We’re going to get into the thick of a lot of heated discussions and that’s okay. These discussions often entail topics that we all personally care a lot about and will passionately defend. But, in order for discussions to thrive here, we need to remember to challenge ideas, not people.
Comments that we find to be hateful, inflammatory, or harassing may be removed. If you don’t have something nice to say about another user, don’t say it. Treat others the way you’d like to be treated.
Always strive to add value to every interaction and discussion you participate in. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think about what you want to say and try again later.
[column size=”one-half”]
Do
- always be respectful
- ask questions
- add value to the conversation
- back up your viewpoint
[/column][column size=”one-half” last=”true”]
Don’t
- name call
- use vulgar language
- respond to a post’s tone instead of its actual content
- react in the heat of the moment, but take a breath and come back
[/column]
If your comment does not immediately appear on the site after posting, it may have been flagged for review. There are a number of things which will get your comment flagged for review, we ask that you please keep that in mind before resubmitting the comment multiple times or contacting us about it.
- Use of any of the words and/or slurs we have on our blacklist will automatically flag a comment so it won’t appear on our site.
- Comments can also be flagged for review by our readership (please do not abuse this option for other users you simply disagree with, it makes our moderation jobs a lot harder).
Keep in Mind
Conversations require listening as well as speaking. Please be respectful of others and hear what they have to say. Try to consider their viewpoint even if you disagree. Our job as moderators is to foster valuable, healthy discussion for all our guests. If you threaten, annoy, derail, or in other ways spoil the atmosphere of discussion for others, we reserve the right to limit you to listening only.
Here are some things which will get your comment deleted.
- Personal attacks against another commenter or the writer of the post/website. This can run from name calling to sentences which include the words “people like you” or statements which begin “I bet you” or “you must/probably” etc. This is regardless of what “side” you’re on.
- Hate speech or other clearly intentional jerk behavior.
Here are some things which will get your account banned.
- Engaging in any of the previously mentioned delete-worthy behaviors consistently and as part of a clear pattern. We normally give one warning to a user before banning, but we reserve the right to ban without notice.
- If your history of commenting appears as though you only visit the site to start fights or specifically to disagree with us whenever we publish a post involving our core themes and for no other reason (aka “trolling”), we will ban you.
- It is at the editors’ discretion to ban anyone whom they determine to be a detriment to the atmosphere of the comments section, the site in general, and our regular readers.
If you see something, say something.
Moderators are at the forefront of combatting spam, mediating disputes and enforcing community guidelines and, so are you. If you believe someone’s comment has violated our comment policy, please [highlight]flag the comment for review[/highlight]. If you see another type of issue, please notify us at [email protected].
See you in the chats!
We look forward to hearing your views and hope we can all learn from each other.