The Huffington Post has a thriving user community and actively encourages commenting
on news stories and blog posts. We are dedicated to this community and strive to maintain
a respectful, engaging and informative conversation. Towards that end, we have general
guidelines for commenting. They are enforced 24/7 by a moderating system that features a
team of staff and community moderators, and moderation tools. If you wish to participate in the
community, we ask that you follow the guidelines below and the spirit of the community they
seek to create.
If your comments consistently or intentionally make this community a less civil and
enjoyable place to be, you and your comments will be excluded from it.
The Huffington Post promotes a receptive, transparent and civil atmosphere for comments and
users. Critical, in-depth and intelligent discussions and debates are encouraged and the best of
these are highlighted in various ways, such as through the Community Pundit program.
Everyone is welcome and encouraged to voice their opinion regardless of identity, politics,
ideology, religion or agreement with other community members, the author of the post or staff
members as long as those opinions are respectful and constructively add to the conversation.
However, this community does not tolerate direct or indirect attacks, name-calling or insults,
nor does it tolerate intentional attempts to derail, hijack, troll or bait others into an emotional
response. These types of comments will be removed from the community where warranted.
Individuals who consistently or intentionally post these types of comments will be warned and, if
necessary, excluded from the community.
Many comments are pre-moderated.
To maintain a civil atmosphere, our moderation team may read comments before they are
displayed to other users. If this is the case, you may see your comment pending approval.
Approval times can vary depending on the site-wide comment load, so please be patient -- we
will get to all comments as quickly as possible.
The community monitors itself, in conjunction with the core moderaton team - and you
can help!
Every member of this community has the power and responsibility to help elevate the level of
conversation and remove the trolls who would degrade it. On every comment, you can "Fan
and Favorite" (F&F;) users who are posting great content, or flag a comment for review by a
moderator. Taking these simple actions helps bring great content to the top and removes bad
content quickly.
Community members who consistently and reliably flag comments that are removed by our
moderators may be given additional tools that will allow them to hide or remove comments
entirely. We take this ability very seriously and if you see any of the "community moderators"
acting inappropriately, please report them to us.
Be yourself, only yourself, and just one of yourself.
Every person's opinion is valuable and unique. Pretending to be someone else removes that
unique value from you or from others. Don't misrepresent yourself or others, spread misinformation,
create multiple accounts or "astroturf". If you do, you will make the community a
less enjoyable and valuable place to be and will be removed when we see it.
This community is a safe space.
We strongly believe that the Huffington Post should be a safe space for individuals, groups
and their ideas. As such, violent and hostile language or calls for violence and hostility are
not welcome here. If you directly or indirectly threaten the physical or mental well being of a
member of this community, or an individual or group who is the subject of an article, you will
be removed immediately. If a credible threat is made against an individual or group, not only
will it be removed but it is likely that it will be reported to law enforcement agencies and we will
cooperate with them to any extent requested.
Personal identifiable information should never be posted to the Huffington Post comments
section. It never turns out well for anyone.
If you see any threats, harassment or personal information trolling please report it quickly.
If you have comments, we are here and we have real people who read and reply.
If you have complaints, questions, concerns, or just feedback - positive or critical - please get in
touch with us here.
