FAQ: COMMENTS AND MODERATION

Q: What is Truthdig's Comment Policy?

Truthdig is proud to have an active and ever-expanding community of commenters on our site, and encourages dialogue and feedback among and from registered users and guests. We'd like to keep the discussions on-topic and respectful toward writers and fellow commenters alike.

Truthdig will not tolerate:

• personal attacks on our writers or readers
• excessive profanity
• racist, sexist or other discriminatory or hateful language
• statements that may be construed as urging attacks on political leaders, officials, security forces or civilians -- American or otherwise
• comments that are off-topic or irrelevant to the story or discussion at hand
• comments disclosing personal information about Truthdig writers or fellow commenters
• comments that are solicitations and/or advertising for personal blogs and Web sites
• entries "signed" by someone other than the actual author

Q: How are comments moderated?

A: Truthdig's comments are community-moderated, which means that if you object to a comment, you can flag it by clicking the "Report this" link at the bottom of the comment. Comments that are reported multiple times will be closed, and repeat offenders will be banned from commenting on the site.

We are a small team and thus rely on the reporting function to let us know when conversations and debates between commenters are tipping over from "lively debate" territory into the realm of the offensive, and/or when personal attacks, etc. are happening.

We're always working toward making the comment boards as user-created and -moderated as is possible. Please help us to keep Truthdig's comment community a respectful and enjoyable place to post for everyone.

Q: Why does Truthdig moderate comments?

A: The idea behind comment moderation is that content from the comment boards on Truthdig becomes part of our publication. For more details, see our Terms and Conditions page. Even though the line between where our editorial content ends and comments begin would seem fairly obvious, that's not always the case -- and thus comments can be misconstrued as "representing" the site's official stance on any issue, which isn't the case.

Truthdig is an online news magazine -- and thus, comments on Truthdig are more akin to the letters to the editor from "old media" than they are the personal blog space that each commenter can use as a kind of virtual soapbox. That's what personal blogs -- primarily written, edited and moderated by the bloggers themselves -- are for. Truthdig is in some ways a hybrid between blog and online magazine, but the paradigm for comments borrows more from the magazine model than the blog model as we've developed it. This is another reason why comments are edited -- again along the lines of the letters-to-the-editor model.

It has been our experience, and that of other sites like ours, that some moderation is necessary to guard against "spambots" and others who can turn the comment boards into ad space for themselves, their company and/or their cause. Moderation also guards against trolling, personal insults, and other problems that can degrade the level of discourse and alienate readers who rely on Truthdig as a space for intelligent and respectful exchanges with others.

Q: Is this censorship?

A: Truthdig never censors comments based on political or ideological point of view. A comment is considered for editing or deletion only if it violates any part of our comment policy, posted above.

Q: Can I criticize Truthdig and the ideas expressed by its writers and commenters?

A: Absolutely; we're all for challenging our writers' and commenters' ideas. As with comments on all topics, however, the level of discourse goes downhill fast once the challenges become personal and once users take advantage of the relative anonymity of the Internet to say things they'd never consider OK to say in any other setting.

Q: How does the "Report this" system work?

A: When you click the "Report this" link on a comment, that comment is flagged and shows up on our end as an alert to our team. Then, one of us (or more) will read the potentially problematic comment and may choose to delete it if it has, in fact, crossed any lines as they're described in our comment policy.

When you report a comment, you will not see a "pop-up window" or other function asking you to describe the nature of your objection. We don't need readers to specify exactly why they reported a comment because, since we hammered out the comment guidelines in the first place, we're all well aware of what they are.

If one person flags a comment, it does not close but carries a flag alert that the editorial team can see. If multiple distinct users flag it, then it closes.

Other readers cannot see who does the flagging; that information is made available only on our (editors') end so that it's possible for us to see when someone may be using the flagging function for other purposes than what it's intended for (personal conflicts between users, etc.).

Q: I submitted a comment. Why don't I see it on the site?

A: There are several possible explanations:

If you are not registered with Truthdig, your comment is most likely being held for approval by our editorial team. Comments by unregistered users must undergo a manual-approval process prior to publication. If you want your comments to be posted straight away, the best thing to do is to register; that way, your comment will skip the manual-approval step.

If you are registered, it's possible that you might not have logged in to your account before submitting the comment--and, thus, it appears to us as an "unregistered" comment and is held for approval. Before submitting, please log in at the top of the home page or by selecting the "Log in" link that appears at the top of the comment box on every article.

If your comment violated any part of our comment policy, it may have been removed from the site or closed pending review by our editorial team.

Q: Why have I (or another user) been blocked from commenting on Truthdig?

A: There are a few scenarios in which a user might be blocked from commenting on Truthdig. We make every effort to warn commenters who appear to have violated our comment policy before we take the step of banning them. However, if a user repeatedly violates our comment policy or a comment is especially abusive, offensive or off-topic, we reserve the right to block the author of that comment so that he or she is banned from commenting on our site in the future.

Other questions?

Please feel free to contact us about any of this using our feedback form. We welcome your questions and comments as we continue to work to refine the system and make the comment boards as close to a self-regulated community of fellow readers as possible.