This is the Comment Policy for WCNY’s social networking tools. All participants offering comments on wcny.org are required to follow these guidelines. Those violating the guidelines may have their comments removed or blocked.
Our guidelines are intended to facilitate a connection between members of the WCNY online community. When contributing to our online community, please keep the following guidelines in mind:
Be respectful and civil. If polite language isn’t possible, please don’t post. Engage points, focus on ideas, debate, and discuss. Never resort to name-calling, slander, or obscenities. Messages that include anything WCNY determines to be hate speech, a threat, harassment, or anything illegal will be removed and the poster will be blocked.
Post clear, concise comments (no more than 200 words would be ideal). Long posts may be edited by WCNY. Before submitting, take a moment to re-read your post for clarity, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. And please avoid typing in all caps; it’s the online version of shouting.
Stay with the topic at hand. Keeping your posts focused contributes to the best possible discussion.
Write your own posts. A link or quote from another source can be a meaningful addition to the discussion; copying and pasting an entire article from elsewhere does not contribute in a meaningful way. In addition, it often violates the author’s copyright. Help keep the conversation lively and focused by posting only one link per comment.
Promote the discussion, rather than your own interests. WCNY’s online community is not an appropriate venue for posters’ advertisements, promotions, campaigns or solicitations. There can be a fine line between discussion and promotion of personal interests; use your best judgment and we’ll use ours.
All comments are moderated, and WCNY will not publish comments that don’t meet these guidelines. Our guidelines are adapted in part from NPR’s Guidelines for Commenting. Thank you for being part of WCNY’s online community.
