The Code Mill's Comment Policy

Keep it civil, don’t be a jerk

The Code Mill has a strict comment policy. If you’re an asshole, you’ll be banned. Sorry, assholes! You have the rest of the Internet to your asshole self.

In order for comments to thrive here, you need to remember to criticize ideas, not people. Avoid:

• Name-calling,
• Ad hominem attacks,
• Responding to a post's tone instead of its actual content and
• Knee-jerk contradiction

Comments that we find to be hateful, inflammatory, or harassing may be removed. If you don't have something nice to say about another commenter, don't say it. Treat others the way you'd like to be treated.

If your comment does not immediately appear on the site after posting, it may have been flagged for review. There are a number of things which will get your comment flagged for review, we ask that you please keep that in mind before resubmitting the comment multiple times or contacting us about it.

• Use of any of the curse words and/or slurs we have on our blacklist will automatically flag a comment so it won't appear on our site.

• Using a Disqus account without a verified email address will automatically flag a comment.

• Fluctuations in the space-time continuum. Sometimes things just get auto-flagged and we don't know why.

• Comments can also be flagged for review by our readership (please do not abuse this option for other commenters you simply disagree with, it makes our moderation jobs a lot harder).

Always strive to add value

If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think about what you want to say and try again later.

Keep it tidy

Help make moderators' lives easier by taking a moment to ensure that what you're about to post is in the right place. That means:

• Don't post off-topic comments or discussions.
• Don't post the same thing multiple times.
• Don't use curse words and/or offensive slurs.
• Don't use hate speech or other clearly intentional jerk behavior. This includes, but is not limited to: comments which denigrate women, feminism or feminists, the LGBTQ community; broad imprecations or assumptions based on race; and anything that amounts to "ugh the gays," "ugh liberals," etc. This includes trolling. If you're a climate denier just out for a good trolling and are not contributing meaningfully to the conversation, we'll be pushing you back under the bridge.
• Don't impersonate authors or other commenters. We can't believe we have to say this, but: Don't do that. It's weird.

It is at the editors' discretion to ban anyone whom they determine to be a detriment to the atmosphere of the comments section, the site in general, and our regular readers.

If you see something, say something

Moderators are at the forefront of combating spam, mediating disputes and enforcing community guidelines and, so are you.

If you see an issue, contact the moderators if possible or flag any comments for review. If you believe someone has violated the Basic Rules, report it to Disqus by flagging the user's profile.

Photo by John Tyson / Unsplash