Comment Policy

At SpokaneFAVS, part of our mission is to promote respectful dialogue surrounding issues of religion, spirituality and ethics in the Inland Northwest. Because these are sensitive subjects, they can be difficult to discuss and emotions can run high, obscuring the open communication necessary to further understanding.

What sets SpokaneFAVS apart is that it has become a platform – online and offline – for having these discussions in a meaningful and productive way. We welcome diverse views in our writers and commenters and support energetic, enthusiastic and passionate conversations that retain recognition of each other’s humanity.

In keeping with our mission, and to maintain this site as a community where such conversations can happen, SpokaneFAVS has a high standard for online dialogue. We expect our commenters to:

• Be respectful.
• Keep it clean.
• Advance the discussion. Be relevant to the topic at hand.
• Assume the best of others. Most people who participate with SpokaneFAVS do so because they are invested in increasing interfaith understanding; if you feel misunderstood or defensive, seek clarification first.
• Ask questions. Search out answers.
• Bottom line: treat others as you would like to be treated.

SpokaneFAVS does not allow:

• Obscene, indecent, sexually explicit or offensive text, images or other material.
• Defamatory, abusive, bullying, harassing, sexist, racist, hateful or violent speech.
• Flaming (a pattern of personal attacks, name-calling, mocking or baiting).
• Overposting. Don’t post identical comments on multiple stories or repetitive comments that don’t advance the conversation.
• Ethnic slurs, religious intolerance, homophobia or personal attacks.
• Spamming, junk mail, free advertising, commercial offers, etc.
• Content that violates privacy or copyright laws. We welcome links to articles or websites relevant to the topic at hand.

Comments that violate these standards will be removed at the site administrator’s discretion. Users who disregard these standards will be reminded of the comment policy via the email address provided when commenting and repeated offenses will result in a ban from the discussion forum.

If you feel a comment does not meet these guidelines, please flag the comment as inappropriate (in the top right corner of the comment box) and a site administrator will review it.

The site administrators reserve the right to exercise their best judgment in enforcing this policy.