This is the official discussion policy for everyone participating in discussions on WFPL.org and associated blogs and web sites of Louisville Public Media. It’s based on NPR.org’s Community Discussion Policy.

Every website has its own rules, and these are our rules for discussing news stories, and commenting, on WFPL.org. If you break them, don’t be surprised if we block your comments.

If you can’t be polite, don’t say it. We allow discussion of controversial issues. We understand that some topics require blunt talk, but please try to disagree without being disagreeable. Focus your remarks on positions, not personalities. No personal attacks, name calling, libel, defamation, hate speech. And under no circumstances should you post anything that could be taken as threatening, harassing, bullying, obscene, pornographic, sexist or racist.

Don’t use obscenities — even if the word in question is often used in conversation. This is a public forum and we want everyone to feel comfortable participating.

Anything you post should be your own work. You’re welcome to link to relevant content and to quote limited amounts from other people’s work with attribution and any associated copyright notice and consistent with “fair use” principles of copyright law. But that doesn’t mean you can copy and paste wholesale.

Please stay on topic, as a courtesy to others participating in the conversation.

Be brief. Keep your comments to 300 words or less. We reserve the right to edit for brevity, clarity and other purposes.

Please respect people’s privacy. Do not share anyone’s contact information in your comments or discussions.

Feel free to share your ideas and experiences about religion, politics and relevant products or services you’ve discovered. But this is not a place for advertising, promotion, recruiting, campaigning, lobbying, soliciting or proselytizing. We understand that there can be a fine line between discussing and campaigning; please use your best judgment — and we will use ours.

Do not “feed” the trolls. We encourage you to report abuse by trolls. But we also ask that you not engage with trolls in the comment threads. Reacting to their provocations is exactly what they want. If we see you feeding a troll, we will remove both the troll’s comments and your responses.

We appreciate the news tips, but we reserve the right not to publicize rumors, allegations, conspiracy theories and other information which we know to be false or unsubstantiated.

Be yourself – and not someone else. Don’t post anything on the site posing as someone else.

You are solely responsible for the content you post. WFPL/Louisville Public Media is not responsible for the content posted by its users. We do not and cannot review all user content posted on WFPL.org. However, we have the right (but not the obligation) to review, screen, delete, edit and/or move any content posted on WFPL.org.