Another comment on latest effort to have more on-topic, productive and polite comments

In this post just under two weeks ago in response to many complaints about off topic and uncivil comments, I sought to encourage more on-topic, productive and polite comments.  I sense all but a few folks welcomed and were eager to focus time and attention on on-topic, productive and polite comments relating to sentencing law and policy and to have fewer off topic and/or uncivil comments.  But, over the last two weeks, off topic and/or uncivil comments are still in various ways creating distractions (at least for me), and my efforts to respond to comments and emails on matters unrelated to discussions of sentencing law and policy have occupied time that I would much rather invest in discussions of sentencing law and policy (in new posts or in on-topic and productive comment threads).

Many folks through the years, in response to a wide variety of comments, have recommended that I turn on the moderation feature.  I am going to try that for a while to see if it enables me to spend more time on discussions of sentencing law and policy and less time on off topic and/or uncivil comments and reactions thereto.   We shall see if doing so helps me and the comment space spend more time on productive discussions of sentencing law and policy and less time on other distractions.