Kaniva Tonga News Comment Board Rules and Guidelines

Kaniva Tonga News comment boards are a forum for thoughtful commentary and civil dialogue intended to enlighten readers with additional insights or counterpoints.

We encourage thoughtful comments that:

  • have a positive and constructive tone
  • are on topic, clear and to the point
  • are respectful toward others and their opinions

All comments are reviewed by moderators before they are posted. Each user may post four comments per news article. Additional comments are permitted on sports stories. Some users submit comments that make a valid argument or statement but violate one or more of our guidelines, and their comments are rejected. To avoid this, please carefully read and follow the guidelines below:

  1. No personal attacks, excessive criticism or sarcasm, or comments meant to solely provoke — meaning comments that are both personal and antagonistic toward individuals and/or groups. Do not call another commenter a derogatory name, tell someone to “get a life,” mock someone, or express a desire to hurt a suspect, accuse someone of crimes they have not been convicted of or are under investigation for (drug use, illegal immigration, etc.). Personal attacks against Deseret News personnel — including comment moderators — will not be tolerated.
  2. No obscenity, vulgarity, profanity, or implied profanity, acronyms that are shorthand for profanities, name-calling, epithets or racial slurs. Occasionally a user will attempt to use symbol swearing (using #*$) in place of profanity. The best comments make an articulate point without using intended or implied crude language.
  3. No ALL CAPS shouting, overuse of punctuation or short “ditto” comments.
  4. Overly speculative comments or comments containing information not included in the story are generally rejected, especially in cases of crime or tragedy. If you have information that you feel is critical to a story, please contact the reporter who wrote the story.
  5. Be sensitive in comments about death and injury, especially in stories that involve children.
  6. Off-topic comments will be rejected. Comments must tie directly to the associated article. This is especially true on sensitive topics. Complaining about comment policies and moderation of comments is considered off topic and will result in your comment being rejected. Comments and questions regarding comment board procedures can be emailed to [email protected].
  7. Links to outside URLs are discouraged and will delay the posting of your comment. Comments with email addresses, links to personal blogs, websites or Facebook accounts also are discouraged and will generally be rejected. NZKanivaPacific.co.nz does not endorse the content of external websites and has no liability as to their content in any event. We reserve the right to remove any external link.
  8. We want to hear YOUR opinion. Your comment must be created and owned by you. If you copy and paste from another source, please give proper attribution. Posting copyrighted material is not permitted.
  9. Commercial promotion or solicitation is not allowed.
  10. Please do not submit charity donation information (as in the case of individual tragedies). Those who would like to request charitable donation information be posted to a news article can do so by emailing [email protected].

If you see an objectionable comment please report it to [email protected].

ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What kinds of comments are posted?

We are looking for intelligent, on-topic comments that add value and insight to a story. We hold those who submit comments to the standards you’ve come to expect from the Kaniva Tonga News  We accept a wide variety of viewpoints that add value to a reader’s experience. These comment boards are offered as a public forum for a wide audience and should not be confused with a message board or instant messenger service.

OK, I met all of the above guidelines and my comment still didn’t get approved! What gives?

Our moderators work hard to ensure a civil atmosphere and increase the quality of dialogue. However, because we are human, moderating decisions are subjective and occasionally we make mistakes accepting or rejecting comments. Unfortunately, we are not able to restore rejected comments or respond to requests asking for explanations as to why a comment was rejected. If you believe your comment was rejected in error, feel free to submit it again.

Haven’t you ever heard of freedom of speech? That’s censorship!

Commenting on Kanivatonga.nz is a privilege, not a right. If you continually abuse that privilege, you may have your account suspended or banned. But we want your comments and added insight, so keep it civil and we can continue a long and meaningful online relationship.

What if I spot an error in a story?

Comments regarding story errors – whether grammatical, typographical or factual – should be sent to the reporter who wrote the story or to kanivatonga.co.nz.

If you have a question or comment about this policy, please contact us via email at [email protected]

Kanivatonga.nz reserves the right to reject or remove comments that do not conform to these criteria or for any other reason.

By submitting a comment on the kanivatonga.co.nz comment board, you are agreeing to the kanivatonga.co.nz terms of use and the kanivatonga.co.nz comment board rules and guidelines.