Comment Policy

FAQs about comments and our moderation

Question: What is our Comment Policy?
We pre-moderate comments and blog submissions. We never censor comments based on point of view. We only delete those comments that include the following transgressions:

• are abusive, off-topic, use excessive foul language
• include ad hominem attacks including comments that celebrate the death or illness of any person, public figure or otherwise
• contain racist, sexist, homophobic and other slurs
• are solicitations, advertorials and/or advertising for personal blogs and websites
• thread spamming (you've posted this same comment elsewhere on the site
• are posted with the explicit intention of provoking other commenters or the folks at THJ.
• contain blatant inaccuracies of factual matter

Question: I posted a comment but can't see it on the web site?
Two reasons may cause your comments not to appear:
1. Your comments may be pending approval - they are scanned BEFORE they appear on the site - this takes time. Since the volume of comments on the site can come in rapidly, there can be an occassional delay between a comment being posted and it’s approval. We appreciate your patience. Please refrain from posting the same comment repeatedly to get our attention. It’s like phoing the telephone company’s repair department.... everyone is in the queue.
2. Your comment violated a policy (see above). We pride ourselves in providing a medium for honest and engaging and in-depth thought-provoking articles and encourage our readers to speak their e-minds freely, providing comments fall within our commenting policy rules. We respect our writers and columnists and protect them from vicious and inflammatory comments. They, too, are entitled to free speech and the right to share their opinions which they have been specifically invited to do, without being subject to scathing, slanderous or mean-spirited remarks.

Question: Why am I blocked from commenting on THJ?
There are a few scenarios in which a comment might be blocked:
1. a comment is extremely abusive, off-topic, uses excessive foul language, or includes an ad hominem attack
2. a commenter has previously posted comments that are abusive, off-topic, used excessive foul language, or include an ad hominem attack, a HJ moderator may decide to ban the commenter's IP address. This means the abusive commenter is banned from commenting on the site in the future, even if the subsequent comments are not abusive. We ban IPs because the volume of comments makes it too time consuming to individually delete comments written by someone with a possibility of abusive writing. (Commenting is a priviledge, that we allow and not a right.)

Queston: Can I include HTML in my comments?
All html is removed from comments to preserve formatting consistency.

Question: If you don't allow any HTML, how can I include a link in my comment?
A URL in your comment will be converted to a link automatically. Comments containing links to personal blogs, personal ads and other inappropriate sites will be deleted. ONLY links to relevant news stories or sites are acceptable.

Question: There is a comment that I find insulting and in violation of your policy. What can I do?
You can cut and past the offending comment and email us this at info@thehealingjournal.com. This helps alert our moderators to delete the comments that don't comply.

Question: Can I print comments?
For the time being, you can copy and paste them into another program and print them from there.

Don't forget to register first.

If you have other questions -  please email us at info@thehealingjournal.com. Please remember there is a real person reading and answering your emails - no rude, mean and/or inflammatory remarks please.