We'd rather not moderate your comments, but off-topic, gratuitously inflammatory, threatening, or otherwise inappropriate remarks may be removed, and repeat offenders may be banned from commenting. We never censor comments based on ideology. Thanks to all who add to the conversation on Slog.

And @2, that is hilarious.

As Jessica@3 points out, what's the point of publishing the addresses if you don't want to facilitate your readers doing something there? If it is "just a joke", the joke is apparently that we are to imagine your readers doing something there. That joke is in rather poor taste.

Your own unwillingness to to publish your own address belies your lame excuse. If you have a duty not to expose your roommates to an elevated danger of partisan nutjobs, don't you have a duty not to expose these people to an elevated danger of partisan nutjobs? You can quibble about which partisan nutjobs are more dangerous, but clearly the danger exists on both sides, and clearly the order of magnitude of that danger is enough that you aren't willing to expose people you care about (or at least have to face every day).

Being hip and ironic doesn't excuse you from responsibility and decency.

1) An argument can be made that rich people (and the houses pictured in your piece certainly appear, in most cases, to belong to rich people) should vote for McCain. It's in their best interests, just like the middle class should vote Obama. It's the same thing the church does: Hey all you poor people! Forget about the fact that the Republicans will screw you over in every way for their rich friends...they share your "values"! You're just doing it in reverse.

2) Mercer Island will go heavily for Obama. Why are you picking on them? You make it seem like the whole island is populated with cackling plutocrats.

Responsibility and decency has nothing to do with this. These "hell houses" are displaying signs in public. I had to make a special effort to get an Obama sign for my house. By posting that sign for all to see I'm publicly supporting my candidate.

So you see a home owned by someone with no excuse -- they have education, information access, security, society, everything -- yet they insist on shitting in their own nest? Attacking the very society that put them in their pretty home and lovely neighborhood? It is scary.

The point is so the reader can view these scary houses themselves on a late night candy run. Also it's a good indicator as to where not to take your kids trick or treating.

What's the point of putting a sign in front of your yard and not wanting to talk about it, if you feel so strongly for a candidate that you want to deface your own property with their name wouldn't you be thrilled that you made the paper? The idea of putting a sign in front of your yard is to get as many people as possible to view it, unless you have some other reason as to why people do this?

By that rationale, you shouldn't have published these addresses either. How can you be certain that the people in these houses live alone? Might they have children, spouses, or houseguests who don't share their political views?

from Megan earlier this week:

"I'm not blaming anything on you, dude. Calm down. I'm just asking you not to spam, I thought maybe you'd be civil about it. You can say what you want in the comments on our blogs, but it is OUR blog, so we do have the right to require that all comments are on topic, not threatening, and NOT off-topic cut and paste spam, like your recent comments. You don't have to agree with us, you can even hate us, but you do have to follow the rules. If you're not interested in doing that, we'll block you. I'm awful, I know.

megan"