Community FAQ and Guidelines

We invite you to express your opinions and engage in discussions with one another. While we encourage an open forum, please follow these guidelines to ensure an enjoyable and welcoming environment for all our readers.

By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to follow the Community Guidelines below as well as our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

How do I join the conversations?

Before you can start posting, you need to create an account and create a display name, which will appear alongside any comment you write. At the moment, we require that you use Google to authenticate your account. (If you don’t have a Google account, please note that we will be adding other authentication options in the future.) Once you set up your account, you are ready to start posting.

Will my name appear next to my comment?

When you create your account, you will need to select a display name. You may use your actual name as your display name or a pseudonym to protect your privacy. Your email address will not be visible to the public.

Once you select a display name for your account, it will be associated with all previous and future comments you make. You may change your display name in the “My Profile” section under the “Account” tab. However, you can only change your display name once every two weeks.

Can I be notified if someone replies to one of my comments?

Yes. Once you’ve created an account, you can turn on notifications in the “My Profile” section. You will first need to verify your email address. Then you can choose to be notified by email if someone replies to you, if one of your comments is marked “Featured” or if a staff member replies to you. The email address used for notifications is the one associated with your Google account.

Are comments reviewed before they’re posted?

We do not review or moderate comments before they are published, but we reserve the right to remove or edit content once posted.

I read a comment that violated the rules listed here. What should I do?

If you read a comment that you believe violates our Community Guidelines, feel free to flag the comment. While flagged comments are not automatically removed from the site, each flagged comment will be further reviewed by our team.

I posted a comment and it was removed. Why?

First, take a moment to review our Community Guidelines below. Comments are generally removed from discussions when they don’t adhere to our policies.

Can I edit a post I wrote?

Once a comment is posted, you have two minutes during which you can edit your comment. 

Can I delete my account?

Yes. You may do that in the “My Profile” section under the “Account” tab.

1. Respect one another. Healthy debate is great, but attacks are not. Please refrain from posting offensive, obscene, threatening or abusive comments. If you personally attack other readers or writers, your comment(s) and responses to those comments may be removed from the discussion. Attacks create a hostile environment that discourages discussion. You are fully responsible for libelous or defamatory comments.

2. We will not tolerate hate-speech. Comments containing racism, homophobia, sexism, or any other form of hate-speech have no place on our site.

3. Avoid the use of profanity. Obscene or vulgar posts may offend other readers. The use of obscenities may prevent a comment from posting. In some cases, if a post is still too vulgar, a moderator may later remove or edit it. Please note that comments may be edited by the moderator for any reason, including but not limited to language.

4. You’re responsible for what you write. We are not responsible for any user submitted content. We have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor submissions and we may remove content that we deem inappropriate for any reason whatsoever without consent. We also reserve the right to remove a user’s privilege to post content on our site.

5. Stay on topic. Comments should be related to the topic discussed. In order to keep the conversation relevant, off-topic comments may be edited or removed.

6. Don’t impersonate someone else. You may not impersonate any person or entity, or otherwise mislead as to the origin of your comments. If we believe you’ve impersonated someone else, we reserve the right to remove the comment.

7. Spam and commercial content will be removed. We do not allow comments containing copy used for commercial purposes or for soliciting funds. If we see them, we reserve the right to remove them.

8. Do not include personal information in your comments. We strongly advise that you do not include any personal information about yourself (ex. address, telephone number, email address) in your comments. You may not post comments that include others’ personal information or violate a third party’s right to privacy. Comments containing personal information may be removed.

9. We reserve the right to excerpt your comments. For any content that you submit, you give us permission to use such content in whole or in part in any form. For more information, please see our Terms of Use.

10. Readers may “flag” other comments. If a reader flags a comment, moderators will review that comment as soon as possible. We do not remove every comment that has been flagged.

11. Complaints about removed comments. Please contact us at community@sfstandard.com if you have any complaints about deleted comments.

12. Repeated abuse may lead to commenting privileges being suspended. If you think you’ve been banned by mistake, let us know at community@sfstandard.com.