Instead of taking the time to write our own commenting guidelines, we thought we would steal borrow some of our favorites from other websites. Here they are, in no particular order.

“Be nice. Think about others. People often say things on boards that they would be ashamed to say to someone face to face. Please treat other users with respect.” (NYDailyNews.com)

“If we feel that comments are abusive, threatening, objectionable, obscene, defamatory or racist, they will be removed. There is no need to be offensive – and not much point in writing posts that end up being removed. Any posts that are in breach of our guidelines are liable to be removed. People who repeatedly break the rules may be banned from the site.” (NYDailyNews.com)

“No Spam: Spam and advertising content will be removed.” (Mashable)

“No profanity, of course.  And don’t try to slip stuff in by leaving out, transposing or changing a couple of letters on me. Use “bleep,” if you must.” (Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune)

“Don’t assume that I’ll be reviewing or even reading all the comments.  I’ll try, particularly when the items are recent, because I am very interested in what others are saying.  But when things get busy, I may only be skimming for profanity, if that. That means comments will get posted that violate these rules, so…

Let me know via e-mail if you see violations of these rules that you think I ought to remedy.” (Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune)

Yeah, what they said.

Email us if you see violations of these rules.

One more thing, commenters on bettercompetitor.com are responsible for all legal consequences arising from their comments, including libel, infringement of copyright or actions that threaten a third party. By submitting a comment, you are agreeing to indemnify Better Competitor Chicago and its owners from any legal action arising from your comments. (Virginia Citrano, MyVeronaNJ.com)