Please read these rules before posting a comment on West Philly Local:

Rule 1: The community welcomes your opinions and ideas. We need them.

We welcome your opinions. We hope you will see and try to understand different points of view. Try to contribute to the thread, rather than just stating if you agree or disagree. Unless you have a witty one-liner, please explain why you hold your opinion. Please use sarcasm sparingly; as the Brits like to say, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.

Rule 2: This is a public forum.

Once your comment is online, everyone with Internet access can read it. Please make your comment clear to ensure that it is not misunderstood. You can express a strong opinion but please do not go over the top.  Please consider how your comment could be received by others. Many different types of people of different ages may view your comment.

Rule 3: Language and relevance

Please be polite. Do not use swear words or crude or sexual language. Keep your submissions relevant to the story or topic. Please do not insult other contributors. If you would like to discuss the operation of the site with us, please email us at editor@westphillylocal.com

Rule 4: No libel or other abuse

Please do not make or encourage comments which are:

• defamatory, false or misleading
• insulting, threatening or abusive
• obscene or of a sexual nature
• offensive, racist, sexist, homophobic or discriminatory against any religions or other groups

We understand that these terms are sometimes subjective, but we’ll know it when we see it and you probably will too.

Rule 5: Confidentiality, privacy and contempt

Please respect people’s privacy. Please don’t submit confidential or private information. For example, please don’t upload the telephone number, email address or any other contact details of any person.

You should not write anything which could prejudice pending or on-going court proceedings of which you are aware. For example, if you have any personal knowledge about someone who has been arrested or charged or being prosecuted for an offense, please do not mention it.

Rule 6: No advertising, solicitation or investigations

Please don’t use the comment section for:

• the promotion of any products or services or for any other commercial purpose; if you would like to advertise your product or service, please email us at: ads@westphillylocal.com.
• any sponsorship, petition, campaign, scheme or chain message.

Rule 7: Impersonation and proper disclosure

You must not pretend to be someone else (e.g. an expert, another user etc.). Please don’t pretend that you are unconnected to a story or topic, when in fact you are. If you have a personal connection to a story or topic, you should disclose your connection or, where appropriate, not comment at all. We will do the same.

Rule 8: Removal of content

Comments that violate the letter or spirit of these rules may be removed. If we do remove something, we will generally remove whole comments. This means that even if only one sentence is objectionable, the whole comment will usually be removed.

If a comment or a thread is removed, this may be for any number of reasons. Usually, this will be because the comment breaks these rules or is the subject of an abuse report. Sometimes, the comment may be removed because it is connected to another comment which is being removed. We hope that you will understand that, once properly notified of a complaint, we may have to remove a comment for legal reasons.

If you are aware that content has been removed, please do not resubmit the same content. You can e-mail us at editor@westphillylocal.com if you have questions about the removal.

Rule 9: Suspension and termination

We reserve the right to suspend or ban an account at our sole discretion. Here are some reasons why we might do so:

• Breaching these rules;
• Serious failure to respect the spirit and tone of the community;
• Conduct or comments that demand a disproportionate amount of our time or abuse our writers or editors.

The length of a suspension or whether we ban someone depends on all the circumstances. Bans are generally for extreme cases and repeated serious abuse.

Rule 10: Report abuse

We strongly support the West Philly Local community in maintaining high standards of participation. If you consider that a comment does not comply with these rules, please report it to us at editor@westphillylocal.com. Please only use this for serious complaints, not simply because you disagree with something said.