Q. What are your terms of use?
A. If you are under 13 years of age, you may read our message boards but you may not participate. Here are the full legal terms you agree to when adding content to our site.

Q. Is registration necessary?
A. Users are required to register on the site in order to comment on stories or rate content. Users can register by selecting the register link, which is located at the top of every page.

Q. Do I need to be logged in to comment?
A. Yes, only registered users can comment on articles, photos, graphics and most other content. Registered users will be prompted to log in before a comment can be posted to the site. You do not need to be registered to comment on our blogs.

Q. What is your site's commenting policy?
A. Readers are reminded to post comments that are germane to the article and write in a common language that steers clear of personal attacks and/or vulgarities. We reserve the right to remove any user or user's comments that are identified as inappropriate. Examples of these types of infractions are comments that include:

   • Abusive, off-topic or foul language;
   • Racist, sexist, homophobic or other offensive terminology;
   • Solicitations and/or advertising spam;
   • Attacks that celebrate the death, injury or illness of any person, public figure or otherwise.

Comments are filtered for language. Readers may report comments by clicking "Report Abuse." Once a comment has been flagged, a Los Angeles Times staffer will investigate. Note: Comments on blogs are moderated before publication and will not appear until they have been reviewed by Times staff.

Q. How do I find the "Report Abuse" button?
A. To reach the screen with the "Report Abuse" button, you must first click "View Comments" in the gray Comments header that appears below each article. That brings up a full screen of comments, each of which has a "Report Abuse" button next to it.

Q. What does the Editor's Pick designation mean?
A. These are comments that an editor has identified as insightful and thought-provoking that help further the dialogue.

Q. Why don't I see the photo that I just uploaded to the site?
A. There are a few reasons for this:
   • All uploaded photos are moderated, meaning they must be approved before they can appear on the site. This process takes time due to the volume of photos received. We appreciate your patience and ask that you do not try to upload the same photo repeatedly.
   • If your photo violates the site's content policy or does not follow the theme of the content group, it will not be placed on the site.

Q. My photo was approved, but why does it look smaller and/or distorted on your site?
A. There are restrictions on the maximum dimensions of a submitted photo (500 pixels by 500 pixels) as well as the file size (no larger than 2MG). Submitted photos that fall outside these parameters will be resized or compressed in order to meet the site standards.

Q. Are there certain file formats that I must use for my photo uploads?
A. Users are limited to the following image file formats: jpg, gif and png.