The rules boil down to: This is my home on the Internet. You are a guest here. You're expected to behave with the kind of reasonable manners that you would observe while visiting somebody else's house.

Specifically:

• Don't make claims that are false or intentionally misleading.
• Don't post material that a reasonable person would find obscene, offensive, racist, homophobic, or anti-Semitic. (Criticism of the government of Israel is not automatically anti-Semitic.)
• Feel free to use an alias and keep your real identity secret, but if you have a particular financial stake or other involvement in the topic under discussion, you are expected to disclose it. Also, don't falsify credentials or take on somebody else's identity unless it is clearly for satirical purposes.
• Comments need to be relevant to the topic in which they're posted. Don't spam the same comment into every post.
• Advertising is strictly forbidden.
• You are welcome to disagree with me. But do so in a way that is respectful, or at least civil. Also, don't keep repeating the same argument after it's already been addressed.
• In general, if you look like you're out to cause trouble or to waste my time, you're likely to get banned.