Comments Code

Comments Code

The Comments Code is intended to promote a discussion filled with substantive information, insights, humorous observations and relevant personal experiences. In other wcords, comments that other people would want to read. Here are some rules to help make this possible.

Above all, don’t be a bastard and don’t be boring. Ask yourself, is my comment boring, repetitive, or not substantively contributing to an engaging discussion? If you can answer yes, don’t press submit!

No junk comments

Your comment should be a meaningful response to the issue raised in the post. Take some time when writing a comment, it’s not a race and you don’t have an edit button. Objections to an editor’s headlines or writing style or a post’s entire existence should be emailed directly to the post’s author. Examples of junk: “First” “Why is this on NBO?”, “tldr”, “Why did they even shop there in the first place?”, “This is a non-issue”, “Slow news day?” “Pwnd” “Yawn”, “First”, “People still ______” (use dialup, eat fast food, breathe air, and so forth), “Old news”, “lol”, “This is why I don’t shop there,” etc.

Stay on topic

Read the full post before commenting. We highly advise reading linked articles before commenting as well. Avoid tangential political rants or partisan diatribes.

Read other people’s comments before posting

See what’s already been said before adding your piece. If you just skim to the end and make your response, chances are you may end up repeating what’s already been said in the conversation. The comments should be a dialog between commenters, not just the place where your blindly shot arrows happen to land.

Avoid blaming the poster or victim or commenting only to be negative

Please, suggest alternate courses of action, or add important information that might help others or that we missed. Don’t attack people. Assume good faith. Tipsters need help, not ridicule. Express contrary opinions, but treat others as you would like to be treated. Don’t constantly spew negativity, be it about other posters, the site, the article, or anything. Commenting is a privilege, and can be removed at any time at our discretion.

No sexism, racism, homophobia, xenophobia or hatred

Don’t put this stuff in our comments. Don’t post links to hate, porn, spam, or shock sites, or their ilk.

No flame wars

A bunch of screaming strangers? Boring! Keep cursing to a minimum. Debate the idea, not the person. Pointing out other commenters spelling or grammatical errors is not a productive exercise.