I love getting blog comments, but there are a few things that I’d like everyone to keep in mind before posting:

1) Please read the post before you submit a comment. If you are the kind of person who gets into an apoplectic rage at the mere mention of India or Pakistan, please take a deep breath before you comment. Incoherent, offensive rants will be deleted.

2) Disagreement is fine, but profanity, racial/religious epithets and SHOUTING are not. Don’t use any words that you wouldn’t say in front of your favorite elementary school-aged cousin or niece/nephew.

3) Support your points with research and links. Linking to a respected news source lends credibility to your argument. Try not to throw facts or dates out there without some supporting data.

4) Give people the benefit of the doubt. It is sometimes easy to forget that there are real people with real feelings on the other end of this crazy series of tubes. Disagreement without incivility is possible.

5) All first-time comments are held for moderation. If you don’t see your comment right away, the most likely reason is that I haven’t had a chance to log in and approve it yet. If it’s been more than 24 hours and your comment still hasn’t appeared, email me and I will fish it out of the spam filter.

6) This is not a democracy. This is a private blog and I moderate and delete comments as I see fit. If you would like a blog of your own, you can set one up at wordpress.com in under 5 minutes.

7) I have email! My email address is lakshmigandhiblog@gmail.com or you can find me on Twitter @LakshmiGandhi. I almost always write back.

8) For the record: I’m not related to Mohandas K Gandhi or the Nehru-Gandhi family. Stop asking. :)