We are pleased to invite readers to comment on articles on TwinCities.com. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations.
Please stay on point and treat others with respect.
We usually do not pre-moderate comments, but do have a filter designed to prevent crude language from appearing. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community.
If you see a post that violates these terms, please flag it. We do our best to review these reports in a timely manner.
Remember that comment moderation is subjective – you may find something objectionable when we don’t, or vice versa. Don’t flag a comment just because you disagree with the person’s point of view. The up and down arrows under the comment are the way to indicate your appreciation or lack thereof. And remember not to feed the trolls!
The golden rule: Treat everyone with respect. That means no personal attacks or name-calling; no threatening or wishing harm on another person; no disclosure of anyone else’s personal information; no impersonating another commenter. A comment that seems intended solely to irritate others will be deleted.
Comments will be removed if they:
- Are off-topic. Don’t try to hijack a conversation or turn non-political stories political.
- Contain profanity or vulgarity. Don’t use foul language, even if it’s veiled.
- Contain personal attacks, libel, threats, name-calling, taunting. You can disagree with a person and even say their idea is dumb without saying they themselves are dumb. And don’t make fun of people who are dead, injured or already humiliated. Remember that family members of those in the news read these comments.
- Use hateful or baiting speech: Don’t make comments that stereotype, intimidate or are hateful toward an individual or group of individuals on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, nationality, age, or disability.
- Are spam. If you want to advertise something on our site, learn how here.
- Are not your own words. Respect others’ copyrights. Don’t copy the work of others into our comments.
- Invade someone’s privacy. Don’t publish a private person’s email address, phone number or address without their permission or information about their family.
