RULES FOR COMMENTS ON FORUMS AND ARTICLES

Feel free to add a comment in the Forums or on Articles on Boston.com. The rules are simple:

• Be courteous. Don't threaten or verbally abuse other users; use obscene, profane, or defamatory language; post sexual innuendo, or deliberately disrupt discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages, or spam.
  
  

• Use respectful language. Our community will flourish only when our Members feel welcome and safe. You cannot use language that abuses or discriminates on the basis of race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, region, disability, etc. Hate speech of any kind is grounds for immediate suspension of your commenting privileges.
  
  

• Debate, but don't attack. In a community full of opinions and preferences, people always disagree. Boston.com encourages active discussions and welcomes heated debate in our Forums and on our Articles. But personal attacks are a direct violation of this Agreement and are grounds for immediate suspension of your commenting privileges.
  
  

• Your comments must be truthful. You may not impersonate another user or a Boston.com staff member by choosing a similar screen name. You must disclose conflicts of interest.
  
  

• Do not upload inappropriate material. You cannot post, distribute, or publish any libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, or otherwise illegal material. You may include links to other sites, but those sites must meet the same guidelines.
  
  

• Do not post commercial material. You cannot, without the express approval of Boston.com, distribute or otherwise publish any material containing any solicitation of funds, advertising, or solicitation for goods or services.
  
  

• You are solely responsible for the content of your messages. You cannot knowingly post content that violates the copyright, trademark, patent, or other intellectual property right of any third party, and you must remove the same should you discover that you have violated this provision. Likewise, you cannot post content that is libelous, defamatory, obscene, abusive, that violates a third party's right to privacy, that otherwise violates any applicable local, state, national or international law, or that is otherwise inappropriate. You indemnify Boston.com, its employees, agents, and affiliates from any and all claims and/or damages (including but not limited to reasonable attorneys' fees) resulting from any claim brought by any third party relating to content you have posted.
  
  

Although Boston.com does not and cannot review every message posted by you in the Forums and on Articles, and is not responsible for the content of these messages, Boston.com reserves the right to delete, move, or edit messages that it, in its sole discretion, deems abusive, defamatory, obscene, in violation of copyright or trademark laws, or otherwise unacceptable. Boston.com reserves the right to cancel a user's account at our sole discretion.

You acknowledge that any submissions you make to Boston.com may be edited, removed, modified, published, transmitted, and displayed by Boston.com and you waive any moral rights you may have in having the material altered or changed in a manner not agreeable to you.

By posting a comment in a Forum or on an Article, you are consenting to its display on the site and for related online and offline promotional uses.

You must also follow Boston.com's general usage rules.

(Effective as of Sept. 17, 2004)