Detroit Tigers Weblog is a website authored by Bill Ferris. At present, comments are enabled to further the discussion. Although this site sometimes functions as a message board, it is not a message board.

That said, comments are a large part of what makes DTW such a great community. We all thrive on the energy of information exchange. To ensure that we are able to use this exchange to its fullest potential, I’ve implemented a few guidelines. Most of these have been in place informally for some time and folks abide by them.

However, there are always new people joining the discussion and they may not be aware of the way we do things around here. So for everyone’s benefit, here are a few simple guidelines to bear in mind during your visit to DTW. Thanks in advance for helping to keep this a great place to hang out and talk Tigers.

Last updated: 29 Mar 2008

1. Attack positions, not people. Debate is great; we learn a lot from each other by discussing issues and trying to understand various viewpoints. But we learn nothing by launching insults, personal attacks, etc. In general, if you wouldn’t be comfortable saying it to someone’s face, then don’t say it here. When in doubt, try to think of how you would feel if that person addressed you in the same way.
2. Be sure your comments advance the discussion in some way. Saying the same thing over and over again isn’t civil discourse, and it isn’t welcome here.
3. I reserve the right to delete any comment at any time. I’m a big fan of free speech so for the most part this applies to spammers who aren’t interested in my policy anyway. Still, I won’t tolerate abusive comments and prefer to nip these things in the bud. Borderline comments will typically earn an offline warning.
4. I reserve the right to ban individuals from commenting. Again, this is primarily directed at spammers who willfully disrupt the flow of conversation with their anti-social behavior. If you feel you’ve been wrongly banned then please email me. The more likely scenario is that you’re being caught by the spam filter. However, providing a real address in the comment form increases the likelihood of me contacting you about a banning/suspension. It also allows me to issue those warnings I mentioned above so that we don’t get in a banning scenario.
5. Don’t pretend to be a player and then talk about how you suck. Those will get deleted.
6. Off-topic comments are welcome within reason. Conversations take many turns so feel free to introduce ideas, articles, etc. that aren’t directly related to the post topic but which you feel would of interest to members of the community.
7. Please don’t use profanity. Although I personally am not offended by this, my goal is for everyone — including children — to feel welcome here, so I’d appreciate it if you could find other ways to express your passion. This includes trying to evade the censor. These will get deleted. If you see me on the street, knock yourself out, but let’s keep it clean here.
8. If you are selling or promoting something, please clear it with me first. I’m a pretty reasonable guy, but I do appreciate a little courtesy. In return, I promise not to set up camp on your front lawn and sell books or shirts. 😉
9. Comments that contain multiple outbound links will be placed in the moderation queue before being published. If they’re legit, I’ll run ‘em. Again, this is a measure to help prevent comment spam from cluttering our forum.
10. Citing other sources is always welcome. However, I would ask that you be respectful of copyright laws and provide only brief excerpts or, if readers would benefit from the full article, a link that we can follow. Please don’t reproduce entire articles (or even large chunks) in the comments. When in doubt, just link to the source and let folks check it out for themselves.
11. I reserve the right to change this policy at any time.

Thanks in advance for your partnership. If you have any questions or concerns about the DTW comments policy, please drop me a line and I’ll be happy to discuss. Also thanks to Geoff Young and Ducksnorts for allowing me to replicate 96% of his comment policy.