At We Got This Covered, our writers strive to provide honest, thoughtful, and insightful discussions about the arts of film, television, and gaming, and we expect the same from our commenters.
As commenting behavior can become unruly and off-putting if left unchecked, we have created a set of rules that all who visit our website must follow if they intend to comment on our articles. These are simple, commonsense guidelines that, if followed, shall improve the level of discourse for our readers, commenters, and writers alike.
Failure to adhere to these policies will result in the immediate deletion of your comment, or even a full removal of commenting privileges at We Got This Covered.
1. Be Polite
This is the number one rule for commenting, and any violations – even minor ones – will be dealt with swiftly. You are allowed to express your opinions, positive or negative, about the title being discussed, but you are not, under any circumstances, allowed to insult the article’s writer or other commenters for having a different opinion. If you disagree with someone else, say so politely, and then offer your differing opinion in an equally polite manner. There is no earthly reason to be cruel to others online just for disagreeing with you, and it is a behavior we will not tolerate. A comment like “This review sucks because I loved the movie, this writer must be an idiot” will be deleted, while a comment such as “I disagree. I thought this movie was very good for reasons X, Y, and Z,” will be allowed. Be polite, and you will get along fine. It is as simple as that.
2. No Inappropriate Language
This one is a subset of the previous rule. If we are attempting to be polite, there is no reason to use foul or offensive language, especially when addressing others. Any comment that contains bad or hateful language will be deleted. Period. Our writers are instructed to refrain from swearing in the articles they publish, and commenters are not exempt from these same rules. Excessive use of bad language will be grounds for permanent removal fromWe Got This Covered’s commenting system.
3. Use Proper English Grammar
Commenting on the Internet does not give you license to write however you want. Our writers take great care to make their articles read properly, and you must do the same while commenting. We will not go through every comment with a fine comb to look for every English style violation, but we do expect commenters to capitalize sentences and names properly, use punctuation, and express their thoughts as coherently as possible. It is not difficult. Just use common sense.
4. Offer Informed Opinions
This one is a simple concept, but is often broken around the internet: You must actually see the film or TV show or play the game being discussed before offering an opinion – positive or negative – on the title. Bashing or praising a title in the comments without any knowledge of the product itself is an immature and impolite thing to do, and it lessens the quality of the conversation.
While it is perfectly acceptable to talk about the content of the review/article itself – such as saying “That element sounds cool,” or “I don’t think that element sounds particularly impressive” – it is not all right to offer actual opinions on the content being discussed unless you have experienced it first hand. If you are prejudiced against a certain title and have no interest in experiencing it yourself, you have no business commenting on that particular article. If you have actually seen it, and can back up your opinions with evidence and reasoning, comment away. Otherwise? You will be deleted.
5. Read The Entire Article Before Commenting
Another simple yet often ignored concept. When a writer goes to the trouble of penning an entire article that enumerates all their thoughts, and the commenter only looks at the score before shouting their complaints in loud capital letters, the commenter is being disrespectful. Usually, if you are confused by the score or other surface elements of a review, your questions will be answered somewhere in the article. So read the whole thing and find out. It will not hurt you. You are not, under any circumstances, allowed to complain about the content of any article on this site unless you can demonstrate that you actually read the entire thing, and are therefore offering an informed opinion.
6. We Have Zero Tolerance For Violating These Policies
Once again, to reiterate what was said at the start: Any comment that violates a single one of these policies will be removed without notice. Users who continually break the rules will be banned from all future commenting.
We want to foster the best discussions possible here at We Got This Covered, and by following these simples guidelines, we believe quality discourse is possible. Thank you for abiding by our rules.
