Please note that commenting on The Fix may occasionally be (but is not always) pre-moderated. This means that your comment may be held until a moderator approves or declines it.
The Fix strives to be a safe place for authors, commenters and readers. While diverse perspectives and ideas are welcome, The Fix is not a forum for attacks or hostility. We reserve full and complete discretion to remove comments for any reason (or no reason) at any time—especially if they are rude, hostile, threatening or otherwise inappropriate.
If your comment does not appear, it may also be because:
- It contains one of our blacklisted words;
- You have an unverified email address;
- Your comment contains a link.
In each of the above situations, the comment goes into the “pending” category and will be reviewed by a moderator and either approved or deleted.
After your comment is published, another commenter may “flag” your comment for review. This also places the comment in a queue for us to review, although it does not remove it from the site. Please do not “flag” comments just because you do not like the commenter or the content of the comment. A good reason to flag a comment is if it falls into one of the categories listed below.
Examples of comments likely to be deleted:
- Personal attacks including posting of personal information about another commenter and references to commenting activity on other sites;
- Personal attacks including posting of personal information about the writer or person the story is about;
- Excessive irrelevant or off topic conversation, especially if it is hostile;
- Links which are irrelevant, promotional, and/or advertising something;
- Excessive argumentative or disruptive commenting behavior;
- Unpredictable behavior on the part of Disqus. (Sometimes a comment is deleted by Disqus and no reason is given. We try to catch these and republish if appropriate, but occasionally comments just disappear into the ether.)
While we try very hard never to ban anyone, it does happen occasionally. If the objectionable behavior is consistent or excessive, we will ban you.
The Fix, including our moderator and/or editor, retains full discretion to decide whether or not to delete a comment and whether to ban a commenter. The moderator or editor may also decide to close comments on a particular thread at any time. This may happen, for example, if the discussion on a particular article has become too off-topic or too hostile.
The Fix commenting rules are subject to change at any time.
If you dislike or otherwise find this comment policy objectionable, please go elsewhere to comment. We hope to foster an informative, engaging and educational discussion for all readers.