KSL Comment Board Guidelines

KSL.com comment boards are for civil dialogue intended to enlighten fellow readers with additional insight or counterpoints. 

We encourage comments, which are:

• positive and constructive in tone;
• on topic, clear, and to the point; and 
• civil and respectful toward others 

We also ask you to be kind, thoughtful, and patient in postings and replies. There are many divisive topics where there may be disagreement. We ask you to find a way to express your point of view in a non-threatening way.

A quick list of things that will get a comment rejected:

• Off-topic comments. Comments need to tie directly to the attached article. Please keep comments relevant. Often a reply will meet the guidelines, but may still be deleted because the comment deviates too far from the article topic.
• Hate speech, offensive or obscene language, or any comment that criticizes an individual’s or group’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin.  
• Personal attacks or name-calling towards any other commenter, person, or groups of people. Personal attacks against KSL personnel — including comment moderators — are not tolerated.
• Harassing, threatening, intimidating, impersonating, or attempting to impersonate, any other person, or otherwise attempting to mislead others.

• Victim blaming or insensitive comments on crime, accident, or tragedy-related articles.
• Posting content you didn't create without proper attribution.
• Comments or posts that infringe, misappropriate, or violate any third party’s rights, including but not limited to, violating a third party’s rights of publicity, contractual rights, fiduciary rights, or intellectual property rights.  
• Comments that violate the law or are otherwise inappropriate.  Examples include, but are not limited to, personal information that can be used to identify or contact any person, including other commenters;
  
  
• Commercial promotion or solicitation, including, but not limited to, content that would promote other websites, businesses, services, or products unaffiliated with this website and business
• If you have information you feel is critical to a story, please contact the reporter assigned to the story.

Comments may be reviewed by moderators before being posted. Moderators work hard to ensure a civil atmosphere and increase the quality of dialogue. Moderation is subjective and is at the sole discretion of KSL.com.   All moderation decisions are final. We are unable to restore rejected comments or respond to requests asking for explanations as to why a comment was rejected. Comments posted outside the hours of 6 a.m. - 11 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. - 11 p.m. weekends MT will remain in queue until the next day. 

Additional guidelines and rules:

• Users are allowed one comment (parent - 1st level) and one reply per article. @replies in parent comments (1st level) will be rejected.
• 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 sent via the contact form here.
• 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 are also discouraged and will generally be rejected. KSL.com does not endorse the content of external websites and shall have no liability as to their content. KSL reserves the right to remove any external link.
• Do not submit charity donation information (as in the case of individual tragedies). Those who would like to request for charitable donation information to be posted to the news article can do so by filling out this form.
• If you see an objectionable comment, please use the "Report abuse" button that follows each comment posted on the site.
• Comment boards are closed to comment posting 24 hours after the last story update.
• Users with inappropriate usernames may face comment rejection and account suspension.
• KSL.com reserves the right to reject or remove comments not conforming to these criteria, or for any other reason.

 KSL.com may establish general practices, policies, and limits which may or may not be published concerning the use of the comment boards.  KSL.com has no responsibility or liability for the decision to post, not post, or delete any comment.  KSL.com may change these general practices and limits at any time, in its sole discretion, with or without notice.

ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What about free speech? 

Commenting on KSL.com is a privilege. As a private entity, KSL.com reserves the right to determine what we see fit to post on our comment boards, much like the editorial decisions newspapers make in picking which "Letters to the Editor" to publish.. A great article on free speech and the 1st Amendment can be found here.

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 submitted the story (email link to the reporter is near their bio at the bottom of the story) or via the "contact us" form. The moderation staff has no control over editorial content, these comments will not be posted. 

What name is displayed with my comment?

Each comment will include your username. If you have not picked a username, it will display your first name and last initial. 

Can I edit my comment?

Currently, we do not offer the option to edit your comment.

I had a comment rejected. Can I try again on the same comment board?

At this time, only one comment (parent - 1st level) and one replies. If a comment is rejected, it counts against the total. For example: If a parent comment is rejected, you will be unable to post another parent comment on the same board.