Policies
Last revised November 8, 2008
What information does the Gazette record, and what do you do with it?
From browsing: We record the IP address, the browser, the operating system, and the origin of all those who browse our site. If you are logged in, this information will be associated with your username. In addition, we keep track of the specific pages browsed, and the path of discovery (what links did you click to get to the content), but this browsing record is not stored linked to your username. This information will not be released to non-Gazette staff except at the request of the CJC. With an IP address, the College would be able to link browsing to specific users of the Swarthmore network.
From comments: Every comment is associated with an IP address, and the email address of the user is visible to any member of our Editorial staff. As with browsing history, we will release this information to the Deans at the request of the CJC. With an IP address, the College can identify any user of its network within a limited time frame (currently approximately 1 month). Every 30 days, we will compile our records for statistic purposes, and individual users will not be identifiable.
We are not a business. No information collected by The Daily Gazette will be given to commerical third parties. We are 100% against spam (unsolicited commerical mail). Information on our visitors is collected solely for self-study, to help in the development of the Gazette. Only editor-level staff will have access to individualized tracking.
If you believe you have received spam from the Gazette, let us know.
How does the Gazette deal with errors and corrections?
For non-substantial spelling or editing corrections, the Gazette will make the change in article.
For name or title errors, the article will be corrected and a correction made at the bottom of the article.
For substanial errors, the Gazette will make and note the change in the article, and publish a correction.
What are the details of the Gazette's comment moderation policy?
All comments by users commenting from a Swarthmore IP address, or by registered users, are passed through moderation. However, all comments are subject to moderation by our community.
The Gazette relies on user moderation to show and hide the best (and worst) comments for every story. The number of votes required to hide a story is revealed by the table below. In short, posting from a Swarthmore IP address or being logged in makes it significantly harder for your comment to be moderated.
| Votes | Swat IP | User |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | No | No |
| 4 | Yes | No |
| 5 | No | Yes |
| 6 | Yes | Yes |
The number of votes given to a user also changes based on their status at the Gazette's website. Any viewer who is not logged in receives one vote. Users receive two votes, while Swarthmore-based users receive three votes. Any member of the Gazette's staff receives four votes, while all Editors can show or hide comments at will.
The IP address and the username of the voter is attached to every vote. Abuse of this privilege could lead to loss of voting rights. Moreover, a large number of abusive comments could cause the Gazette to revoke your commenting privileges.
How does the Gazette's staff judge comments?
Our rules are fairly straightforward:
Be nice
Be constructive
Don't curse
Don't threaten
Our first two rules are the heart of our comments policy. Comments should never be hostile to the author of a story or another commentor--but we welcome active debate, discussion, and deconstruction of our stories. We will not quash substantial comments.
However, only in the most extreme cases will the Gazette delete comments. Our moderation system is designed to hide undesirable content, but not to make it absolutely inaccessible. We will only regularly delete comments if they are believed to be spam.
We have decided to adopt this policy because different people view comments differently. By only hiding comments, we are not silencing discussion--though we make our (or the community's) disapproval clear.
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