Posting Guidelines

Hello, it's Graham Milldrum, and I'm taking over the blog from Nick's capable hands. He posted the guidelines some time ago, but I'd like to reiterate what kind of discussion we'd like to see.

Comments are wonderful and a great part of this job. Comments develop a community of people concerned about crime and who want to bring crimes to the light.

Sadly, it's impossible for me to report on everything that happens. If there is something I or others should know about, please say so. If it's something you want everyone to see, you can post it here. If you want it to be between me and you, you can e-mail me at gmilldrum@annistonstar.com

The rules for posting are simple- no profanity and a reasonable discussion. I'm not asking that the debate be a tired, bland, even lifeless production- far from it. Instead, I want all of us to have a fair debate. As a journalist, I cannot allow postings that make allegations that are not proven, or cannot be proved.

All comments are first sent to me, where I have to decide if they go up or not, using my guidelines. I cannot edit your comments, so if there is one piece of profanity in a post, it has to go. That is not something I like to do.

It might take me up to a business day to get your post up, so please bear with me. As much as I would like to put up everything immediately, I simply cannot.

I really look forward to talking with all of you.

EDIT: One thing I have just run into is people saying they are a relative of a deceased person. It's a long-running online policy that people saying they are a specific person have to identify themselves.

This may seem arbitrary, but some people will pretend they are a relative for no other reason than to be cruel. The (Springfield, IL) State Journal-Register saw this, where a person pretended to be a football player's grandfather. This person went on a number of tirades about how horrible the alleged grandson was.
Obviously, this caused all sorts of problems for the family.
So please, if you are related to someone, send me a separate e-mail with a phone number I can contact you, to ensure that someone is not trying to cause trouble.