How do I comment on an article?

Most of our articles have a box at the bottom allowing visitors to post responses (to the article itself and to other visitors' comments). The decision whether or not to allow comments on an article is made by the web editor. Articles where we typically do not allow comments include:

• Police reports
• Letters to the editor

Visitors who have an account will not need to supply a name and email address each time. Future enhancements to the commenting tool and other aspects of our site will only be available to folks who are registered. One can register or log-in in at the madison.com forums page.

And now, we answer "Why was my comment deleted?"

• The most common reason is that you used profanity. That’s a no-no. If you can’t say it without profanity, then it probably doesn’t need to be said. And adding dashes, asterisks, etc. to mask profanity is still unacceptable.
• Ripping on someone’s sexuality, race, creed or nationality is a sure way to get your post taken down. The same goes for threatening comments, either to persons or institutions. Please be civil.
• WRITING IN ALL CAPS DOES NOT GET YOUR POINT ACROSS. It gets your post deleted.
• Your comment was too long. Try to limit your entries to fewer than 300 words. Cutting and pasting articles from other sites isn’t the way to do it. Just add a link and people will see it. Keep your comments concise.
• Off-topic remarks are off limits. If it’s not relevant to the article you’re commenting on, it’s getting deleted.
• You pretended to be someone you are not.
• Incoherence does not advance the conversation. Severe spelling or grammatical mistakes can severely impact your message. Edit yourself before you submit.
• We welcome comments about The Cap Times, but that’s not the primary purpose of the comment section. If you spot mistakes (spelling, grammar, factual) on the site or have specific complaints about us, please send us an e-mail at ctfeedback@madison.com.
• If you call someone an idiot, loser, moron or anything else in that vein, your post gets deleted. As with profanity, if you can’t say it without using a personal attack, then it probably doesn’t need to be said.
• While this isn’t a complete list of potential reasons we may have deleted your post, most likely it was for one of these reasons. However, we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.
• Moderation in your comments means less comment moderation by us.

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