Comment Policy

The internet has made me friends from everywhere, making the world a smaller place. I really enjoy interacting with you and gladly welcome your comments. To ensure that comments enhance and do not detract from the blog, I’ve created a formal comment policy.

Comment Moderation

In order to maintain the integrity of the blog and its content, all comments, trackbacks, and pingbacks made to the Steller Times blog are moderated. I work to review and approve comments as quickly as possible, but please do not resubmit your comment if it does not appear right away.

Even though many photos are posted on this blog, please remember that the subjects in the photos are my clients and family and friends. Be kind. Edify! If you don’t have anything nice to say, please don’t say it.

Language, Length, and Format

This blog has a diverse audience with different sensibilities and opinions. That said, please avoid harsh language and the use of profanity. Flaming or use of threatening language is not allowed nor will it be tolerated.

If an entry gets you fired up, excited, or makes you think so deeply that the words pour from you like an overflowing fountain, consider publishing it as a thought on your own blog and trackback. If trackback is disabled, you are welcome to leave a comment summarizing your entry with a link to continue reading it.

Ideally, your comment will be under 200 well chosen words with paragraphs as necessary; whitespace makes the content easier to read on a computer screen.

Linking To Your Site and Others

Sometimes you may feel the need to share links. This is cool. I trust you to contribute links of value that pertain to the post, but please don’t view this as an opportunity to promote or advertise your website in the Steller Times comments. Excessive and/or inappropriate links will be removed.

Some tips for proper linking:

• Please use proper XHTML markup: <a href=”…” title=”…”>Link Anchor Text</a>
• Please use descriptive anchor text
  • Bad: <a href=”…”>click here</a>
  • Good: <a href=”…” title=”Google Homepage”>google’s homepage</a>
• Please keep the anchor text brief (6 words or less per link)

Double check your links, because any link which returns an error, leads to a site under construction, or cannot be loaded by the browser will be removed.

Signatures In Comments

Adding a signature is completely optional. If you decide to include one, please keep it short (2 line maximum) and do not include a link to your website.

You are welcome to add your website’s link in the designated URL box just below your name and e-mail address and your name will automatically be hyperlinked.

• Unacceptable:
  

  Girl B. Average
  Owner of Some Website
  http://www.somewebsite.com/
  Please visit some time

• Acceptable:
  

  Girl B. Average
  Owner of Some Website

If you find it necessary to use anchor text in the name box, please make sure to sign your name at the end of your comment. I really don’t feel comfortable addressing someone as “my cool anchor text” when responding to a comment.

In the event that I know you, I’ll simply modify your anchor text to include your name, otherwise I’ll delete the reference to your website.

E-mail Addresses

Please use a valid e-mail address when commenting on the blog. It will not be displayed unless you type it in the body of your comment (which I will usually edit out) and you will not be subscribed to any mailing list by leaving a comment.

If you use an invalid e-mail address or one which requires any type of human interaction to confirm I’m not a spammer, your comment will be deleted — no exceptions.

Editing Comments

I reserve the right to edit or delete comments as I feel necessary. Blatant spelling and grammatical errors will be edited and serious edits will be notated at the end of the comment.

If your comment conveys a coherent thought, it may just be edited; tirades will most likely be deleted. At no time will I attempt to alter the core meaning of a comment.

Special Provisions For Comment Spam

I take comment spam seriously and all IP addresses used for spamming will be reported to the internet blacklists, the ISPs/hosts for the offending domain will be notified, and the owner of the IP block will be notified of the problem.

While comment spam continues to proliferate, I can and will do my part to help combat it.

Final Words

You, and only you, are responsible for your words. They are yours and you get to keep them, however, by posting your comments to the blog you are granting me the right, in perpetuity, to use, alter, and/or display them however I see fit.

Once your comment is submitted, that’s it — you’re immortalized.

(From time to time, this comment policy may be updated, so please make sure to check back every so often.)

Further reading:
Leaving The Perfect Comment
WordPress Trackback Tutorial

Where did I get this cool idea?
OptiNiche Comment Policy