My3cents Comment/Content Guidelines



Thank you for being part of the My3cents community! Our goal in the discussion threads is to have good conversation, with "good" meaning fun, constructive, informative, entertaining, or all of the above. So, speech is free, but My3cents is moderated.

Here are some examples of helpful comments:

  • More information about the subject of the post! If the author post something, it's because they genuinely interested in the subject. If you know more about it than they do, please share!

  • New developments about the subject of a post.

  • Opinions that move the debate forward. Disagree with what the author or another commenter has to say? Let's hear it! But please be respectful.

  • Comments that connect the dots. We appreciate you linking the subject of one post to other posts, even (especially!) when the connection isn't obvious!

  • Factual corrections! Authors can make factual mistakes, and it can be extremely helpful to share corrections.

    And now, some less pleasant things that should be self-evident but we'll note for the record:

  • 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. Posters often 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.

  • Offensive, inappropriate, rude, or just plain annoying comments may be deleted or bumped.

  • Spam earns an instant ban. If you have a history of junk comments, plus promotional copy in your profile, you may be considered a spammer.

  • Sock puppets (alias accounts created by previously banned commenters for the purpose of avoiding a ban) will be banned.

  • If the bulk of your comments are whining, hostile, insulting or otherwise annoying, you may be banned.

  • Please do not make racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, homophobic or otherwise offensive comments.

  • Please don't personally insult, bully, threaten, or harass the authors or your fellow commenters. Comments referring to other commenters as "idiots," "retards," or the like will be removed.

  • Please avoid using altered offensive words. If saying it to a stranger in meatspace might earn you a black eye, please don't say it in your comment. Replacing a few letters with asterisks is not a valid workaround.

  • Please don't make off-topic comments about political candidates or parties for the purpose of arguing. If a political party or candidate is the subject of the post or is closely related, it's okay to discuss political parties or candidates.

  • We are primarily ad supported, but advertisers have no editorial control. Please don't make passive-aggressive insinuations or other tiresome, generalized accusations to the contrary. We are transparent about our relationships with advertisers.

  • Please don't include e-mail addresses, physical addresses, or phone numbers in your comments for the purpose of self-promotion, or for the purpose of harassing or publicly exposing the private data of others. Such comments will be removed.

  • Please don't "hijack" comment threads to controversial topics.

  • Please don't make the same comment in more than one thread or repeat yourself (or anyone else) in the same thread. If you accidentally double-post, don't worry, our moderators routinely try to tidy up those sorts of errors.

  • Please don't attack the site or our moderators. Telling everyone this site sucks after you have had comment(s) removed is a quick way out the door. Be nice or leave.

  • Criticism of the way a person writes their letter and/or comments whether it be spelling/grammar/punctuation or writing in all caps

  • Unwarranted speculation that a letter writer/and or commenter did something to deserve bad treatment by a business or employee

  • Attempts to dissuade other members from using My3cents

  • Comments which seek to diminish the importance of the letter writer and/or commenter's feedback eg: "with all the world's problems today, why are you bothering to complain about this minor matter."

  • Lastly, please send any questions or comments about our site moderation to feedback@my3cents.com. Complaints/discussions about moderation on threads will be removed.

    Please note: If you have an excessive number of posts/comments removed for violating these guidelines, your account may be de-activated without notice.

    Questions: feedback@my3cents.com