Since there has been so much controversy over our announcement of a comment policy, lets take a vote on the issue.
The poll below is set up to only allow one vote per user/ip address so it will be very difficult to manipulate by any individual.
I am going to base the policy off these examples from the Market Ticker…
ALL MESSAGES ARE SOLELY THE OPINION AND RESPONSIBILITY OF THEIR AUTHOR.
It is expected that you will post comments that reasonably correspond with the subject matter in the referred post.
You agree to keep your email address up to date and current.
Trolling, “flaming” and “spamming” (the repetitive posting of the same material) along with posting patterns that suggest your intent is to “drown out” other speech is expressly prohibited, i.e. replying to your own comments, or commenting on a post more than twice, unless it is a reply to another commenter, is strictly prohibited.
Creating multiple accounts linked to one person (known as “sock puppets”) or the sharing of access accounts is prohibited.
There is no such thing as anonymous speech on this forum nor any right of privacy. While the forum does not force you to use your real name, when registering, all access is logged and those records are maintained indefinitely. In addition, even if you edit or “delete” a message your original text is maintained in the system and can be retrieved. The owners of this system will comply with all lawful service of process requests and will investigate reported or suspected abuses. If the administrators suspect unlawful activity is taking place using this system they will refer same to the appropriate authorities.
Abusive users – including but not limited to spammers, trolls, sock puppets, those who mispresent vested interests and others deemed disruptive by the site administration may be outed. By using the system you agree that if, in the sole opinion of the system owners, your acts constitute abuse in any form or fashion your identity may be revealed and consent to same.
The use of anonymizing proxies is strongly discouraged. This forum does not condone or support the paradigm of true “anonymous” speech; we believe that you should be willing to stand behind your words and the consequences that may flow from speaking them. Anonymous proxies and other similar “hiding” techniques have a high degree of association with abusive access patterns. Using such “anonymous proxies” or “proxy surfing points” to access the forum may result in your account being flagged with accounts that have been previously restricted for abusive conduct.
Your account here is a privilege, not a right, and may be withdrawn by the administration of the system at any time. We also reserve the right to edit messages that are deemed offensive or off-topic at any time, and to move messages as we see fit, with or without notice to you. You are a guest on the system owner’s property; please comport yourself accordingly.
You agree and understand that while we will endeavor to respond to complaints, we cannot be everywhere at once, that we cannot guarantee a response within any particular timeframe.
By posting here you are granting an unlimited, royalty-free license to the system administrators and owners to use your contributions in any compilation, without limitation.
Any violation of these terms of service may result in the removal or “hiding” of the offending postings and/or suspension of your account. Serious violations may result in permanent banishment of your account or even the IP block from which you use the Internet.
And one final aspect of the comment policy if I can figure out how to implement it…
We do not censor “words”, but you may. The use of “foul” or “profane” language is not restricted. However, the forum does have a “hide offensive words” selection in the Control Panel, and you may also place users whom you do not wish to view on “ignore”. If you are offended by the use of coarse language you probably want to turn the “hide” option on, and if there are users who particularly offend you, the “ignore” function will make them “disappear.”
Poll will be open til end of business on Monday March 12th 2012.
Good luck…
Majority Rules…
And yes, the comments are closed on this post…
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