July 29th, 2008
PittWatch Comment Policy
I’m so frequently asked about how comments work here at PittWatch that I figured I should finally just lay out a straight forward comment policy to hopefully clear up any confusion or questions.
The most important thing for you to know is that I love comments. All comments - those that are processed and those caught in the moderation queue - are delivered to my inbox and it always makes me happy to read them. While I enjoy writing about Brad, Angelina, and their family, it’s really the commentary from the readers that I love most. I like hearing your thoughts and I love when readers have conversations among themselves. It makes it less of a fan news site and more of a community.
That being said, it’s important to me to make sure this community is kept a safe and positive place. There are countless sites on the Internet which have great stories and photos but which are also littered with nasty and hurtful comments - PittWatch is not a site that will tolerate that same nastiness, so here are some guidelines for comments:
1. Wordpress has a great comment filter that catches key words and IP addresses that are affliiated with spammers. That means that you never have to read comments trying to direct you to adult websites or trying to sell you things.
2. The unfortunate side effect of the filter is that it sometimes catches totally legit comments as well. Some people fall victim to this glitch more than others. It can happen if you use a word that a spammer might use as well, or it can happen if your IP is a digit or two away from a known spammer. Sometimes I have absolutely no idea why someone continually ends up in the moderation queue. Unfortunately, it’s a network-wide filter and I don’t have access to adjust it so there’s not much I can do to stop it. Without it, the site would be overrun with spam.
3. Because I value the discussion in the comments, I do my best to stay on top of the queue and put your comments through as quickly as I can. I generally do this in the morning while I’m drinking my coffee and at night sometime before I go to bed. I also do it periodically throughout the day as I have the time. I also try to do it as quickly as possible when we’re having a specific discussion thread because it’s hard to hold a discussion when half the comments are in limbo.
4. Please keep in mind that I’m in the Eastern time zone (GMT -5) so if you leave a comment at 3 am my time, please don’t get upset that your comment is not cleared for some time - I’m sleeping! Also, although I’m online seven days a week, I spend less time at my desk on weekends when I’m doing things with my husband and kids, so comment moderation happens less frequently at that time.
5. While I welcome debate, debate must be done respectfully. If you are abusive towards me, towards anyone in the Jolie-Pitt family, or towards the other readers, understand that it will be deleted and will not appear on the site.
6. People who are rude and then wonder why their comments don’t appear on the site frequently complain by using words like “democracy”. This site is not a democracy. It’s not the U.S. or Canada, or whatever country you’d like to use as an example, it’s simply a website meant to share news and non-slanderous gossip about Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and their children. I am not required to publish every comment just because someone types it in.
7. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, their children, their family members, and their representatives do not read this site. I don’t expect that they ever will or that they would have any interest in it. However, I maintain this site in such as way that if one of them ever did drop by and read here that I would be proud for them to see it. And that is why I do not allow nasty comments.
8. If you really have a burning need to flame the Jolie-Pitt family and their fans, please feel free to do so on another site, or better yet, go ahead and start your own. Vitriol will not be tolerated here.
Thanks for being such an important part of this website, and I look forward to more wonderful comments!
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