FAQ: Comments & Moderation

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Q: How do I get my thumb nail image to appear on the H&A website. AKA GRAVATAR?

A: . H&A Post has elected to use the GRAVATAR system throughout the homesandagents.com website. This system is free to all users. The Gravatar.com system allows users the ability to upload their Avatar to one central location. Post websites are then able to pull that Avatar(Gravatar) merely by the posters email address on file. There is no more need to upload dozens of Avatars to your favorite websites. Please go to Http://www.gravatar.com to create an account. The system is easy to use and takes only minutes to setup. H&A only accepts Gravatars with a PG to G Rating.

Q: What does the Popular tab mean?

A: Keeps track of activity on your blog and calculates a popularity percentage for each post and page. The popularity display you see: Popularity: 27% is the rank of that post or page compared to the other posts and pages on the site. Since page view counts, etc. are cumulative, newer posts will generally have lower popularity values than older posts. This, of course, evens out over time.

Q: What does the Most Comments tab mean?

A: . Keeps track of activity on a the most commented posts. It provides a summation of the number of comments on the top five posts.

Q: What is the H&A Post’s Comment Policy?

H&A Post pre-moderates comments on our blog posts. We never censor comments based on political or ideological point of view. We only delete those comments that include the following transgressions:

• are abusive, off-topic, use excessive foul language
• include ad hominem attacks including comments that celebrate the death or illness of any person, public figure or otherwise
• contain racist, sexist, homophobic and other slurs
• are solicitations and/or advertising for personal blogs and websites
• are posted with the explicit intention of provoking other commenters or the staff at H&A Post.

Q: I posted a comment. Why can’t I see it on the site?

A: There are two scenarios for which your comment may not appear:
1. It may be pending approval. Comments on the blog are sent to moderator BEFORE they appear on the site, and this takes time. Since the volume of comments on the site has grown rapidly, there is often a delay between a comment being posted and it being approved, especially during peak hours. We appreciate your patience and ask that you refrain from posting the same comment repeatedly.

2. Your comment violated the policy above. We pride ourselves in providing a medium for engaging and thought-provoking stories and encourage our users to speak their minds freely, provided comments fall within our commenting policy. We must respect our writers and protect them from vicious and inflammatory comments. They too are entitled to free speech- the right to share their opinions without being subject to scathing and mean-spirited remarks.

Q: Why am I blocked from commenting on H&A Post?
A: There are a few scenarios in which a comment might be blocked:

1. A comment is extremely abusive, off-topic, uses excessive foul language, or includes an ad hominem attack
2. If a commenter has previously posted comments that are abusive, off-topic, used excessive foul language, or include ad hominem attacks, a H&A Post moderator may decide to ban the commenter’s IP address. This means the abusive commenter is banned from commenting on the site in the future, even if the later comments are not abusive. We ban IPs because the sheer volume of comments makes it too time consuming to individually delete comments written by someone with a pattern of abuse.

Q: Can I include HTML in my comments?
A: We remove all html from comments to preserve formatting consistency.

Q: If you don’t allow any HTML, how can I include a link in my comment?
A: If you include a URL in your comment, it will be converted to a link. Please note, comments containing links to personal blogs and other inappropriate sites will be deleted. ONLY links to relevant news stories or sites are acceptable.

Q: How can I include a paragraph break in my comment?
A: Empty lines in the body of your comment will be converted to paragraph breaks.

Q: There is a comment that I find insulting and in violation of your policy. What can I do?
A: You can flag the comment as abusive by pressing the Flag As Abusive link below the comment. This alerts our moderators and delete the comments that don’t comply with our policy.

Q: Can I become a fan of a blogger?
A: Absolutely. Each blogger has their own profile page that includes their bios and a I’m A Fan Of link. You can find this page by clicking on a the bloggers name.