Daniel Johnson, Jr.

If everyone got along, the world would be a pretty boring place, wouldn’t it?

One of the great things I love about having a blog and using social networking tools is that they enable discussions to happen, so that I and other readers are able to see multiple points of view. I have often asked questions and set up open-ended discussions, just to see what others have to say.

It would be nice if everyone got along and viewed their comments as a way to add to the conversation. Yet, human nature being what it is, and the perceived anonymity of the internet being what it is, people can be downright nasty, not only to blog authors but also to others who comment.

Recent events have made it clear that it’s time for a Comments Policy on my websites. At the moment you’ll find a direct link via the top navigation of this blog, but you will also find it here. I’ll reprint it here, in this post, just so that you’ll read it at least once:—

Comments Policy

By commenting, you agree to the following:

• Keep comments on topic – any comment that appears to be off-topic will be edited or deleted.
• Own your comments – have the courage to put your real name with what you say.
• No keywords in author names – if I suspect you’re using an author name to simply include targeted keywords, I’ll either edit or delete your comment.
• External linking – external links are ok, if they are relevant to the original post and your comment. Simply linking to your own site will be frowned upon.
• Profanity – PG13 here. Moderate language is allowed, but I reserve the right to edit out anything offensive.
• Personal attacks – personal attacks on me or other commentors will result in an immediate ban. You’re in my house over here and I will kick you out.
• Editor’s right – While I encourage comments that challenge or offer constructed criticism, I reserve the right to edit or remove any post, for any reason.

I appreciate you reading and thank you for adding to the discussion. I hope the above will help you to add value to this blog, find value in the comments of others, and continue enjoying the site.

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If you think you want to have a Comments Policy on your website, you’re free to copy or adapt what I’ve put here, or you can search like I did for other examples and adapt them to make your own. I believe having this in place will promote better community engagement.

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• As Much Fun As It Is to Mess With the Trolls…: (brothersjuddblog.com)
• And Now A Brief Update From Our Comment Ninjas On Policies Going Forward… [Announcements] (deadspin.com)

 

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Tags: comments, Community, conversation, policy, rules

This entry was posted on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 5:08 pm and is filed under Announcements, Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.