Guidelines for reader comments
MaineToday.com is pleased to provide this opportunity for you to share information, experiences and opinions. Simply fill out the form located at the end of an article, and your comments may appear among other people's comments in that area. Your submission will be reviewed for appropriateness by a MaineToday staff member, and generally will appear online within 24 hours.
Comments that generally are not approved include: Comments that are "off topic" -- unrelated to the topic of the article or the comments of others Comments with threatening, intimidating, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or profane language. Comments with language that degrades others on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. Name-calling about private individuals or commenters. While we recognize that some spirited back-and-forth between commenters is natural, please focus on the topic, not the person. Comments that are repeatedly posted (cut/paste/spamming) Comments where it appears the commenter is masquerading as another person Content that appears to violate copyright laws (brief excerpts are OK; lengthy excerpts are not) Information that violates any applicable local, state, national or international law. Comments that instigate or encourage others to commit illegal activities or cause injury or property damage to any person. Material that can be considered an invasion of privacy. This includes phone numbers, email addresses, URLs or other specific personal information. Solicitations of any type. This list of guidelines is not comprehensive. MaineToday.com staff members review comments with the intent of encouraging open discourse, and will apply judgment in this process. Their decisions are final; rejected comments should be rewritten and resubmitted.
This area is not an appropriate place to tell us a story has typos in it, or to direct a private email to the reporter or editor. If you'd like to tell us about a specific problem, you may either e-mail the writer, whose address is found at the bottom of an article, or direct other feedback via the "Questions/Comments" link at the very bottom of every page, and indicate who should receive your note.
On some occasions, you may be receive an email at the address you listed when posting a comment, from a news staff member of Blethen Maine Newspapers, following up on your comment for possible quoting or background in news reporting. It is entirely up to you whether or not to respond.
MaineToday.com reserves the right to amend or change these rules at any time.
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