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Comment Policy

Welcome to TalkLeft, the on-line magazine for liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news.

Hundreds of thousands of reader comments have been posted on TalkLeft. It is not possible for us to monitor or read all of them. We do, however, have a general commenting policy and by posting a comment on TalkLeft, you acknowledge it and agree to follow it.

First and foremost, you may not post material that:

  • infringes upon or violates the copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights of any person
  • is libelous or defamatory
  • is obscene, pornographic, or sexually explicit
  • violates a person's right to privacy
  • violates any local, state, national, or international law
  • contains or advocates illegal or violent acts
  • degrades others on the basis of gender, race, class, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual preference, disability, or other classification
  • is predatory, hateful, or intended to intimidate or harass
  • contains advertising or solicitation of any kind
  • * misrepresents your identity or affiliation
  • impersonates others

By commenting here, you understand and agree that we are not responsible for any user submitted content. You further understand that we have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor submissions and we may remove content that we deem inappropriate for any reason whatsoever without consent. We further reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove a user's privilege to post content on our site.

More details:

  • All e-mail received by TalkLeft is considered intended for publication unless otherwise indicated in the initial message from the writer. Please don't send attachments.
  • TalkLeft reserves the right to edit all e-mail for content, clarity, and length. We cannot edit comments, only delete them.
  • Bandwidth is expensive. The comment space is reserved for comments that relate to the topic of the post . You may not reprint lengthy text from your own works or those of others, including news articles. You may quote one or two short paragraphs and link to them.
  • Comments that are abusive, offensive, contain profane or racist material or violate the terms of service for this blog's host provider will be removed and the author(s) banned from future comments. Censor software employed by law firms and businesses has blocked TalkLeft in the past for these types of violations. It is far easier for us to ban an offending commenter than to get reinstated by the software censors.
  • New commenters, i.e, those registered for 30 days or less, may not post more than 10 comments in a 24 hour period.
  • All points of view are welcome on TalkLeft, with the following exception:
  • TalkLeft will limit commenters to four comments a day if, in its sole discretion, the commenter is a "chatterer," loosely defined as one who both holds opposing views from those expressed by TalkLeft and :
    Posts numerous times a day with the intent of dominating, re-directing or hijacking the thread; or
    Posts numerous times a day and insults or engages in name-calling against other commenters or the site's authors or repeatedly makes the same point with the effect of annoying other commenters. (i.e. is a blog-clogger)
  • A message will be left in the last thread that the commenter chattered on advising that he or she has been limited to four comments a day. All comments in excess of this amount will be deleted. Repeated violators will be banned.
  • Name-calling, personal attacks and insults, racist comments or use of profanity by any commenter, whether they are by persons who agree or disagree with the views expressed by TalkLeft will not be tolerated and will result in the deletion of the comment and the banning of the commenter's ISP address, without notice.
  • Banned commenters may not re-register using another name.
  • URL's within the body of the comment must be in html format or they will be deleted as they skew the site. Use the link button at the top of the comment box to paste in the url. You can also find a shorter link via tinyurl.com and post that.
  • Anonymous posters should identify themselves with the same moniker, so readers know their comments are coming from a single individual. You may not use the name "Anonymous."
  • Quotes from material appearing on TalkLeft with attribution are allowed. Reprints are allowed only by permission from TalkLeft. You may request permission by e-mail.
  • TalkLeft is a personal site. It is not the Government. It is not public institution or a media organization. It is not a neutral site. It is intended to express and disseminate the authors' point of view. It reserves the right to limit comments to those that, in its view, comport with its stated comment policy. Comments that do not comply are subject to deletion and banning of the author's ISP.

Disclaimer:

  • Reading and posting comments at TalkLeft constitutes acknowledgment of and agreement to the terms outlined in this comment policy. This comment policy may be revised in part or in full at any time.
  • Nothing on this site should be construed as legal advice. TalkLeft does not give legal advice.
  • All comments must comport with applicable state and federal laws. TalkLeft has no obigation to monitor, edit, censor, or take responsibility for comments. It may or may not act upon a violation of its comment policy once a suspected violation has been brought to its attention. Therefore, commenters are solely responsible for the content of their comments and should ensure that that their comments are lawful and fall within the stated guidelines of both TalkLeft and its hosting company.
  • TalkLeft is not be responsible for injury or liability to any reader or commenter resulting from its own communications or those of commenters, that may be offensive, misleading, inaccurate, illegal, or otherwise unsuitable in the view of the reader. Readers and commenters further agree to indemnify and hold harmless TalkLeft from claims resulting from the use of any material appearing on TalkLeft which damages the reader, commenter or any other party.
  • You agree that you are fully responsible for the content that you submit. You will indemnify TalkLeft and its owner and publisher from and against losses, expenses, damages, and costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees, resulting from any claim brought by any third party relating to content you have posted.
  • TalkLeft is not responsible for and often disagrees with material posted in the comments section. This is an opinion site. The material posted by TalkLeft or left in the comments section may or may not be accurate.

Read and Post at your own risk.

Your suggestions and comments are always welcome!