Posting your comments on Bradenton.com

The Web is seemingly endless in opportunities, and we want you to tap into that world via Bradenton.com every day. With that, we hope, comes some pride of shared ownership on your end as the user.

Our local content is our pride and joy –- stories, photos, graphics, slide shows, audio and more. And we want to hear your comments about those local stories, events and issues -– that’s the premise of this blog, for instance. And that’s the premise of “Post-a-Comment” on the Herald’s local stories. It’s a great place to have a community conversation.

But why do some of our Web users seem to take every anonymous chance they get to go off on a sometimes-ugly tangent about a subject or even a person -– especially when it has no relevance to the story? Some of our high school football stories have been a sad example of that. Team rivalry and competitive spirit aside, we’re disappointed by some of the really negative bents they have taken. In some cases, the kids and the game aren’t even part of the discussions any more.

In most cases, the obnoxious comments are moderated by the next person’s entry -– and that’s encouraging. We aren’t asking you to censor your beliefs, but we are asking you to be fair and focused. Here are some guidelines from Slashdot.org, a site about commenting:

Post intelligently and calmly.
Stay on topic, and be original.
Read it before you post -– is that really what you want to say?

We’ll keep you posted on new and improved methods of moderating as we continue to develop Bradenton.com. In the meantime, here are the rules attached to all of our commenting lists:


Although we do not have any obligation to monitor this board, we reserve the right at all times to check this board and to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us in our sole discretion and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We also reserve the right to permanently block any user who violates these terms and conditions. All threats to systems or site infrastructure shall be assumed genuine in nature and will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

Joan