Comment Policy (thanks to the many bloggers and community managers who inspired this policy, especially MSPowerUser)

I try to maintain a free and open environment and I welcome comments that are relevant and respectful. Your comments should be appropriate to the discussion. Comments should continue the discussion and seek to add value. To ensure the discussion is worthwhile for everyone, please observe the following guidelines:

• Be polite – don’t be rude to anyone. Respect others who comment. If something you would say offline in the real world would embarrass your mom, please don’t say it here.
• Be encouraging – remember there is a person behind the screen and that your words affect people.
• Don’t troll – we appreciate and welcome differing perspectives here, but comments that add no value to the discussion or that are merely insulting will be deleted without exception or apology. Don’t waste your time or ours.
• Spam – just say goodbye. Add value but don’t self-promote. Spammers will be blocked.

Our guidelines boil down to “Don’t be a jerk and do no harm.”

If you don’t follow any of these guidelines, not only will our moderators remove the comment but we may also ban you from participating in the discussions.

If you find any comments which violate our guidelines, please make sure to ‘flag’ or ‘mark as spam’ – our moderators highly appreciate your support!

A useful (and classic) review of how to not comment can be found at: http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/08/07/how-not-to-comment-on-comments/.

Keep it classy, helpful, intelligent, and encouraging.