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NHPR's Comment Guidelines

NHPR’s website and social media community are places where we can continue the conversation beyond our stories and programs. When we all share our ideas, opinions and experiences, everyone benefits. Comments posted by NHPR.org readers don't reflect the opinions of NHPR, its board of trustees, or its underwriters. Comments posts on NHPR's Facebook pages by users don't reflect the opinions of NHPR, its board of trustees, or its underwriters.

Our guidelines are intended to build our online community so we can connect to – and learn from – each other. You can help achieve that goal by posting your comments with these guidelines in mind:

1) Write with civility and respect. If you can’t be polite, don’t post it. Disagree without being disagreeable. Engage points, not personalities; focus on ideas, not motivations. Always avoid name-calling, slander, and obscenities. Messages including hate speech, or threatening/harassing content are never acceptable. And, of course, don’t break any laws while posting.

2) Use your real name. Although Disqus and Facebook allow commenters to create profiles with which to comment somewhat anonymously, using your real name when making comments means you are willing to stand by them, and we've found that when users do so, it increases the civility of the discourse. 

3) Write with clarity and be concise.  It’s also a good idea to re-read your post for grammar and spelling before hitting Submit – writing clearly is a sign of courtesy to others. And don't TYPING IN ALL CAPS - it's the online version of shouting.

4) Stay on-topic. Sticking to one topic at a time helps us have the best possible discussion. 

5) Post your own work. Feel free to link to and/or quote from other articles and works that fit the topic. But copying and pasting a whole article from elsewhere slows down the conversation and usually violates the author’s copyright. Help keep the conversation focused by posting only one link per comment.

6) Promote discussion, not yourself. Commenting for purposes other than sincere conversation disrupts the discussion. The online community isn’t a place for advertising, promotion, recruiting, campaigning, soliciting or proselytizing. There can be a fine line between discussion and promotion – use your best judgment and we’ll use ours. Trolling is never acceptable.

7) Comment on the content, don't attack other posters. 

All comments are moderated; we may refuse to publish comments that don’t meet these guidelines. Most comments are reviewed during our hours of operation, which accounts for the delay in certain comments submitted in the evenings or during the weekends.

NHPR stories can be closed for comments at NHPR's discretion.

Visit our Terms of Use page for more information on what is and isn’t allowed on NHPR.org.

Our guidelines are adapted in part from NPR’s Guidelines for Commenting and the Commenting Guidelines from Open Source.

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