Washblog

Washblog's Content Policy

Welcome to Washblog, the on-line weblog for liberal coverage of Washington State political and social news.

Thousands of reader comments have been posted on Washblog. The Editorial Board attempts to review all diaries and comments, but cannot read all of them in a timely manner. When you post a comment or diary on Washblog, you agree to abide by this content policy. Please think of the comments as conversations between individuals and interact with civility. We are not able to provide a forum in which everyone will agree with your point of view.

• You may not post any unlawful, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or other material that would violate the law, reveal private information of other users, or otherwise violate the terms of service for Washblog's host provider. Such material will be removed and the author(s) banned from future comments and the ability to post diaries.
• Washblog’s Editorial Board reserves the right to delete diaries and comments and ban users at its sole discretion if, in its judgment, the diaries, comments or commenters are disruptive. We loosely define disruptiveness as posts that dominate, re-direct or hijack the a section of the site or a thread, especially if they do so repeatedly; or posts that contain insults or that call other commenters names or repeatedly make the same point with the effect of annoying other commenters.
• Comments and diaries are expected to reflect different points of view. Critiques of others' positions are welcomed, but those critiques should be of the arguments, not the person. Fact corrections are especially welcomed. Insults, calling into question another commenters’ value or intelligence, using racist terms as descriptors, and other offensive content or content that could be reasonably construed as such by the Editorial Board are subject to deletion by the Editors. Whether it is by persons who agree or disagree with the views expressed by Washblog, any such discourse is subject to deletion. Repeatedly disruptive commenters may be disallowed from posting to the site or banned, without notice.
• Decisions to delete comments or delete or edit diaries or to ban participants are made at the discretion of the Editors. We strive for consistency and fairness but make no guarantee of complete consistency or fairness. We strive for clarity and accountability in our decisions, but we are not responsible for convincing every reader that these decisions are sound.
• URLs within the body of the comment should generally be in html format, as their length may skew the site. To put a url within html format, insert this code: <a href = “url”> name or description of site</a> If you include a url without html format, please check the length and adjust if needed. Unformatted urls may be deleted or corrected, at the editors’ discretion.
• The discussion forums are to be used only for non-commercial purposes. You may not solicit funds, promote commercial entities or otherwise engage in commercial activity in our discussion forums. Content that contains advertisements, spam, embedded tracking software, or other solicitations will be deleted. The responsible commenters will be banned at the discretion of the editors. Editors will delete images and other embedded objects that we feel may be connected with data mining or collection efforts. We reserve the right to act protectively even if we are not able to know for sure whether an image is in violation of our policies.
• Quotes from material appearing on Washblog with attribution are allowed. Reprints are allowed only by permission from Washblog. You may request permission by email: info@washblog.com.
• For any content that you post, you hereby grant to Washblog the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part, world-wide and to incorporate it in other works, in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.
• Washblog reserves the right to edit posted diaries for formatting, content, or length. If content is changed, added or deleted, with the exception of formatting changes, they will be noted within the body of the post that has been changed. Scoophost’s technology does not allow comments to be edited. Comments can be deleted only.
• Please do not reprint comments or diary text over three paragraphs from your own comments or diaries, or those of others, including news articles or material from other websites. Instead, please summarize text from others in three paragraphs or less and hyperlink to them.
• Washblog is a privately-owned and operated site. It is not the Government. It is not a public institution. It is not an organ of a political party. It is not a neutral site. It is intended to host, express, and disseminate what the editorial board believes to be the widest range possible of progressive discussion on events, ideas, and policies of interest to Washingtonians. Washblog reserves the right to limit comments to those that, in the view of its Editorial Board, comport with its stated comment policy. Comments that do not comply are subject to deletion and banning of the author's ISP.

Disclaimers:

• Reading and posting comments at Washblog constitutes acknowledgment of and agreement to the terms outlined in this comment policy. This comment policy may be revised in part or in full at any time.
• Nothing on this site should be construed as legal advice. Washblog does not give legal advice.
• All comments must conform to applicable state and federal laws. Washblog has the right, but is under no legal obligation to monitor, edit, censor, or take responsibility for comments. It may or may not act upon a violation of its comment policy once a suspected violation has been brought to its attention. Therefore, commenters are solely responsible for the content of their comments and should ensure that that their comments are lawful and fall within the stated guidelines of both Washblog and its hosting company, Scoophost.
• Washblog is not responsible for injury or liability to any reader or commenter resulting from its own communications or those of commenters, that may be offensive, misleading, inaccurate, illegal, or otherwise unsuitable in the view of the reader. Readers and commenters further agree to indemnify and hold harmless Washblog from claims resulting from the use of any material appearing on Washblog which damages the reader, commenter or any other party.
• If you believe your content has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, we have a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of users who infringe the rights of copyright holders if you provide us with the following information required by the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 512:
  1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
  2. Identification of the copyright work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site;
  3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material;
  4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party;
  5. A statement that the complaining party has a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
  6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
• Washblog is not responsible for and often disagrees with material posted in the comments section. This is an opinion site. The material posted by Washblog or left in the comments section may or may not be accurate.