A note regarding comments …

We are posting the CuencaHighLife comments policy below since some commenters may not be aware of it. The policy appears below all articles open for comments on the Disqus hosting service site linked to CHL.

Please remember that comments should relate to the article they are posted under or to other comments related to the article. For example, if an article is about a political issue or personalities in Ecuador, do not introduce political issues or personalities in other countries. More specifically, if it is about Noboa and Correa, don’t make it about Trump and Biden. We allow some comments unrelated to an article if they seem to provide a service to readers, but this is up to moderators. There are many social media sites that accept random comments.

Regarding debates between commenters, it is often a judgement call when differences of opinion turn to personal insults and there are many borderline cases. Comments about another commenter unrelated to an article are not allowed. We are redoubling our effort to allow lively and spirited debate but to control insults. The editor has encouraged us to err on the side of inclusion, which we will continue to do.

Since we are sometimes accused of deleting or “censoring” comments that comply with the policy, it is important to know that for a variety of reasons, about 4% of Disqus comments never reach moderators. Others are sent to “spam” or “trash” files, sometimes inappropriately, which we check once a week.

As a final note, it is important to reference the first sentence of the comments policy that states all posting decisions are at the discretion of the moderators. When issues come up that are not covered in the policy, moderators will use their judgement to make a call. – SMH, CHL moderator

Comments Policy
The approval of all comments on the CuencaHighLife website is at the discretion of the moderators. We appreciate and encourage a vigorous debate in our article comments sections. To maintain a constructive and civil discourse, however, we have established rules of engagement. Comments should always be relevant to the article they are posted to, or to a legitimate tangent thereof. Disagreements between commenters are acceptable as long as they focus on issues in the article, not on the personalities of commenters. We do not allow racial, religious or sexual orientation slurs or remarks questioning the sanity or intelligence of commenters. Comments that are private discussion between commenters are discouraged. Attacks on individuals and businesses, unless they are in reference to information cited in an article, are not appropriate. Profanity is discouraged although it is not banned if the comment in which it is contained conforms to the policy.