Housekeeping: On Moderation and Civilized Society

Your moderation team here at TTAC thought it might be time for a reminder on our commenting policy. The rules apply to everyone — commenters and writers alike. Recently, we’ve been a bit lax on enforcing the rules, but that time has now come to an end. Included below is the TTAC commenting policy by which we all must abide. Posting comments on TTAC constitutes an acceptance of these comment guidelines.

There are two very simple guiding rules to commenting on TTAC:

1. When commenting, picture yourself being invited to a dinner party with a roomful of strangers. You probably will not attack or insult the host, or the other guests. You will get annoyed by rude and uncivilized guests. You will understand that the host will not invite people back who violate simple rules of civility. Attacking the host could mean an end of the dinner before desserts are served.
2. You have a right to your opinion, you are immediately wrong if you are rude. Rude, uncivilized remarks mean an immediate loss of the argument. They also can mean a loss of commenting privileges.

However, should you feel the need for a more structured guideline, the following are TTAC’s Six Rules of Civility. Failing to adhere to these guidelines is grounds to be removed from current and future conversations:

1. No personal/ad hominem attacks. One can communicate disagreement without attacking those with which they disagree.
2. No racism, sexism, or bigotry.
3. No spam/unwarranted self-promotion/advertising.
4. No flaming/trolling.
5. No political campaigning/hackery.
6. And most important of all TTAC reserves the right to take away commenting privileges for any reason, even those not listed in the guidelines. We provide the comment section as a service. It is not a right. Treat it as a privilege that can be removed at any time.

Remember the civility aspect of both parts of the TTAC commenting guidelines when posting. It seems too often lately the comments leave civility in the rear view mirror, hurtling down a path toward trolling and personal attacks. This will not be tolerated.

When everyone keeps the Few Simple Tricks above in mind, the discourse remains pleasant and entertaining, and we all enjoy our time here more.

Your TTAC Moderation Team