When he debuted National Zero sixteen months ago, Spartan said he wanted to create a community where people could share thoughts on stories without the authoritarian oversight of a corporate website. I joined understanding that we would provide the fodder for discussion, with our readers given wide latitude in the comments section. We did not implement a true profanity filter on Disqus (though, as most of you are aware, the most serious and hateful racial and homophobic slurs are banned, as are a list of specific strings commonly used by spambots, which Spartan keeps updated here) and account suspensions or expulsions have been kept to a minimum.

Now, however, that wide latitude has gone off the rails. Commenters have started to use the forum to insult and intentionally belittle others. In some way, we the editors are responsible for that in that we write with an edge to disparage those on the other side of the political spectrum (with dark humor and liberal application of profanity for emphasis, often coupled with crude insults and sophomoric nicknames), and that can encourage commenters to escalate.

We do not ban commenters simply for posting content contrary to the political tilt of the writers or readers. We have some unwritten guidelines for what gets deleted: obvious spam promoting things like get-rich quick schemes, dangerous lies that endanger people’s safety, threats, and directed vulgarities. We frequently allow people to post off-topic comments (like sports scores or a reaction to something they’ve personally experienced) because they’re generally harmless and help foster our sense of community. We had hoped the readers of this site would appreciate, and responsibly use, the lack of oversight to the comments.

Lately, that is not the case, with a number of commenters who have posted intentionally misogynist, sexualized comments designed to intimidate specific users. Others demand that we ban people who post political statements not in line with their beliefs because they find them annoying. Those commenters do not demonstrate the personal responsibility we had hoped our readers would employ, nor do they characterize the community we hope to grow.

We will still not filter profanity and vulgarity on Disqus because doing so will unreasonably restrict the ability to discuss pertinent topics. However, should we the editors determine a comment is designed to threaten, intimidate or silence another contributor, we will take action. This is not a “safe space” doctrine, but one to encourage participation.

Last but not least is this: NatZero isn’t a moneymaker (yet), and that we’re all volunteers who would much rather write the stories and enjoy the interchange than police comments. Keep it enjoyable.

Afterword by Spartan: There’s not much in the way here of hard rules, and that’s by design. We don’t want to constrain anyone in expressing themselves, but read a room. Toxicity is hard to define but we all know it when we see it. Be trashy, be vulgar, be profane. You can do all of that without being offensive and pissing off other readers. When you’ve lost the crowd you’ve lost us – and you’re going to make deciding if you’re welcome to comment here on our articles much easier.