Community guidelines

Talk to people, not avatars.

Disagreement is welcome. Harassment, threats, discriminatory abuse, stalking, and posting someone’s private information are not. Criticize an argument without turning the person behind it into a target.

Give us something to respond to.

Ask a specific question. Explain what you mean. When making a factual claim, link to a source when you can. Do not present a rumour as reporting or impersonate another person. Repeated spam, promotion unrelated to the conversation, and deliberate disruption may be removed.

Keep the conversation open.

Sex, identity, politics, and difficult experiences can be discussed candidly. Do not post graphic sexual content, nonconsensual intimate material, or content exploiting minors. Respect the privacy of people who have not chosen to take part.

Readers contribute to the conversation.

Anyone with an account can comment, reply, and start a discussion. Publishing stories is reserved for approved contributors and editors. A discussion post does not automatically become a published article.

Reader letters need permission.

Editors may feature a conversation in Discussion. To publish a reader letter as an article, we need the writer’s permission. The letter form includes a separate permission checkbox. Leaving it unchecked does not prevent you from joining the conversation.

Moderation and appeals

Editors may remove posts, close a discussion, or suspend an account when these guidelines are violated. Use the Report control to flag a concern. If you think a decision was mistaken, contact the editors and include the page or discussion title.

Corrections matter.

If a story contains an error, send a correction through Contact with the title, the claim, and a source where possible. We will review the issue and identify substantive corrections in the story.