As our community here at Reality Tea grows by leaps and bounds every day, we need to lay out some basic ground rules and have them in print so we're all on the same page about participating in the comments (and we've been getting requests for a concrete policy for eons now!). These are mostly common sense, but please read them and get familiar with them because going forward, they will be vigorously enforced. These guidelines may be subject to future changes and updates.
If you can't be polite, don't say it. We're not always going to agree so please try to disagree without being rude. Know the difference between personal attack and differing opinions. If you're that angry about something, take a break for a while. We won't accept the "well they said xyz and I couldn't help myself" as reasoning for attacking another user.
- No personal attacks on other users
- No name calling other users
- No posting personal information (names, emails, phone numbers, addresses, etc) about other commenters
- No linking to other sites
- No posting copyrighted articles from other sites
- Don't discuss the communities/issues of other websites/blogs/fansites
Do not feed the trolls. We encourage you to report abuse by trolls by flagging comments. But we also ask that you not engage with trolls in the comment threads. Reacting to their provocation is exactly what they want. If we see you feeding a troll, we will remove both the troll's comments and your responses. Again, we won't accept the "I couldn't help myself because…" as reasoning for attacking and engaging.
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Please remember that we can see your email address, your user names, and your IP address. If we see potentially libelous comments, they'll be removed. But REMEMBER: you are legally responsible for what you say.
We won't allow complaints about moderators removing a message that you have posted. If we've removed a comment, we had a good reason to do so. Do not complain about other users being banned or moderated. We may on occasion edit your comment – only if part of your comment violates these rules. ("editing" meaning taking out a portion that may violate the rules, but otherwise had some great contributing content).
No griping about the writers or the site in general. Email us with your comments and suggestions, don't try to rile up negativity in the comments. These comments will be deleted. If you're that unhappy here, stop participating and find somewhere more suited to what you're looking for that we're unable to provide. We hate to see you go, but we can't make everyone happy, unfortunately. Please note that we will not play referee any longer, so don't email asking us to be.
A note on flagging comments: please flag violators of the rules/guidelines but do not flag comments simply because you disagree with what the commenter is saying. And do not flag because you don't care for a particular community member.
If you are a habitual trouble maker and ignore the guidelines/rules, you'll be warned (assuming you've used a valid email address) and then you'll be banned if you still don't stop.
Bottom line is that we are all ADULTS here and there's no reason we can't just discuss these shows and have some fun together. We want to spend time bringing you the news and recaps and photos – not mediating fights.
Please remember that Reality Tea is not "team anyone". Our writers present the posts in their own view, but we're a mix of opinion on every show and every star. We invite ALL reality TV lovers to participate and hang out with us! We don't care which shows or reality stars you love or loathe – we welcome all! Please remember we are all entitled to our opinions and favorites, but don't slam others if they feel the opposite. (ie calling them delusional, wrong, and so on.)
This post will be linked at the bottom of every Reality Tea post over the next few weeks so that everyone will have a chance to see it and get familiar with it.
Edited to add: With the latest comment update, photo/gif/image/video posting has been disabled.
