411mania’s Comment Policy

411mania has used Disqus for several years now as a commenting system. First implemented here all the way back in October of 2012, it’s made for a much more constructive and easier-to-manage comment system where our readership can interact and discuss the pop culture news of the day. Part of that came in the establishment of a clearer, more explicit comment policy. The policy at the time laid out the explicit behaviors that would result in action. That allowed both moderators and users to have an easier time knowing what was and wasn’t appropriate.

That was five years ago, and since then the site has grown and changed. In that five years, the 411 reader community has similarly grown and changed, largely for the better. We’re aware that a lot can be forgotten in five years, though. As such, now seemed to be a good time to provide an update and reminder to the rules. This page will linked at the top of all comment sections going forward. That way, everyone can be aware of what kind of behavior may be fine, and what is most definitely not.

First Things First

If you post a comment and it does not immediately appear, don’t worry quite yet about whether it’s been deleted. Some comments get automatically flagged for review for what may be a variety of reasons, including:

* Posting of links: Posting a URL in a comment will automatically flag a comment for moderation. This is done to fight spambots, primarily. It is also intended to prevent other sites from trying to hijack our comments sections in order to advertise their own sites. (Trust me, it does happen.)

* Triggering the banned word filter: We have a word filter in place which automatically throws a comment containing those words into “Pending” status. Most of those words are exactly what you would expect: really offensive profanity or vulgarity, homophobic and racist words, and the like. Some are because while they aren’t automatically vulgar or insulting, 90% of the time we see them used in a way that violates our rules for posting. A good example of this is “Nazi.” In a historical context, it’s fine. Making reference to current news where Nazis are relevant is fine. Calling another user a Nazi — the way it is almost always used in internet comments — is not.

We try to get these comments moderated in as timely a fashion as possible, though at particularly high-traffic or busy news periods (during WWE broadcasts or Oscar telecasts, for example) it may take a bit more time than usual. If you haven’t violated the posting rules, you won’t have to worry about it.

Posting Guidelines

Posting to 411’s comment sections requires a registered account. You can sign up for a Disqus account here. This is to ensure that we don’t get flooded with anonymous troll/spam commenters, and so that moderation actually means something. Registration also allows you to track your comments and responses to them, and will make the 411 community a better group as a whole.

The point of 411’s comment system is to help build a community around the pop culture, wrestling and MMA topics we all know and alternately love and hate. We’re all passionate people about the entertainment that we love, and those discussions will get heated from time. That’s fine. There is a bridge too far, and that will be discussed below. In general though, as long as you post comments in a normal way, without going out of your way to be a jerk or a troll, you’ll be fine.

What Can’t I Do?

There are a relatively few number of things that will get your comment deleted, and may result in a ban if the situation is egregious enough. Those include:

* Racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, attacking people’s faith: These are self-explanatory and we have a zero-tolerance policy for this. If you express a racist or hate-mongering screed in the comments or refer to someone with a racial/anti-gay/anti-trans epithet, you’re almost certainly going to get banned. I can’t imagine a situation where you won’t. We’re not just talking about the infamous ones, either. We can read context and if it’s clear you’re expressing hate speech, you will be banned. This includes saying that something stupid is “gay,” referring to a trans person with slurs, mocking peoples’ gender identity, or referring to people of faith as deluded just because they believe in a divine power. Using ableist slurs will also get you banned. The 411 comment section isn’t a “safe space,” but we want a place were everyone regardless of their gender identity, sexual identity, ethnicity, religious persuasion (or lack thereof) can come without feeling like they’re entering a Klan rally.

* Doxxing: Again, there’s zero tolerance here. If you try to publicly post people’s personal information online on 411 without their very, very explicit permission than you won’t be posting on 411 anymore. End of story. Just don’t do it. And we don’t encourage you to give people that permission either. It isn’t smart.

* Picking Fights/Insulting/Trolling: As said above, we’re all passionate about our fandoms whether it’s Marvel vs. DC, WWE vs. AEW, Sony vs. Microsoft or the like. We don’t expect that people will always play nice, and we get that arguments will happen. Over-the-top insults, seeking someone out specifically to attack them or posting inflammatory things just to provoke a flame war, however, won’t be tolerated. We certainly don’t want to, but if we see patterns than we’ll delete comments at first and, if it continues, ban you.

* Spamming: By spamming, we’re not just referring to spambot ads. Posting the same comment in multiple threads will get comments deleted and, potentially, users banned if it goes on. If you see that your comment hasn’t been posted immediately and you repost the same comment several times in the hopes that one of them gets through, that’s just all the more likely to ensure those words will never see the light of day. This also includes, it should go without saying, attempts to advertise your own content in the comments. If you’re concerned about your comments not showing up, you can email us and we’ll look into it. Posting several comments complaining about how we’re deleting your posts isn’t going to help your case.

* Blocking moderators: The moderators are here on 411 to help make sure the rules don’t get violated. Disqus’ Block feature is an important tool that we encourage people to use; that said, in order to be able to do their jobs, moderators need to have full visibility on people’s comments on the front end as well as the back end. If a moderator is doing something that violates the comment policy you should contact us using the email link at the bottom of this policy, but just blocking them is not a viable option.

* Advertising or soliciting illegal activity: I am pretty sure this is mostly self-explanatory. This isn’t the Dark Web and no one’s going to be advertising their drug sites or assassination services. (And if you’re thinking of doing so, think again. And also, rethink your life choices.) This is more relevant to us and you in terms of piracy sites. Don’t do it, please. If you really need to know there are hundreds of other places you can find that information out — just not here.

* Sock Puppet Accounts: We do not allow users to maintain multiple accounts.  The only purposes for sock puppet accounts are to either a) post comments you would not otherwise want to post on your “main” account, because you know they violate the comment policy, or b) circumvent a ban.  There is truly no valid reason for them.  If you have something to say, say it on your one account and stand by it.  If we find out that you use multiple accounts on 411, all accounts will lose their ability to comment.  This is, much like the first two “Don’ts,” a zero-tolerance policy.

* A General Pattern Of Being Disruptive: We’ve encountered people in the past who know how to be incredibly disruptive to comment threads while avoiding specifically violating the rules. On the rare occasion that we identify someone like that, we will take action.

Are You Censoring Me?

In a word, no. We’re all intelligent people here, and I don’t have to go through the First Amendment spiel. Everyone knows (or should) that when people complain about their free speech being curtailed on a news website that they aren’t talking about being oppressed by the government. They’re talking about having their voice silenced in the community that they’ve come to for their (in our case) entertainment and pop culture news.

That being said…to paraphrase the words of one former WWE Diva’s Champion and Smackdown GM, “This Is Our House.” We value having you here, but if you make it a place where our other guests don’t want to show up anymore, you won’t be welcome. We allow a wide variance of opinion here across many spectrums…when they’re expressed respectfully. Again, you don’t necessarily have to be nice. That said, you do have to be a decent person. If you are unable to attack the opinion without attacking the person, think a bit about how you might rephrase your comment. It’s not that hard to reword and when you have the “Are You Sure?” step of clicking “Post Comment,” the heat of the moment is less of an excuse.

But People Have Been Able to Do [X] For Years, Which Isn’t Fair Because I Can’t [X].

Welcome to the new world of 411mania comments, where that isn’t the case anymore. The rules apply to everyone. Insulting someone is insulting someone, regardless of who they are or what side of a debate they fall on.

I Have More Questions

I know this looks like a lot, but if you look at it all, we believe it’s pretty simple and reasonable. Treat people with human decency and you’ll almost certainly never have a problem. If you ever have questions or concerns, you can always email us and ask. We don’t bite as a rule.

Thanks!