Econintersect: Over recent months, the volume of valuable comments on our articles and posts have been increasing.  We thank our readers for adding to the discussion of important issues the world is facing today. It has always been our aim to present all sides of issues which the mainstream press appears to slant to one side or the other. Our view is that for most issues, there is no right or wrong – and even solutions some of our authors advocate as the best are far from perfect.

Econintersect tries not to publish posts where it is believed the data or opinions are “cherry picked” –  but that is not to say that author bias does not creep into posts.  This is why reader comments on posts are so important in providing different perspectives, extra insights, and flaws in an author’s data or argument. Our ultimate goal in establishing this website is to present data from all sides of issues so that our readers can make an informed decision.

With this increase in reader comments come some issues which are concerning.  Some of our comments streams have been abused, and comments have creeped in which Econintersect would not have allowed in our posts (such as personal attacks or commercial content). Econintersect‘s comment policy follows:

Comment Guidance:

Econintersect encourages comment on its posts to expand understanding.  Good comments provide different perspectives, extra insights, and flaws in an author’s data or argument.  Econintersect expects civility, ethical behavior, and intellectual content in comments. Comments will be deleted which:

• self promotion or commercial content
• contain obscenities or abusive language
• are personal attacks
• foster hatred against any group
• contain unsubstantiated “facts”
• are blanket dismissal of ideas
• mislead
• destroy the coherence and seriousness of the comment stream
• irrelevant to the post or prior comments on that post
• have an aggressive tone

If a comment contains erroneous information, Econintersect may elect to leave the comment – and reply (comment) with the correct data.

It is our policy not to edit comments, so comments which violate the above policy will be deleted.  This policy is similar to most other websites which allow comments. This comment policy could be reduced to a simple thought:

Disagree yes, disrespect no.

John Lounsbury, Managing Editor

Steven Hansen, Publisher