WUNC Community Discussion Rules
WUNC Community Discussion Rules
The following text serves as the official discussion policy for users of wunc.org's social networking tools. All participants in wunc.org social networking features (including Facebook and where applicable, Twitter), story and blog commenting, and other forums are required to follow these rules.
Every website has its own rules, and these are our rules for participating in WUNC social networking features, including discussions and comments. If you break them, don't be surprised if we block your comments. These rules are adopted from and based upon the NPR Community Discussion Rules.
If you can't be polite, don't say it. Of course, we don't want to stifle discussion of controversial issues. Some topics require blunt talk, and we're not always going to agree with each other. Nonetheless, please try to disagree without being disagreeable. Focus your remarks on positions, not personalities. No personal attacks, name calling, libel, defamation, comments about someone's mother, hate speech, comparisons to notorious dictators - you get the idea. And under no circumstances should you post anything that could be taken as threatening, harassing, bullying, obscene, pornographic, sexist or racist.
Don't use obscenities, even if the word in question is often used in conversation. We're not going to list the words we object to; you know what they are. Remember, this is a public forum and we want everyone to feel comfortable participating. We do automatically filter comments to flag common objectionable words.
Anything you post should be your own work. You're welcome to link to relevant content and to quote limited amounts from other people's work with attribution and any associated copyright notice and consistent with "fair use" principles of copyright law. But that doesn't mean you can copy and paste wholesale. If you do include a link to another site in your comments, the comment will need to be approved before it becomes public. We do this to cut down on spam and advertising (see below).
Please stay on topic. Think of it this way -- if you hosted a book club meeting at your home, you wouldn't want someone to show up and insist on discussing reality TV shows.
Rambling is the kiss of death. Keep your comments to 400 words or less. Generally, anything beyond a few paragraphs had better be very, very interesting to the larger community. We reserve the right to edit for brevity, clarity and other purposes.
Please respect people's privacy. We love to learn about new and interesting individuals, but most people will not be happy to have their phone numbers or e-mail addresses published. Please do not share another's contact information through WUNC's discussion threads or social networking features.
Feel free to share your ideas and experiences about religion, politics and relevant products or services you've discovered. But this is not a place for advertising, promotion, recruiting, campaigning, lobbying, soliciting or proselytizing. We understand that there can be a fine line between discussing and campaigning; please use your best judgment -- and we will use ours.
Do not "feed" the trolls. We encourage community members to report abuse by trolls. But we also ask that you not engage with trolls in the comment threads. Reacting to their provocations is exactly what they want. If we see you feeding a troll, we will remove both the troll's comments and your responses.
We appreciate the news tips members of the public send us. However, WUNC reserves the right not to publicize rumors, allegations, conspiracy theories and other information which we know to be false or unsubstantiated. Be yourself - and not someone else. Don't post anything on the site posing as someone else. Impostors are not welcomed here and should look elsewhere for kicks.
Please don't use public forums for individual communications. Similarly, if you have comments about WUNC coverage or policies generally, please don't use the site discussion threads to air them. For issues regarding WUNC editorial content or policies, write to our News Director.
You are solely responsible for the content you post. WUNC is not responsible for the content posted by its users. We do not and cannot review all user content posted on wunc.org. However, we have the right (but not the obligation) to review, screen, delete, edit and/or move any content posted on wunc.org. We also reserve the right to close comments on any post.
These rules may be updated at any time. We hope you enjoy what others have to say on wunc.org and will feel free to add to the conversation in a clear, responsible way.