The Consumerist Comments Code
The Consumerist Comments Code, which we repost every now and again, is intended to promote a discussion filled with substantive information, insights, humorous observations and relevant personal experiences. In other words, comments that other people would want to read. Here are some rules to help make this possible... (And while we're on the topic of commenters, don't forget to add your email address to your user profile by going to http://consumerist.com/people/yourscreenname/profile/ so you can keep your commenter profile when we transition to a new platform this Fall)
CONSUMERIST COMMENTS CODE
Above all, don't be a jerk and don't be boring. Ask yourself, is my comment boring, repetitive, or not substantively contributing to an engaging discussion? If you can answer yes, don't hit submit.
No junk comments
Your comment should be a meaningful response to the issue raised in the post. Take some time when writing a comment, it's not a race and you don't have an edit button. Objections to an editor's headlines or writing style or a post's entire existence should be emailed directly to the post's author. Verboten: "+1" "Why is this on Consumerist?", "tldr", "Why did they even shop there in the first place?", "This is a non-issue", "Slow news day?" "Pwnd" "Yawn", "First", "People still ______" (use dialup, eat fast food, breathe air, and so forth), "Old news", "lol", "This is why I don't shop there," etc.
Stay on topic
Read the full post before commenting. We highly advise reading linked articles before commenting as well. Avoid tangential political rants or partisan diatribes.
Read other people's comments before posting
See what's already been said before adding your piece. If you just skim to the end and make your response, chances are you may end up repeating what's already been said in the conversation. The comments should be a dialog between commenters, not just the place where your arrows affixed with your messages that you blindly shoot in happen to land.
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. Tipsters 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.
No sexism, racism, homophobia, xenophobia or hatred
Don't put this crap in our comments. Don't post links to hate, porn, spam, or shock sites, or their ilk.
No flame wars
A bunch of screaming strangers? Boring! Keep cursing to a minimum. Debate the idea, not the person. Pointing out other commenters spelling or grammatical errors is not a productive exercise.
Make it readable
Go easy on the caps and exclamation points.
Send your copyedits to the top
The quickest way to get grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors fixed is to email the author and/or site editor directly.
No sockpuppets
If you post about a company you work for, or pays you in some way, you must disclose this relationship in your comment.
Don't tell people how to break the law
Providing instructions on how to commit criminal acts is not ok.
Commenters are not moderators
If you see a commenter violating these rules, email moderator@consumerist.com. Posting only to point out someone is breaking the rules is distracting and unnecessary. So no rules lawyering or "junior moderating" in the threads. Don't try to argue the fine points of how your comments are just within the rules. Always post with the spirit of the comments code and not just its letter.
What happens if I break these rules?
You may be banned, or, perhaps worse, "disemvoweled." We might warn you in the comments. We also might not. If you ignore a warning, you will probably be banned. If you feel your ban is unwarranted, email your appeal to moderator@consumerist.com and we'll see if we can work it out.
What's "Disemvoweling?"
It's when a moderator removes all the vowels from your comment, making it very hard to read. This is when you've said something out of line that doesn't warrant a ban, but we just don't want to have to see it or subject others to it. If you get disemvoweled, consider it a warning that a ban may be imminent.
Post a comment
Comments:
I'm glad to see this. I've been on here for a while now (maybe a year) and didn't even know this guide was out there. A general "help" link/section would be nice, too, but props for writing a guide!
"disemoveled." That was funny because I'm having one of those days and earlier I was trying to type "BILL" and I typed "BULL." That looks like something I would have done.
Can anyone else get to the user profile page? I have been trying for several months, using both FireFox and InternetExplorer on Vista & Windows7 with no luck. I click the "profile" link and just get "waiting for..." at the bottom of the page for several seconds and then nothing happens. I dont have any problems at other websites. I've also tried this on a WindowsMobile and Android, same results.
Hey guys, let's keep comments here focused on questions on the code and such.
@GitEmSteveDave:WalkinOnSunshine: Thanks GitEmSteveDave - it does work on all the Gawker sites, no problems there. Though, through the Consumerist.com page links given in the previous articles and at the top of the page, it is a no-go/show-stopper.
If the Gawker pages update the Consumerist data as well, then solution found and problem solved. Thanks for the heads-up!
@SnowingCookies: This should work for awhile. OK everyone, this case is closed for now. Please read Roz's post below, and lets keep this on topic from now on. If we do that, nothing can possibli go wrong.
Huh, that's the first thing that's ever gone wrong....
@DivineBrevity:
Yes, I was glad to see this too. If you get disemvowelled, how do you know other to look back to see if its happened? Just wondering since that is sort of a warning. I ask because I sometimes wonder if something that I've said could fall under "hatred" or "flaming": I hate intolerant people, as well as brain dead corporate sycophants, and sometimes a few commenters are so full of it that responses can seem like a personal attack even with challenging specific points.
I got a permanent vacation from eBay's forums for calling people out on clearly racist and homophobic crap. On those forums, you can say anything just about as long as it sounds pretty. Funny, I recycled a comment I had read here and that was the final straw that got me booted: remember the Burger King sign that denied climate change and the comment suggesting it just as well might have said "married queers are coming to take your guns"? That was it. Thanks to my friend sarcasm, I have no other friends!
"No sexism, racism, homophobia, xenophobia or hatred
Don't put this crap in our comments."
So when will Consumerist.com stop with allowing people to refer to fat people as "fatty" and allowing talk that shows bigotry towards fat people or encourages same.
Oh, wait, that'd have to happen after the posts themselves stop doing it.
Clean up your own house, Consumerist. You set the tone for this place, set a better example.
@MauriceCallidice: You know, really, this is all their own fault for allowing comments in the first place.
Interesting that you say you don't allow sexism, yet in a post where a sex worker was raped, moderators responded to concerned emails implying she deserved what she got. Way to keep it clean.
thanks for the reminder. i know i've been getting off topic lately... kitty pictures are too tempting not to talk about for me. sorry
I have my own personal comments code:
1. Try to be interesting.
2. If you can't be interesting, be funny.
3. Don't be a jerk.
Guilty as charged. All great points and--seriously--I was unaware of my transgressions until now. Posting this code really helped me--as a new reader/commenter I had no clue.
@wvFrugan: I know what you mean. While never having been "disemvoweled" myself (though that's coolest term ever), I find that the Moderators-That-Be can be kind of biased. Not only politically - though politics should be relevant to the post, not the commenter - but on what constitutes a violation of the commenting code. I've seen things that I would think would be disemvoweled ASAP, then the next post I read will be disemvoweled. And since you can clearly read what the commenter was saying, I won't understand what the big deal was to get them in trouble. It's nice to see there IS some sort of rough baseline that is supposedly followed. Now if it was just adhered to.@Consumerist-Moderator-Roz: @wvFrugan:
Why do my comments not show up? There's nothing flaming about them and I've been a member for awhile, but when I post I just get a dashed red border around my comment and it never goes through. :(
No doubt, times are hard... especially for artists. They get beaten down on a daily basis. I was at a nearby rehearsal studio (half empty) and was listening to one of the bands. Later they told me their band name was Cold Yard when i met them after they were done, and they had a CD on I-Tunes. Like the Foo Fighters meet the Beatles.
slw nws dy?