Comment Policy

Mother Jones is a reader-supported investigative news organization that goes deep on the biggest stories of the moment, from politics and criminal and racial justice to education, climate change, and food and agriculture. We are an independent nonprofit with no corporate owners and are accountable only to you, our readers. Our mission is to deliver hard-hitting reporting that inspires change.

We welcome readers who are passionate about the stories we cover and want to engage in inclusive, thoughtful conversations about the ideas discussed. Your voices and views are encouraged as part of our community, and your comments are invaluable to strengthening our journalism. Hate speech, discriminatory language, personal attacks, spam, and promotion of businesses are not tolerated. We may highlight or feature some of the best comments in a story or elsewhere on our website.

CODE OF CONDUCT

At Mother Jones, we want to maintain a welcoming space for comments and discussion. We’ve put together a code of conduct to encourage constructive dialogue, and we expect everyone to adhere to it. We reserve the right to delete comments and remove members who violate our guidelines.

Be kind and respectful to others. Be curious about members’ opinions. If you disagree with someone, it’s helpful to specifically explain why, rather than denigrate another member.

Share your ideas, experiences, and questions around a topic. We think great comments can help others by offering different perspectives, adding nuance or expertise to a topic, or even proposing a few solutions.

Personal attacks, insults, threats, user identity theft, and hate speech are not tolerated. We do not tolerate any comments that target someone on the basis of age, race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. A user who posts comments of this nature will be removed. Spam, including advertisements, will be deleted.

Stay on topic. The comments section is for discussing stories and sharing reasons for your beliefs and ideas—not for trolling or bashing trolls.

Don’t dominate the conversation. If you have already expressed your opinion, allow others to voice theirs.

Please, no name-calling. Also, refrain from using all caps, which is the equivalent of shouting.

Report comments that violate our policies. This will help our moderators quickly address any issues. If you believe someone is making comments in bad faith, with the purpose of provoking or deceiving you, we suggest you make use of the “ignore” feature, which hides all their comments.

Your use of the commenting feature is subject to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. If you have a question about the comments or community guidelines, email us at comments@motherjones.com.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  • How do I report a comment?

Click the “report” link in the comment.

  • Where is my comment history?

At the top of the comments section when you’re logged in, you’ll see “My Profile.” Your comment history and “Ignored Users” are there. Other features will be added soon.

  • Why can’t I see other commenters’ history?

Coral deliberately hides other people’s history, which could be used to harass, stalk, and abuse other commenters across the site. Coral has been designed from the ground up to improve community behavior and make online spaces safer.

  • I just realized I made a typo in my comment. Can I edit it?

You have up to one minute after you submit your comment to edit it, after which your comment will be posted to the section.

  • Who else has access to my comment data?

Coral uses two third-party comment analysis services to help run its system, neither of which can access your email address or username.  

  • Will I have to use my real name on Coral?

No, your comments will appear under a username that you choose. You will be able to change that username shortly.

  • Are you getting any advertising revenue from Coral?

No, Coral does not run any advertisements.

  • What will happen to my old Disqus comments? Will they be deleted?

Once we launch Coral sitewide, the old Disqus comments will still be visible on stories, but you won’t be able to add new ones except in Coral.

  • What does Coral have that Disqus doesn’t?

For Mother Jones moderators, Coral has additional tools that will help us create a better community, including software that will directly alert commenters that they’re writing something that may violate our guidelines.

  • How do I download my comments?

Coming soon.

  • How do I delete my account?

Coming soon.

  • I have a suggestion for improving the comments. How do I submit it?

Please email all suggestions to comments@motherjones.com, and our moderation team will do our best to get back to you.