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Response Guidelines

Response Policy

Responses on Torah Musings are fully moderated. Readers should think carefully before submitting a response and adopt the style of a newspaper or magazine letter to the editor. Like any periodical, Torah Musings may edit any published response. Responses will be rejected if they fail to adhere to the response guidelines. If you write inappropriately, your response will be deleted even if it contributes to the discussion.

Response Guidelines

Judge people favorably, both when they are being discussed and when they are communicating with you. Try to find ways to read things positively.
Confirm your information before posting, or couch your language with appropriate disclaimers.
Do not knowingly publish false information. Distinguish between fact, suspicion and opinion.
Do not post defamatory information, even if true and available elsewhere, without proper halakhic justification.
Disclose conflicts of interest, affiliations and agendas. When that is not possible, avoid topics where these conflicts may affect the subject.
Never pretend to be someone else.
Be honest and fair. Make sure you do not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.
Give everyone the benefit of the doubt and judge favorably. Remember that their family and yours may be reading your words.
Be considerate of other people’s feelings, as well as their beliefs.
Do not insult anyone, ever. The more you disagree, the more respectful you should be while disagreeing.
Do not use profanity or sexually suggestive language.
Do not violate people’s privacy or confidence.
Keep discussions on topic.
Do not spam. Spamming includes leaving repeated comments promoting a specific idea or web site, including making the same point multiple times.
Do not troll. Trolling is the posting of inflammatory comments with intent to provoke or disrupt.