The time has come to limit the "chatter" on TalkLeft--constant comments by those who disagree with TalkLeft's positions, designed to overtake the discussion. I am receiving emails from TalkLeft's loyal readers who say that they feel the discussion is no longer valuable because of the constant commenting by three or four of these individuals.

So, here is the new policy. The "chatterers"--and they know who they are --will be limited to four comments of reasonable length during a 24 hour period. All comments over this amount will be deleted without explanation. After the third violation, the chatterer will be banned.

This group includes the relatively new poster "ras" who I notified of this policy last Friday and has ignored it. It does not include Jim (poker player) or Cliff--who although they take the other side, in my opinion stimulate debate. They also are the first to respond every time I put out a call for contributions.

I am not worried about chatterers using different names to get around the rule because I can track them by ISP address and their past comments. Of course, I do not publish this information.

Please feel free to email me with the names of commenters you believe I should be limiting under this new policy. Or , you can leave their names in the comments.

I'm not happy about this new policy as it will take up a lot of valuable time. But I agree with those of you who believe that these commenters are spoiling the disussion for the rest of you. They are trying to dominate the conversation on TalkLeft and it will be not happen.

Also, if you find someone who has broken the new rule and not been held accountable, send me an email and I will delete their excessive comments and add it to their strikes.