Commenting section changes

The Press Democrat is working to improve the tone and content of our community discussions.

Dear readers,

The Press Democrat is working to improve the tone and content of our community discussions. We hope to reduce the acrimony, personal attacks and negativity stemming largely from a vocal minority. To reach this goal we’re being more aggressive about enforcing our community standards.

We value your participation and want to promote an inclusive environment for our audience. We hope you agree that a more civil commenting community is an ideal worth striving for.

What behavior is considered unacceptable in the comments section?

While most of these points are spelled out in our Commenting Rules these are some of the more specific issues we’d like to resolve:

• Personal attacks – Direct attacks or comments. “You’re stupid” or “Bob is an idiot” is not respectful. This often leads to a back-and-forth argument that doesn’t add anything to the discussion.
• Harassment – Directly addressing other readers or referring to them by name is usually a prelude to harassment. “Let’s see if Bob can understand this simple fact” is harassment. So is telling someone what to do, from “prove your statement” to “go look it up on Google.”
• Racism – Racism in any form will not be tolerated.
• Misinformation – Posting “alternative facts” to make a point undermines the credibility of our reporting. Incorrect claims will be removed and continued posting of false information will be considered deliberate attempts to undermine the discussion.
• Political hostility – Denigrating a group for their beliefs or their politics – no matter which part of the spectrum they’re on – is not acceptable.
• Disruptive behavior (Trolling) – Making a statement just to get a rise out of other readers doesn’t add anything of value to the conversation. Posting conspiracy theories, wild accusations or far-reaching statements that people will find objectionable serves no purpose.
• Argumentative behavior – This is a community discussion, not a debate. Repeated back-and-forth commenting to get the last word will be considered argumentative, and potential harassment.
• Name calling – There will be no tolerance for name calling on any public figure: “Stupid Gavin” or “Dumb Donald” adds unnecessary negativity to the conversation and will draw the attention of moderators.
• Appearance shaming – Attacking a reader, a public figure, or the subject of an article for their physical appearance is mean spirited.
• Off topic posts – Significant digressions onto other topics with no relevance to the article are a distraction. Off topic posts – and the replies to off-topic posts will be removed.
• Comments about comments - Similarly, “look how many people downvoted me” and “my other comment was deleted” have nothing to do with the topic of the article.
• Repeated posts – Cut-and-paste posting of the same comment repeatedly will be considered spam and removed.
• Profanity – Posts that include profanity will not be allowed.

What if I see something I disagree with?

If you see something that you feel violates the rules, please call it to moderators’ attention by flagging. Do not flag something just because you disagree with the commenters position, only if you believe it violates our policies. Do not post a reply with “This violates the rules” (which will be removed as off-topic). If you believe a comment is making false claims, attacking other users (or you) or in some other way has broken the rules, please flag the post.

Why was my comment disabled?

When our moderators find a comment that is inappropriate, inaccurate or otherwise violates our rules, the comment will be removed. There are three mechanisms by which your comment may be disabled:

1. If the automation system finds words or phrases that are likely to violate our standards. If this happens, you will usually see the comment disabled immediately after you post it.
2. If a moderator sees your comment and finds it in violation. This may happen hours after originally posted. (Note: replies to the offending comment may be removed because they no longer have context to the discussion, not because they also have crossed a line)
3. If a reader flags a comment as inappropriate and the moderator agrees. Note that some comments that are flagged may not be removed if the moderator feels that they don’t go against our commenting policies.

Why is my comment “awaiting moderation”?

If the auto-moderation system finds a comment that may be in violation but isn’t clearly a violation, it’ll hold the comment until a human can review the post. Normally comments that are “awaiting moderation” are addressed rather quickly but on off hours it may be some time before a human can take a look.

What happens if I break the rules?

If you violate our commenting policies, we may disable your ability to post for a period of time. The moderators will generally give you a reason, which will appear as the comments are loaded. If you continue this behavior, the length of time your privileges will be suspended will be increased. We reserve the right to permanently suspend your commenting ability if the behavior doesn’t change after multiple warnings – or even if the severity of a single offense is great enough.

Thank you for helping us improve the community discussion.

The Press Democrat Staff