of moving bits around the internet, I will make your electrons wink out without a qualm.