Minutes ago I published what I expect will be our last Reader Riposte on The Interpreter. From now on, readers wishing to comment on Interpreter posts can do so via the comments section at the bottom of each post. I'll still occasionally feature the best comments in 'From the Comments' posts, but I will no longer be accepting emails from readers for publication on the site.
To see reader comments, click on the headline or on the word 'Comments' at the bottom-right of a post. You will need to be registered with Disqus to participate, and you can do that by using your Facebook, Twitter or Google account to sign in, or by registering with Disqus using your email address. Just click the box marked 'Join the discussion' on any Interpreter post page.
All comments are pre-moderated, meaning our editorial staff will see them before they go live on the site. Each comment will be checked and possibly edited or deleted by our editorial staff. But that's a last resort; we want to encourage a civil, open and rigorous debate, so we've revised our Comments Policy page to describe the kind of comments we're looking for and those we would discourage. Here's how it now reads: [fold]
Comments are welcomed and encouraged on The Interpreter. We use Disqus, a platform that organises and hosts comments on millions of sites across the web. To comment on The Interpreter, you will need to become a Disqus user. You can do this by using your existing Facebook, Twitter or Google account to sign in, or by registering with Disqus using your email address. Just click the box marked 'Join the discussion' on any Interpreter post page.
All comments are pre-moderated. That means the editorial staff reads them before they go live on the site, and comments can be edited or deleted at this stage. Please be patient after you submit a comment; our editors work Australian east coast business hours.
The qualities we want to encourage in reader comments include:
- Brevity: please keep your comments to fewer than 300 words.
- Relevance: address the post you are commenting on rather than going off on a tangent.
- Respect: The Interpreter is a place for courteous, civil conversation and debate. Please be respectful of others, use moderate language, and always play the ball, not the player.
- Rigour: The Interpreter is a place for intellectually rigorous and challenging debate. By all means, use the comments to correct what you see as errors and misjudgements by contributors and other commenters, but be sure to hold your own comments to that standard too.
We will edit or delete a comment if it is, in our opinion:
- Spam or advertising. It's fine to post links to your site, but it must be relevant and informative, and you must also offer a comment on the post in question.
- Off-topic.
- Libelous, defamatory, abusive, threatening, offensive, false, or otherwise violates our sense of decorum or breaks the law.
If you see a comment on the site which might breach these guidelines or you have any complaints about our handling of comments, please write to blogeditor@lowyinstitute.org. The editors reserve the right to edit or delete any comments submitted to this blog without notice, and this comments policy is subject to change at any time.
