The Nut Graph | Comments and columns policy

Comments and columns policy

IN the interest of fairness, accuracy, and accountability, and in order to advance dialogue, all commissioned columns and reader contributions — whether comments, articles, letters to the editor, photos or videos — should as much as possible adhere to the following guidelines:

Stay on topic. Keep your comments relevant, brief and to the point.
Be constructive and polite so we can maintain a space for civil debate that is constructive, engaging and as inclusive as possible.
Debate the ideas. Personal attacks, rants and profanities will not be tolerated. Intelligent and well-argued views about what you disagree with are more likely to be heard than angry high-pitched voices.Well-made arguments and observations also serve us all better and help to constructively move the discussion forward.
No defamatory or disparaging comments that might damage a person’s or an organisation’s reputation will be entertained.
Making allegations or uncorroborated claims of any kind which cannot be proven will also not be entertained. Investigations of claims will only be conducted wherever feasible within The Nut Graph’s resources.
Please make it easier for everyone to digest your ideas by reviewing your comment for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and, above all, coherence. If you are unable to do so but are making an important point that we want to publish, we reserve the right to edit your contribution for grammar, brevity and coherence.
No advertising, spamming or marketing messages of any kind are allowed, whether promoting yourself, your organisation or a third party.We are a free online news site, not a free advertising or publicity site.
Keep within the law. Avoid contempt of court. That means not posting or writing anything that risks prejudicing ongoing or forthcoming court proceedings.
Because it would be impossible for The Nut Graph editors to only moderate comments, readers will no longer be able to comment on an article two weeks after it has been published. This will allow editors to work on moderating comments for more current articles. However, The Nut Graph may review this policy from time to time on a case-by-case basis.
For columnists, please indicate your full name and a brief description of your affiliations or what you are involved in.
For contributors, please indicate your full name and provide us with your e-mail address and contact number so that we can clarify any points we are unclear about with you.
For contributors, if you would like to use a pseudonym, please let us know, but we will still need to know who you are, so that we know whose views are being represented on our site, even if readers don’t.
Finally, and most importantly, The Nut Graph reserves the absolute right to publish at our discretion.

Please send all contributions to