As this blog has climbed in popularity and added a comments feature, my e-mail traffic has shot up dramatically. This is all to the good. Indeed, since the comments feature has been added, the blog has garnered kudos from the blogosphere and the mediasphere about the "articulate, thoughtful & balanced' quality of the readership.

With the demands of the day job not going away, I'm just going to apologize now to those of you who don't receive a response either via e-mail or in response to a posted comment. This doesn't mean I'm not reading your mail or your comments. It means I just don't have the time to write thoughtful responses all the time, and I'm leery of writing quick, flippant replies. So, my feedback policy is simple:

1) I read every e-mail sent about the blog and every comment posted on the blog.

2) I won't necessarily reply to every e-mail message or respond to every posted query.

3) The likelihood of my replying has a lot more to do with how busy I am than with the content of your message.

4) I'm truly sorry for the non-responses.

5) Unless otherwise indicated, I will not attribute any quote from any e-mail on the blog.

6) When it comes to the comments feature, remember that I control the horizontal and the vertical. I will delete comments that I think are personally insulting, completely off-topic from the post, or so incoherent as to pass all understanding. My space, my rules.

7) When you're posting your comments, bear in mind that the government is watching and recording -- but not in a malevolent way.

8) Don't make me angry -- you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

UPDATE: I feel a bit churlish posting this, since compared to InstaPundit my e-mail/comment traffic is small potatoes.

[This is because of hate mail, isn't it?--ed. Knock on wood, no. I've received some angry e-mails, a few trolls, and a few individuals that are spoiling for an intellectual fight, but over 99.5% of the feedback has been polite. I can count the number of true hate-mails on one hand. I just want to lower expectations about getting a response to any query sent my way]