Your Gawker editorial team has largely vamoosed (though there'll be some posting over the next two days) but that doesn't mean there's nothing going on here. We're creating the tagpage #crosstalk where you can spend the whole weekend chatting.

If you haven't played with them, our new anarchic tag pages allow you to post your thoughts, questions, rants, videos, images or whatever else on the site without waiting for the editors to get around to posting something about it. We already have a couple, like #tips where we solicit your ideas for posts, and #stalker, where we'd like your sightings of celebrities. And now we have #crosstalk, which is dedicated solely to you and your chattiness. So please, go give it a whirl.

As for the holiday schedule, here's what you can expect: Brian and Ravi are around for another couple hours and Adrian will be posting tonight. Tomorrow and Friday (yes, Christmas) you'll see a few posts by Ravi and then Foster's doing his weekend thing. Things kinda go back to normal on Monday.

One more thing: Kaila Hale-Stern, who's in charge over overseeing the commentariat for Gawker Media, drafted up this memo on what makes a good commenter (and hints at how you might get a star) and has been after me to post it for a while. So, before you go over to #crosstalk (hint hint), please give it a read.

In the spirit of holiday house-cleaning, it's time for a crash course
in comments etiquette. What can you do? What should you definitely
never do? What, in effect, do we want from you, Citizen Commenter?

Gawker Media blogs are known for their savvy commentary. We strive to
let in a smart and plugged-in community, and we want comments that
serve as first-rate contributions to the post at hand. We love new
insight and inside information. We value informed response and welcome
spirited debate. Above all, comments should always further the
discussion. "Lifehacker's Guide To Weblog Comments" is a great jumping-off point for the
uninitiated.

We like to see good spelling and grammar, because we're nerdy like
that. Capitalization and punctuation are important, too. These basic
requirements go a long way towards making us all look better. Staying
on-topic in a thread is essential — but now you can also take a topic
to your own generated #hashtag page, then direct others there. Editors
may sometimes caution that a thread has gone off-topic and should be
moved to another forum.

Many readers have already discovered how to make their voices stand
out via our #tips pages. Here you
can share breaking news, leaked info, links of interest and timely
video. Give us some substantive lines on why we should follow up, and
your post may be promoted or featured on the blog. The #tips page is
also an excellent space to audition as a first-time commenter with a
juicy tidbit or to show off your investigative instincts.
Self-promoters and spammers will be summarily banned, but quality
contributors have the spotlight.

In addition, there is now an informal commenter forum, where the
conversation is yours to guide. This is the place to add comments,
liveblogs, pictures, video, and links that are relevant to your
community. It's also easy to jump over here if you find yourself veering
off-topic and want to take others with you.

So: thumbs up to attention to detail, thoughtful typing and prodigious
use of the 'Shift' key. Personal attacks, inappropriate behavior and
off-topic rants in comments are subject to bans, disemvowelling and
deletion. Starred commenters should be aware that their privileges are
not guaranteed, and should be careful in the comments they approve and
promote. Commenters can be demoted for unruly or obscene posting.
Baiting trolls helps no one, and we want the level of dialogue
maintained to be high. But editors and moderators are equally on the
lookout for our best contributors, too, to promote and star for
brilliant efforts of the commenting kind, so let's see what you've
got.