Commenting

A. Finding Comments

Comments may appear on most of the articles on this site. They are always listed chronologically at the conclusion of the article, starting with the first comment posted at the top and followed by subsequent comments. This is so as to maintain a continuous uninterrupted discussion.

If there has been no comments added to an article then you will find a message informing you that there have been no comments posted as of yet with instructions to assist you in making the first one, should you so choose.

You may also find in the article tool menu a link titled Comments or Speakup depending on whether the article has existing comments which you may click on at any time to skip directly to the article. The number beside this statement represents how many comments have already been posted.

B. Adding a Comment

In order to add a comment to the site you must be logged in to the site. We require users to be logged in so that we may guard against vulgar, profane, abusive or hateful language, epithets or slurs, text or illustrations in poor taste, inflammatory attacks of a personal, racial or religious nature, or expressions of bigotry, racism, discrimination or hate.

All of our site visitors are governed by our Terms of Use agreement which applies to comments on the site.

Once a user has reviewed the sites Terms of Use and have logged in they will find a field for entering a comment beneath all of the comments previously posted at the conclusion of an article. If there have been no comments on an article they will find instructions at the conclusion of the article on how to add the first comment in the discussion.

C. Identities

When adding a comment users are given the opportunity to choose from among several identities which offer varying levels of privacy to the person making the comment.

A user may choose to comment using a combination of their first and last name with their city. If your profile does not contain a first name, last name and city you will be prompted to provide them before posting. You may choose a different or common identity every time you add a comment.

An Account link appears in the top right hand corner of this site for user who are logged in. You may access and modify your online account details including your password and personal information by clicking on this icon.

D. Rating Comments

This site allows visitors, including those who are not logged in, to rate other users comments simply as either Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down. These ratings cumulate over the lifespan of the article and help other visitors identify interesting and popular comments. This information is also used to identify popular discussions.

Frequent users will find a summary of how their comments have been ranked on the Account page, found in the top right hand corner of the site for logged in users.

E. Inappropriate Comments and Moderation

Due to the large quantity of articles that are made available throughout this site and the near infinite number of comments possible it is not possible to check every commented posted for inappropriate content.

This site uses several methods to minimize if not eliminate the appearance and continued use of the site for inappropriate and offensive content. These methods include an advanced filtering system which sifts through every comment on the site and eliminates those deemed in violation of the site Terms of Use.

We also make available the option with every comment for our visitors to Flag for an Editor. Our editorial team investigates every article flagged throughout the site and removes inappropriate content as a second line of defense.

Finally our editorial team monitors comments during their daily activities.

Users who are found to have violated the site Terms of Use may have their commenting privileges revoked at any time and be referred to law enforcement when appropriate.