Media Matters for America: Terms of use for discussions and comments

Media Matters for America is dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.

We are committed to providing a forum where anyone, from anywhere on the political spectrum, can address and respond to the work we do. We request that your posts be relevant to the topic at hand and respectful of others. Media Matters reserves the right to remove comments, topics and threads that are hateful, derogatory, trolling, irrelevant to the conversation, or in violation of copyrights.

Users who disrupt the forums or violate the terms of use will be banned from participating in our forums. Users agree that they will not create alternative identities or other means to rejoin the forums if they are banned.

If you find a post that violates the above terms, please click on the "flag this comment" link and let us know. We review all flagged posts and will delete or OK them. We will not tolerate abuse of the "flag this comment" feature. It is intended to alert Media Matters' attention to comments that violate these terms of use, not to remove opinions you do not agree with or to retaliate against users you dislike. Users who abuse the privilege of flagging posts will be banned from the site.

Administrative decisions to remove posts or ban users are final.

These forums are a public space, and Media Matters is not responsible for the opinions expressed in comments here. Please keep comments civil and on-topic.

Some general forum "dos and don'ts"

DO express your opinion as it relates to the item under discussion.

DO respect others' opinions. We expect posters from all parts of the political spectrum here. Please express your opinion without insulting other posters.

DO ask questions of one another.

DO flag posts that you think violate the terms of use outlined here. Media Matters reviews all flagged posts.

DON'T post the complete text of an article. Rather, post one or two paragraphs and a link to the complete story. It is helpful to other posters if you explain why this article is relevant to the topic at hand. Posts containing complete articles will be removed.

DON'T write an otherwise thoughtful post and then close it with insults or profanity. Your post will be removed. Repeat violators will be banned.

DON'T post here if your sole purpose is to start a flame war. Arguments and debates are fine; obscenity, name-calling, and trolling are not. Violators will be banned.

DON'T take another person's comments personally. Have a thick skin and ignore posters who insist on trolling, obscenities, and name-calling.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can't I post on your site?

Registration is required to post on mediamatters.org. Fill out this form and respond to the confirmation e-mail that you receive. Once your account is verified, you'll be able to choose a username, post in our forums and manage your e-mail newsletter subscriptions. If you have trouble with the registration process, please contact us.

How can I help improve the debate in Media Matters' forums?

We rely on our users to help us moderate the heavy traffic in our forums. The most important thing you can do is follow our terms of use when you post and be respectful of other posters and their opinions. We expect differing points of view on our message boards, and it benefits everyone when we can debate issues without resorting to name-calling and obscenities.

You can also help us by flagging any posts you see that violate the forums' terms of use. The Media Matters staff reviews each flagged post and decides whether to delete or OK it. Administrative decisions regarding flagged posts are final. We recommend that if you flag a post, you don't respond to it, thereby ending the thread. Users who abuse the "flag this comment" feature will be banned from the forums. The purpose of flagging is to bring Media Matters' attention to comments that violate these terms of use, not to remove opinions you do not agree with or to retaliate against posters you dislike.

Why was my post removed?

Posts are removed for several reasons, including trolling, duplicate or spam posts, taking the discussion off topic, obscenity, hatefulness, etc. Posts are NOT removed because of the writer's opinions. Please review the terms of use for our forums.

All posts connected to a deleted thread or post are also removed.

Why was I banned?

Users are banned from the Media Matters forums for consistently violating the terms of use of our message boards. The most common reasons for banning are trolling, excessive insulting and name-calling, and repeatedly taking a discussion far from its original topic. The decision to ban a poster is based on a review of that user's posts and flagged items. We DO NOT ban users because of their opinions. Our goal is to foster lively discussion with opinions from all sides that doesn't degenerate into name-calling and flaming.

Do any of the posters in the forums work for Media Matters?

Media Matters employees can be identified by the "MM_" that precedes their username.

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