Warwick Post Comment Standards

By creating a Warwick Post account, you agree to the following terms and conditions for commenting on our site, which we may revise at any time, at our sole discretion, with or without notice. Please also review our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for more information.

We welcome feedback from our readers, and intend to host civil discussions on a variety of issues and topics.

Our goal is to provide a vibrant community meeting space where people can feel safe sharing different opinions, and we’ve set standards that are meant to achieve that goal.

To have the best chance of getting your comments on the site, we offer the following guidelines. They are not meant to be all-inclusive or to predict every potential issue; they’re here to help you have the best chance of your comments appearing on the site with the least amount of hassle for everyone involved.

We also invite our readers to offer their thoughts on the Warwick Post Facebook page.

Our Comment Standards:

1. We moderate comments. Your words will be subject to review prior to publication on the site, and the decision on whether to post your comments [or not] rests with us, the publishers of the site.

2. Be polite. Our basic rule is: Don’t say anything you wouldn’t want your grandmother to hear. [Unless she’s a sailor; in that case, think of someone else’s more polite grandmother.]

Also, be aware that we can’t be held responsible if you feel offended at what someone else writes. If you take exception to a comment on the site, feel free to debate the point — but please don’t ask or expect us to remove the comment because you disagree with it.

We expect our commenters to avoid obscene, threatening, bullying, pornographic, racist or sexist language. Other no-nos include political campaigning, recruitment appeals, sales pitches, or advertisements.

For paid messages, check out our Advertise on Warwick Post page.

3. Be yourself. Our Terms of Use are very clear on this issue, so you should read them — or read them again. [There, you’ve had three chances at it.] But if you’d prefer to skip the legal jargon, here’s the rub: We encourage you to create an account and submit comments using your real name and your own email address.

In case you were wondering, we don’t sell email addresses or other identifying information that you submit as part of the signup process — our Privacy Policy explains more.

If you feel you must submit information anonymously [or by using an assumed name], please contact us so we may discuss your information off-site.

4. Be precise. Get to your point as quickly as is practical, please. Generally, any comment longer than 300 words is probably too long to keep online readers’ attention. [From the number 1 above to the end of this sentence is 308 words.]

5. Post your own work. As journalists, we are constantly on alert for plagiarism. You are welcome to post links to content that you feel supports your views — but not wholesale copy and paste another person’s work and claim it for your own. And don’t try to sneak spam, viruses, pop-ups, or other malicious code into your comments.

6. Please don’t cry censorship. Keep in mind that we are professional journalists with lots of experience — we can say with certainty that there’s nothing in the First Amendment that prevents us, as the owners of a private company, from moderating online comment boards that we provide according to standards that we set.

And while we appreciate feedback on our moderation standards, we can not guarantee that we will reply to inquiries about specific decisions.

The bottom line: We’re looking for Letter to the Editor-quality comments on our site, and offer the Warwick Post Facebook page for more spontaneous conversation.

If you have any questions, drop us an email at [email protected] or see the Contact Us page for other information.

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