You may have noticed that our widely feared commenter executioner, Jack Ketch, has been absent for the past few weeks. We're not exactly sure what is going on with him—maybe he's overwhelmed by the position (there are so many of you now!)—but he'd like to come back and roll a few heads today. Because he's been absent for the past month or so, he needs your help. Who really irks you? Who is needlessly contrary and unhelpful? Who is hideously self-promoting? You can tell us in the comments below or, if you prefer the coward's way out (I'd totes take this option), you can send a private email right to Mr. Ketch! So have at it, and we'll kill some fools later on today.

Hello again, campers! I trust the Republican Convention won't distract from our 9 pm commenter gabfest as much as the Dem one did last week, given how little the worlds of fashion design and the GOP overlap (apart from some rich male Republicans marrying fashion models, that is). But those planning to watch Sarah Palin's speech tonight (whether due to some accident-gawking impulse, or the hope of glimpsing her hunky future son-in-law) should know that it probably won't start till after 10 pm Eastern. So why not sit tight with us until then? In case you missed last week's liveblog, here are few random highlights:

Every so often one commenter serves the public body in singularly superb fashion. These comrades deserve recognition individually—a chance to come forward and take a bow. Today we honor commenter Sarcastro, who is consistently side-splittingly funny and an all around good guy, especially this week. Come get your medal, sir!

Hey! Remember a couple weeks ago, when I warned that anyone commenting "slow news day?" would be executed? (I'll handle the editorial direction of this website, thank you.) Well, not all of you were listening. That's unfortunate. Goodbye.

Wowsers McGee to Aaron_Altman's lovely and sad Manhattan think piece of a comment.

Our tireless nighttime editor Ryan Tate, so far away on the West Coast, posts all night while the rest of us are sleeping. But some you commenters are awake with him, saying many funny things. They can too often be overlooked, so we're doing another edition of the best comments from the graveyard shift. After the jump find five of the best sleepy time (night and early morning) comments, and of course your Party Pick of the week.

Hey it's grim and rainy out right now and I'm out of stories and dumb photos and my idea for an open discussion post kind of fell apart as I was writing it, so why don't I mostly-arbitrarily reward one of you commenters and punish another? One of you said something really funny and true and another of you totally missed the point of a post and, at the same time, completely proved its thesis. So take a click after the jump to get your reward/drubbing.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the greatest liveblog on earth - created by you, the Gawker commenters. It's like an Olympics here every Wednesday night, but a special one: the Olympics of live blogging. Before things get underway, I have a couple things to suggest we watch for tonight, followed by a special request. First, the "things to watch": Will another "clothing mashup" be unveiled? Last week, Joe wowed the judges by concocting a skort - the skirt/short combo that is to the clothing world what the spork is to plastic cutlery. What other clothing innovations might we see tonight? A "pantdanna"? A shirt/hat combo called a "shat"? Pantihose for men, called "mantihose"? Leggings worn on the arms, called "armings"? The possibilities seem endless … Will Brooke Shields be introduced as a stylish dresser? The last two guest judges with no real connection to the fashion industry were introduced as having a "great fashion sense." Will this happen again tonight? Or will they just attempt to establish Shields' judging credentials by telling us she "wears a lot of clothes" instead? Ok, now for my special request: It came to mind after reading Richard's excellent recap last week, and its depressing but accurate observation that this season so far kind of sucks. This put me in mind of the scene in Peter Pan when Tinkerbell is dying, but the power of a crowd of children's belief in fairies restores her to life. Why? Because I believe in Project Runway. And I think all of you do too. (I think we also believe in fairies, but that probably goes without saying.) So before tonight's live blog begins, I thought maybe we could harness the collective power of commenter love and try to bring this faltering season back to life. What do you say? Are you with me? Ok then, everybody: If you believe in Project Runway, clap your hands! That's it… clap! Again! Keep on clapping, I think it's starting to work! Of course, you can't clap and comment at the same time. So at 9 pm, don't forget to stop clapping and start typing.

You guys are great. We just want you to know that. It takes a week like this-in which the complete ass-hattery of a man like Tucker Max is laid so exquisitely bare-to remind us what kind, unprejudiced little shits you are. So in honor of that, we've selected six of our favorite Tucker Max comments and placed them after the jump, where I'm told they serve beer. Oh, and it's not an accident that it's just ADismalScience and CodePink down there. They did extra-amazing work. But know that you are all near and dear to us. Except you, Moff.

Hey we have a fun new tool to discourage shitty comments. It's called Disemvoweling (I'm told it's been used on other websites) and you can see an example of it here. The first Disemvoweling is a warning, the second time you're dead. BE CAREFUL.

Above, Jay Rosen, former NYU journalism department chair and current faculty member, leaves a mean comment on some story at the Columbia Journalism Review. Hah. Very professional, Jay. Let the J-School War Commence! Our money's on Jay and his merry band of new-media rebels. Those CJR kids are too earnest and "concerned." Click to see the comment! [CJR, hat tip Hunter]

"In a statement made to reporters earlier this afternoon, local idiot Brandon Mylenek, 26, announced that at approximately 2:30 a.m. tonight, he plans to post an idiotic comment beneath a video on an Internet website." It's no coincidence that the fictional idiot is from Hazel Park, Michigan. [The Onion]

It was a really slow news week, so we decided to change to purview of the site to solely deal with monster hunting. It's worked out pretty well so far! As ever, we were aided by you commenters, our trusty Short Rounds. You said many funny things, six of which will be celebrated after the jump. But just know, we are all winners here. Especially me.

Sometimes, when I have absolutely nothing else to think about, I worry about this business of commenter executions. I consider whether publicly recognizing the horribly witless may be construed as a tacit endorsement of jackassery. I fear that an attention-starved dullard or two may quite wrongly perceive these execution posts as a way to garner recognition. But, I always come to the conclusion that I am doing more harm than good. By highlighting the mistakes of a few, I (hopefully) provide a sort of how-to-stay-alive-guideline for the many wonderful and levelheaded commenters on Gawker. This is all a way of explaining, for the few of you who read the intro, why there is only one execution after the jump, but several examples of his or her chicanery. Think of it as a sort of Gawker auto de fé (Or, as my friend King Ferdinand II called it, a weenie roast.) Executed: American Dreamer (duh) Crimes: Repeated Probably False Self-Aggrandizement Rank Abusiveness Tactlessness A disturbing obsession with this not funny joke And many others too numerous to list here. Farewell, American Dreamer.

Because you commenters will never, ever meet each other in person, not ever, we think it's nice to create a place for you, each week, where you can celebrate each other's good work. You know, on the internet. So after the jump we have six of the best comments of the week, so you can revel in the brilliance that was. All alone in your homes. Never to meet. From onebadclam in Ask Haruki Murakami Anything: "When you looked out your window on those sunny, pleasant summer days when you wished you could be outside playing baseball instead of bowing to your parent's edict to study until midnight so you might get accepted at that most prestigious High School did you ever wish Mothra would come and crush them all?" From Bell County in the same post:

Remember last week, when I expressed a belief that you were all doing much better? Well, this week, not so much. I've learned a valuable lesson: Don't count your chickens while the maniacs are throwing eggs at each other. Or, as a friend put it earlier in the week, "if some of them learned how to read it wouldn't be such a problem." I agree with this sentiment, and would add a request that those of you who cannot refrain from being boringly vicious at least be more funny. Oh well, on to the death and circuses. Executed: Public Relations Crime: This is like a Bill O'Reilly monologue as performed by a drunken Pollyanna. But worse. Executed:DushkuFan3000 Crime: If only you could have torn yourself away from Dollhouse promo interviews long enough to email Richard, you might have been saved. Executed: Dfkdave Crime: Dfkdave is a whiny whiny dorkface. That is the proper spelling of dorkface. Happy? Executed: Johnny_boy Crime: Sigh. Also sigh. Executed: JamieDemon Crime: Richard killed Jamie earlier this week, but I'd just like to request that any would be NTJ-impersonators simply not bother. If anyone is just actually like this then you're sort of just basically screwed when it comes to Gawker commenting, everyone will assume you are playing a part. Sorry. Have fun at the commenter meetup, nerds.

Just a reminder that tonight is the 2nd Commenters Ball, hosted by thesupergoddess, BK_KT, CodePink, Phyllis Neffler, Unfun, sassypants, and saltwatertaffy. Cafe Charbon, 170 Orchard St. 7pm - ??? (Note that Charbon only accepts cash and AmEx). thesupergoddess says: "If you are SCARED and need a hand holding, look for the girls wearing black, white & pink with PINK TIARAS. We are your hostesses and we're there to make sure you have a great time - so come up, introduce yourself (OFFER TO BUY US A DRINK) and we'll make sure to introduce you around." You should go, it's bound to be an excellent time.

Commenters, it has been noted, are the single greatest threat to freedom facing America today. They are mean and libelous and should be rounded up and deported to Narnia. From YouTube to the New York Times, commenters are useless noise machines and racist cowards, and their mothers would be ashamed of them if their mothers weren't also forwarding nonsensical conspiracy theories to blog editors with CCs going out to Tom Brokaw, Perez Hilton, and Iron Man. But it turns out that sometimes commenters are awesome! Like on this BBC story about a court in New Zealand that took custody of a 9-year-old girl so that it could change her name from "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii" to something New Zealanders consider more normal, like "Number 16 Bus Shelter." "You've been telling us about your unusual names," the BBC says. "Below are a selection of your comments." The first one is from someone claiming to be named "Russel Sprout" who says that his unusual name has helped him "make friends and improve my confidence," and they only get better from there.

Daniel Libit of The Politico warns of the escalating horror of blog commenters — they're a full-blown -ocracy now — and because he's no fool he leads with the following nasty threat of violence from those virtual pogromists at Daily Kos. Erick Erickson, editor of conservative blog RedState.com called Cindy Sheehan a "left-wing media whore," and next thing he knew, his his home and work number were posted by commenters at on the popular lefty blog. "Site moderators removed his information, but not before Erickson received a number of ominous phone calls and e-mail messages, including one from a writer who threatened to 'rape my wife and unborn child.'" In fairness, his wife and unborn child were taking indefensible positions on hipster gentrification in Brooklyn. But all is not chaos and bile in cyberspace. Savvy commenters get hired now, too.