As a non-profit news organization, we want to provide a public forum for thoughtful, civil-minded discussions about news and commentary that we publish.

We strongly support free speech and can only encourage people to stand up and speak out—civilly, respectfully, and thoughtfully.

But we also reserve the right to moderate or remove comments as necessary.

Likely reasons for a comment being moderated or removed

A comment may be moderated or automatically removed if it includes:

• Cursing, slurs, threats of violence, or personal insults
• Content unrelated to article itself, or has been repeatedly flagged as inappropriate by other commenters
• Links to media on other websites (especially if they are off topic)
• Promotions to buy/sell products or services

Please note that the ability to post comments may be temporarily suspended (or permanently blocked) due to repeated policy violations.

Most of the moderation is done automatically (by DISQUS), but if you think your comment has been moderated or removed unfairly, please let us know.

Thank you for understanding and speaking up!
—The Alpha News Team