Every website has its own rules, and these are our rules for participating in Voices of Change’s discussions and comments.
First and foremost: Play nice. It flies counter to the fundamental purpose of blogs to censor or curtail spirited discussion of controversial issues. Nevertheless, we believe that we can disagree without being disagreeable. That means no personal attacks, name-calling, libel, defamation, hate speech, comparisons to notorious dictators, and so on and so forth. Just be respectful of one another. And under no circumstances should you post anything that could be taken as threatening, harassing, bullying, obscene, pornographic, sexist or racist.
Don’t use profanity. We know there are ways around swear filters and we’re not going to list every objectionable word here. Just remember that this is a public forum and we want everyone to feel comfortable participating.
Respect copyright laws. Linking to relevant content is fine, as is quoting limited amounts from other people’s work if you give them credit. Copying whole articles or other people’s photos is not.
Keep it Short and Simple. This isn’t Twitter, but in general you should try to keep your comments to a few paragraphs. Anything longer than that probably won’t be read anyway. We also reserve the right to edit for brevity, clarity and other purposes.
Respect other people’s privacy. Please do not share anyone’s contact information through Voices of Change.
Do not use this blog for solicitation of any kind. That means advertising, promotion, recruiting, campaigning, lobbying, soliciting or proselytizing. Violations will be blocked.
Don’t be a troll and don’t encourage them. Please report abuse by trolls and their comments will be removed. Don’t make it worse by reacting to their comments. If you do, your comments will be removed too.
Don’t impersonate someone else. Impostors will be blocked.
You and you alone are solely responsible for the content you post. OEA is not responsible for the content posted by its users. We do not and cannot review all user content posted on Voices of Change. However, we have the right (but not the obligation) to review, screen, delete, edit and/or move any content posted on Voices of Change. The opinions expressed on Voices of Change do not necessarily reflect the views of OEA.
OEA reserves the right to remove any comments it sees fit. Your comments may also be excerpted for use in other OEA publications, and may be edited for length and clarity.
