You might have noticed that for a time last week we had installed a password system for comments. It was a move designed to stop spammers from hitting this blog with ads for Viagra and online poker. Unfortunately, it discouraged our growing number of legitimate posters from adding their comments to the blog.

I'm happy to report we have returned to our original format -- which means you are free to write a comment without having to log in. You do, however, have to wait for me to read and review your post before it goes live. Otherwise, you'll have to deal with dozens of annoying spam ads.

That said, I want everyone who reads this blog to feel free to add their opinions to the discussion. I think we've started a very lively forum here.

And one quick ground rule: please try not to attack other posters personally. I want to maintain the civilized and thoughtful tone we've set here.