The importance of rigorous moderation has been made obvious, not because we want to spoil any body’s fun, but rather because we want Crikey blogs to hold some sort of high moral and intellectual ground when it comes to the ofttimes murky nether land of the comments string.

We are not an open channel. We want a curated discussion, one that advances the topic at hand. I think, through admittedly accidental and unfortunately clumsy means, that that is where we’re heading. Look at today’s exchanges on Pure Poison, a truly elevated and thoughtful filleting of an issue. Shows what might be done here.

Crikey – and me personally – has copped a lot of blogosphere heat for running a poll to name the Obama puppy that included the candidate A Mongrel Called Trig. It was a reader suggestion, and it somehow made our shortlist, and then hopped onto the polling page. From there it was just a hop skip and a jump to the outraged comment strings of Andrew Bolt, Tim Blair and others.

There’s not a lot of love in those rooms.

We deserve our lumps here. There was no redeeming – or even comic – feature to what is just a dumb slur on an innocent child. The galling part of course, is giving ammunition to the billious rabble of the blogging far right. But what can you say when you’re so obviously in the wrong. Other than “I was wrong.” Which I was.

As I say, cop your lumps, learn your lesson and move on.