[[help:commenting_guidelines]]

Commenting Guidelines

Basic Rules

Please follow a few simple guidelines to make ChoiceCheapies a better place for both the bargain hunters and merchants.

Deal Posts

Declaring Relationship with Business

If you work for the store, or have any interest in promoting the store, you must check the 'I am associated with <store>' box before submitting a new comment in a deal post.

Examples of when this checkbox should be checked:

  • You are an employee of the store or have in any way worked for the business (e.g.website designer or sales rep)
  • You are part of a franchise for the store
  • You are a third party company who is employed to promote the store or do its marketing
  • You are a friend or family member of the owner of the store.

Once the checkbox is checked, your username will have the 'Associated' symbol next to your username for the current thread only. If you don't wish to have the rep next to your name, then consider not commenting on deals where you have an association.

Failure to declare association may cause sockpuppeting penalties to be applied.

What Should Not Be Posted

It might be easier to spell out what should not be posted here. Your “comment” might attract negative votes from ChoiceCheapies members and/or getting unpublished if you post the following material.

Duplicate Comments

If your comment is posted twice or more, we will remove all of the duplicates other than the first one.

Personal Attacks

Abuse, name calling and malicious comments directed at a person or a group of people are unacceptable. Disagreements and debates are fine and encouraged but please respect everyone's opinion. Comments of this nature will be removed and if a vote is attached to the comment, then the vote will also be revoked.

Keep in mind mods are not always sure about which comment the vote made was originally attached to. As such the vote maybe revoked, even though the poster had originally made it under another point.

Affiliate/Referral Links

Affiliate links, referral links or referral codes should not be posted in comments. You should not link to your own deals if you are in the ChoiceCheapies referral system (Vitacost, GreenmanGaming). Do not comment asking for people to private message (PM) you for a referral/affiliate link.

Comment Signatures

Please do not post signatures at the bottom of comments especially if you are advertising your business.

e.g.

That's a great idea. I'm going to pick up a widget from my local widget seller tonight.

-Wiley Coyote
http://www.acmebargains.co.nz

Off Topic

When comments veer from discussions on the product, moderators may unpublish comments. If there is too many members off topic then discussions maybe closed. The intent of comments is to help inform members about the bargain, be it issues, points of clarification alternative offerings etc. Excessive ramblings reduce the visibility of these points that may assist our members with the bargain and will be restricted.

Members who persistently engage in off topic comments may receive warnings directly or by a time limited ban being imposed.

The degree of excess in Bargain posts is more restrictive than in the forums, but both will be policed.

Moderators often act on reports made by members. An off topic may stand as its not seen by a moderator. Reporting off topic posts will mean a moderator will adjudicate.

Comments that lead to off topic responses are more likely to be removed (including the responses) than a one off, off topic post.

Obscene remarks & Foul Language

This site is meant for people of all ages. If the comment/post has informative info, Moderators may EDIT (XXX) out the offending words, otherwise the whole comment/post will be unpublished. If a vote is attached to the comment, then the vote will also be revoked. Repeat offenders may have their account temporarily banned.

Trolling and Other Inappropriate Comments

“Trolling” is considered unacceptable behaviour on most Internet sites, including ChoiceCheapies.

Any comment or post that is made to, or appears to be, intended to incite controversy or conflict or cause annoyance or offence is considered “trolling”. The content of a “troll posting” generally falls into several areas. It may consist of an apparently foolish contradiction of common knowledge, a deliberately offensive insult to the readers of the website, or a broad request for trivial follow-up postings.

  • Any content that falls within the area of trolling will be unpublished, while the offender's user account may be banned temporarily or permanently based on their user history and severity of the offence.
  • Generally inappropriate comments that are not considered Trolling may not qualify for an offence, but will be unpublished by a Moderator and a warning given. However, users who commit repeated offences despite receiving multiple warnings may have their accounts penalised under the same “Trolling” offence.

Hate Speech

Hate speech attacks or expresses prejudice against a person or a group on the basis of particular attributes (including, but not limited to: race, religion, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation or gender). Hate speech includes spreading misinformation about a person/group with the intent to harm, create prejudice or create fear. Sexist, racist, xenophobic or similar comments will be deemed as a personal attack or hate speech depending on context.

Illegal or Inappropriate Links

Please do not post links to sites that may be deemed inappropriate. Examples: * Torrent or file sharing sites * Videos that are not suited to a general audience (e.g. foul language, nudity)

Competitor Comments and Links

Store reps should not comment in a competitor's thread and link to their own store. If you have a better deal, please post it separately as a deal for your store. For more details see our store rep guide.

Price Comparison Sites

Price comparison website operators should not comment with links to their comparison site. If you have found a better deal, follow the guide for price comparison website operators and either comment by linking directly to the store or post it separately as a deal for that store.

Soliciting Sales or Wanted Items

Do not advertise, draw attention to items that you are selling, or ask other users to contact you about your items in comments. If you want to sell your personal items, use the Classifieds Selling section. Similarly, if you want to obtain an item, please use the Classifieds Wanted section.

Personal Information

Posting personal information is forbidden, as is any form of Doxing. This includes information from, or linking to, public social media pages (if personal information is visible). Business registration information (including whois) and information relating to public figures, is generally allowed, however it will be removed if it's done in a manner that incites harassment.