Comments
If you wish to comment at American Thinker, you must get a subscription. We did not institute this payment system because we’re greedy (although the money is helpful because the search engines and social media outlets blacklist us, limiting our readership). Instead, we require payment to weed out people who wish to use the comment system to harm American Thinker, its writers, and other commenters.
An algorithm does a first pass at moderating comments. It screens out obscenities, common insults (“stupid,” “idiot”), sexually and racially insulting terms, and anything relating to Jews or Israel. We understand that this is a broad brush. For example, the algorithm cannot distinguish between “that’s a stupid policy” and “you are stupid.” It also cannot distinguish between “American Jews are stupid to keep voting for Democrats” and something deeply offensive and threatening.
Once the comments are shuttled into moderation, it takes an editor—a human being—to make those important distinctions and to decide whether to publish or delete a comment. Because we have a small staff, things sometimes get caught in moderation for a while. We apologize in advance for these delays.
Publishing a comment at American Thinker is not a right. If you violate any of our rules, we will ban you, with or without a warning depending on the severity of your infraction.
REQUIRED:
● Comments must be on-topic.
● Comments must add to the discussion.
● Comments must be civil (no slurs, scorn, profanity).
UNACCEPTABLE:
● Attacks on others: scorn, slurs, name-calling, ad hominem attacks.
● Attacks on race, ethnic groups, sexual orientation, religious preferences,
nonbelievers.
● Predicting and/or advocating violence.
● Vendor promotion.
● Chatroom comments.
● Conspiracy theories.
● Comments written using texting abbreviations
● Foreign language comments.
● Gossip, second-hand information.
● Posting of previously published materials.
● More than three words in all capital letters.
● Advocacy of illegal activity (refusal to pay taxes, etc).
● False premises, crystal ball reading, speaking for others, stereotyping.
Owing to the volume of comments we receive, we are not always able to capture in the first instance comments that violate these rules. AT management disavows the content of any such comments.
Comments
If you wish to comment at American Thinker, you must get a subscription. We did not institute this payment system because we’re greedy (although the money is helpful because the search engines and social media outlets blacklist us, limiting our readership). Instead, we require payment to weed out people who wish to use the comment system to harm American Thinker, its writers, and other commenters.
An algorithm does a first pass at moderating comments. It screens out obscenities, common insults (“stupid,” “idiot”), sexually and racially insulting terms, and anything relating to Jews or Israel. We understand that this is a broad brush. For example, the algorithm cannot distinguish between “that’s a stupid policy” and “you are stupid.” It also cannot distinguish between “American Jews are stupid to keep voting for Democrats” and something deeply offensive and threatening.
Once the comments are shuttled into moderation, it takes an editor—a human being—to make those important distinctions and to decide whether to publish or delete a comment. Because we have a small staff, things sometimes get caught in moderation for a while. We apologize in advance for these delays.
Publishing a comment at American Thinker is not a right. If you violate any of our rules, we will ban you, with or without a warning depending on the severity of your infraction.
REQUIRED:
● Comments must be on-topic.
● Comments must add to the discussion.
● Comments must be civil (no slurs, scorn, profanity).
UNACCEPTABLE:
● Attacks on others: scorn, slurs, name-calling, ad hominem attacks.
● Attacks on race, ethnic groups, sexual orientation, religious preferences,
nonbelievers.
● Predicting and/or advocating violence.
● Vendor promotion.
● Chatroom comments.
● Conspiracy theories.
● Comments written using texting abbreviations
● Foreign language comments.
● Gossip, second-hand information.
● Posting of previously published materials.
● More than three words in all capital letters.
● Advocacy of illegal activity (refusal to pay taxes, etc).
● False premises, crystal ball reading, speaking for others, stereotyping.
Owing to the volume of comments we receive, we are not always able to capture in the first instance comments that violate these rules. AT management disavows the content of any such comments.