Comment Policy: Short + Simple Straight Talk

Don’t be a jerk

We might get into 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 criticize ideas, not people.

Comments that contain profanity are automatically held for moderator review before being posted. Depending on the context of the comment, it may be removed. Profanity used to insult, antagonize, or inflame will always be removed.

Personal attacks, name-calling, and harassment will not be tolerated. Sexist, racist, misogynist, homophobic, and broad, offensive generalizations about groups of people are not allowed. Comments or discussions written intentionally to provoke will be removed.

Comments that we find to be hateful, inflammatory, or harassing will 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

There are a lot of discussions, before joining in a discussion, browse through some of the most recent and active discussions happening in the community, especially if you’re new here. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.

Keep it tidy

Help make moderators’ lives easier by taking a moment to ensure that what you’re about to post is in the right place. That means:

• don’t post off-topic comments or discussions
• don’t cross-post the same thing multiple times
• review any specific posting guidelines for the community: some communities such as a movies community may have specific rules regarding spoilers.
• check if another active discussion on your topic has already been posted

No Self-promotion

A discussion or comment that contains only a link to your blog, a product, or your article on another site will be removed.

Don’t Copy and Paste

If you didn’t write it or haven’t properly cited the article you’re quoting, don’t post it.

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 see an issue, or you believe that someone has violated the Basic Rules contact me or flag any comments for review.

Comment Policy: Legal Talk

A) Participant Responsibility. This Site may include a variety of features, such as web logs, chat rooms, bulletin boards, comment fields and email services, which allow feedback to us and real-time interaction between users, and other features which allow users to communicate with others. Responsibility for what is posted on web logs, chat rooms, bulletin boards and comment fields and other public posting areas on the Site, or sent via any email services on the Site, lies with each user – you alone are responsible for the material you post or send. We do not control the messages, information or files that you or others may provide through the Site. It is a condition of your use of the Site that you do not:

• Restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Site

• Use the Site to impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.

• Interfere with or disrupt any servers or networks used to provide the Site or its features, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of the networks we use to provide the Site.

• Use the Site to instigate or encourage others to commit illegal activities or cause injury or property damage to any person.

• Gain unauthorized access to the Site, or any account, computer system, or network connected to this Site, by means such as hacking, password mining or other illicit means.

• Obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available through this Site.

• Use the Site to post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law.

• Use the Site to post or transmit any information, software or other material that violates or infringes upon the rights of others, including material that is an invasion of privacy or publicity rights or that is protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right, or derivative works with respect thereto, without first obtaining permission from the owner or rights holder.

• Use the Site to post or transmit any information, software or other material that contains a virus or other harmful component.

• Use the Site to post, transmit or in any way exploit any information, software or other material for commercial purposes, or that contains advertising.

• Use the Site to advertise or solicit to anyone to buy or sell products or services, or to make donations of any kind, without our express written approval.

• Gather for marketing purposes any email addresses or other personal information that has been posted by other users of the Site.

• Purchase, download or copy any products or services from this site and use to pirate said content.

Company may host message boards, chats and other public forums on its Sites. Any user failing to comply with the terms and conditions of this Agreement may be expelled from and refused continued access to, the message boards, chats or other public forums in the future. Company or its designated agents may remove or alter any user-created content at any time for any reason. Message boards, chats and other public forums are intended to serve as discussion centers for users and subscribers. Information and content posted within these public forums may be provided by Company staff, Company’s outside contributors, or by users not connected with Company, some of whom may employ anonymous usernames.

Company expressly disclaims all responsibility and endorsement and makes no representation as to the validity of any opinion, advice, information or statement made or displayed in these forums by third parties, nor are we responsible for any errors or omissions in such postings, or for hyperlinks embedded in any messages. Under no circumstances will we, our affiliates, suppliers or agents be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information obtained through these forums. The opinions expressed in these forums are solely the opinions of the participants, and do not reflect the opinions of Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates.

Company has no obligation whatsoever to monitor any of the content or postings on the message boards, chat rooms or other public forums on the Sites. However, you acknowledge and agree that we have the absolute right to monitor the same at our sole discretion. In addition, we reserve the right to alter, edit, refuse to post or remove any postings or content, in whole or in part, for any reason and to disclose such materials and the circumstances surrounding their transmission to any third party in order to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request (national or international) and to protect ourselves, our clients, sponsors, users and visitors.

B) Registration. To access certain features of the Site, we may ask you to provide certain demographic information including your gender, year of birth, zip code and country, name and email address. In addition, if you elect to sign-up for a particular feature of the Site, such as comment fields, web logs, bulletin boards or chat rooms you may also be asked to register with us on the form provided and such registration may require you to provide personally identifiable information such as your name and email address. You agree to provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by the Site’s registration form. If we have reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue, inaccurate, or incomplete, we have the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Site (or any portion thereof). Our use of any personally identifiable information you provide to us as part of the registration process is governed by the terms of our Privacy Policy. 

C) To use certain features of the Site, you will need a username and password, which you will receive through the Site’s registration process. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the password and account, and are responsible for all activities (whether by you or by others) that occur under your password or account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security, and to ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. We cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to protect your password or account information.