Terms & Conditions

IMPORTANT-READ CAREFULLY:

Mediprocity Inc. is the parent company for Mediprocity.com – these terms the “Company” will be known as Mediprocity.

These Terms of Use include parts of the Mediprocity Privacy Statement, which is incorporated into these Terms of Use. By accessing the Mediprocity Web Site, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions described below as well as the privacy statement associated with Mediprocity terms and conditions. If you do not agree to the Terms of Use described below, do not access or use any information or material available through the Mediprocity Web Site.

You must comply with all applicable laws, the Agreement, as may be amended from time to time with or without advance notice, and the policies and processes as well as terms, conditions and privacy policy.

All users should download and sign the Mediprocity Business Associates Agreement provided on the front page of the website according to HIPAA Final Rule.

Please review the Mediprocity DO and DO NOT section as well. HIPAA Information

USE:

The Mediprocity website is created for covered entities and business associates who are licensed to practice or who are engaged in the exchange of sensitive patient health information in the United States of America only. Any distribution and collaboration of (ePHI) electronic patient health information, as well as company, drug, device and other healthcare product information, is considered the sensitive content on Mediprocity. The Mediprocity Web Site is an information exchange, collaboration tool, and communications forum and is not intended to be referenced or relied upon as explicit medical advice. Mediprocity is not engaged in rendering medical or professional services of any kind whatsoever. The Mediprocity Web Site’s sole purpose is to facilitate communications between registered users as well as offer business opportunities. “You” or “Your” as user assumes total responsibility and risk for use of any information contained in or accessible through the Mediprocity Web Site.

Mediprocity takes our user experience and security very seriously which is why we provide you a choice to use full encrypted communication when deemed appropriate. It is important to understand how seriously we take this as we do not control or have access to your content when it is encrypted unless specifically directed by the user after verification of user’s identity. When you create an account “profile” on Mediprocity you will be asked to create the following:

User Name (email address)
Username (created by the user)
Password (general access)
Encryption Key (protect all patient health information)

USER STORAGE:

All users on Mediprocity are given 1 GIGABYTE of storage space. When your account reaches 90% capacity you will be sent a warning which will require you to either close your account or, pay for additional storage. Because of HIPAA guidelines, it will be important to off-load that storage for backup or expand your storage space.

In the event, you have forgotten your password you may simply request a password update through our system. In the event you lose your encryption key, you will need to work with the “Super Admin” on your account to update your key. The “Super Admin” will need to authenticate your identity with the Mediprocity Help Desk team before a key may be updated.

The information and opinions expressed in materials posted by users or partners in any content area including but not limited to discussions, conversations, messages and distribution lists or other venues connected with our site are not necessarily those of Mediprocity or its affiliates and Mediprocity makes no representations or warranties regarding such posted materials.

We as a company never monitor or scrape these conversations or messages. The communication tools provided do not give professional advice or recommend particular products or services. Physicians and healthcare providers and business associates who use the provided tools or databases should exercise their own training, experience and clinical judgment at all times. Participating physicians and healthcare providers and business associates who provide suggestions and make recommendations in various interchanges are not undertaking to provide medical advice with respect to a particular case or issue, rather they are offering opinions and information on discussion topics, and by so doing do not subject themselves to liability for medical advice. It is always the user’s responsibility to use his or her best, independent, medical judgment in treating a patient or in recommending a treatment plan or course of action.

NOTIFICATION OF ACTS CONTRARY:

If you believe that you are entitled or obligated to act contrary to this Agreement under any mandatory law, you agree to provide us with detailed and substantiated explanation of your reasons in writing at least 30 days before you act contrary to this Agreement, to allow us to assess whether we may, at our sole discretion, provide an alternative remedy for the situation, though we are under no obligation to do so.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO MEDIPROCITY:

By submitting ideas, suggestions, documents, and/or proposals (“Contributions”) to Mediprocity through its suggestion or feedback webpages, you acknowledge and agree that: (a) your Contributions do not contain confidential or proprietary information; (b) Mediprocity is not under any obligation of confidentiality, express or implied, with respect to the Contributions; Mediprocity shall be entitled to use or disclose (or choose not to use or disclose) such Contributions for any purpose, in any way, in any media worldwide; (d) Mediprocity may have something similar to the Contributions already under consideration or in development; (e) you irrevocably assign to Mediprocity all rights to your Contributions; and (f) you are not entitled to any compensation or reimbursement of any kind from Mediprocity under any circumstances.

REGISTRATION:

In order to access the Mediprocity Web Site, you will be asked to provide Mediprocity with certain information, including, without limitation, a valid e-mail address, full name, mobile number, medical license number and other related information as needed to verify your identity as a healthcare user. In addition, you will be required to confirm your eligibility to utilize the Mediprocity Web Site by representing the truth and accuracy of the following: (i) You are at least 18 years of age, (ii) You are a licensed physician in good standing in the U.S., (iii) Information pertaining to your education and the degrees earned, (iv) Your jurisdictions of license, (v) Your area of practice; and (vi) Your current practice affiliation. If you are a healthcare provider or business associate you will be allowed to sign up with a valid email address, however, you may be limited by your super-admin of your organization who controls your account.

By submitting such registration information to Mediprocity, you expressly authorize Mediprocity to use its validation resources to confirm the information submitted so that we may identify you as the physician or healthcare user seeking to participate in our web site activities.

In accordance with our Privacy Policy, Mediprocity will not sell or share the personal data submitted in your profile at any time.

PASSWORD:

Upon registration with Mediprocity, you will create a username and password (“Account”). Your username is your email or a username you created. You agree to keep your password confidential so that no other party may access the Account. You agree to not share your password with anyone other than yourself to gain access to the Mediprocity platform.

A user is limited to one active Account at any given time. You are solely responsible for (1) maintaining the strict confidentiality of the e-mail address, passwords and your encryption key assigned to you, (2) any damages or losses that may be incurred or suffered as a result of You or Your failure to maintain the strict confidentiality of Your Account, and (3) promptly informing Mediprocity in writing of any need to suspend or deactivate Your Account if you feel it has been compromised in any way or have feelings of actual security concerns.

Mediprocity is not liable for any harm related to the theft of Your Account, Your disclosure of Your Password or Encryption Key, or Your authorization to allow another person or entity to access and use the Site using Your Account Information who will be assumed to be You. You agree to immediately notify Mediprocity in writing of any unauthorized use of Your Account.

CONTENT:

Any text, materials, images, graphics, logos, software and all other information available on the Mediprocity Web Site (collectively, the “Content”) accessed by you is and shall remain at all times the sole and exclusive property of Mediprocity or its Content suppliers or clients. All Content made available on the Mediprocity Web Site is provided by Mediprocity unless indicated otherwise and such Content is protected under U.S. and foreign copyright, trademark and other applicable laws. It remains your responsibility as the user to evaluate the Content found on the Mediprocity Web Site.

Mediprocity will take reasonable precautions to prevent any data submitted or informational interchanges from being disclosed outside of the exchange facilities supported by the Web site, Mediprocity cannot in all cases prevent lawful access by court order or lawful governmental activity, if required we will turn over the encrypted data. It will be up to you at that time to hand over your encryption key and it is recommended that will seek your own legal representation before turning over your encryption key to any outside entity.

REPRESENTATIONS:

As users of the Web Site (physicians, healthcare providers, and business associates), You are liable for the accuracy of the information that You provide to us, including, but not limited to, Your personal and professional representation as provided in the Section on Use. You hereby certify that You do not have a financial interest in nor are a paid consultant acting on behalf of any entity, product or service that would benefit because of the information you provide to this Site including, but not limited to the promotion of “off-label” drug uses, the disclosure of confidential clinical trial or other proprietary information. You should follow regulatory and ethical responsibilities for disclosures of conflicts of interest, bias or influence.

Please review our HIPAA standard and understand the requirements for protecting medical privacy.

MONITORING OF CONTENT:

Mediprocity does not monitor, screen, edit or otherwise control any Content posted on or transmitted through the Mediprocity Web Site; in encrypted environments on the Site, Mediprocity encrypts all subject lines and message content and attachments.

Mediprocity cannot control the CONTENT of messages. We can control the administration of all communication tools and profiles on the Web Site.

When communicating directly with another user, users may exchange sensitive or confidential information at each user’s discretion. However, users are strongly cautioned to be prudent in deciding whether and how to reveal sensitive or confidential information. When using distribution lists consider confidential as you have many users associated to that list at one time.

Mediprocity DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES ARISING FROM USER’S DISCLOSURE OF PERSONALLY CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.

Any information disclosed to other users or third parties on the Mediprocity Web Site, through email or outside of the Mediprocity system, can be used by others and may result in unsolicited messages or other communications from third parties.

LIMITATIONS ON USE:

As a registered user authorized to access the Mediprocity Web Site, you agree not to:

Disclose any patient information or engage in any conduct that is a violation of HIPAA or HITECH Act; or other relevant regulations;
Restrict or inhibit any other authorized user from using the Mediprocity Web Site;
Post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, profane, or otherwise objectionable information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law;
Post or transmit any information or software which is knowingly harmful or malicious;
Post, publish, transmit, reproduce, distribute or in any way exploit any information, software or other material obtained through the Mediprocity Web Site for commercial purposes (except with the agreement of Mediprocity);
Upload, post, publish, transmit, reproduce, or distribute in any way, information, software or other material obtained through the Mediprocity Web Site which is protected by copyright, or another proprietary right, or derivative works with respect thereto, without obtaining the permission of the copyright owner or right holder; or
Upload, post, publish, reproduce, transmit or distribute in any way any component of the Mediprocity Web Site itself or derivative works with respect thereto.

BROWSER CONTROLS:

Some browsers that you access via desktop or on a mobile device have made a conscious decision to behave a certain way that Mediprocity has no control.

Chrome by Google is set to hang on to properly identified temporary session cookies even though that’s exactly what you’re not supposed to do with temporary session cookies. Chrome has clearly stated this is a feature of their browser they will not change. Therefore, if you have an issue with this feature, you should use a different browser. Google suggests clicking the logout link in whatever site you are on if you want to be logged out, rather than relying on closing the browser. Mediprocity highly recommends at all times, you log out of your account by clicking the “Sign Out” under your profile in the top right menu selection.

Mediprocity does, however, have automatic log out of the session when there is no activity over a period of time. That time period is set to 2 hours of inactivity.

Mediprocity is set up to use session timeouts. Mediprocity session times out after 1 minute, but since the Mediprocity platform is constantly polling for new messages every 5 seconds, the 1-minute timeout won’t affect users because even if you leave a page up for 3 minutes, the polling will keep your session alive. However, if you were to close your browser the session would be killed within a minute.

So if you close Chrome and re-open it immediately, your session will still be alive, however, if you close Chrome and re-open after 1 minute your session will be closed.

This type of browser security is set up on Mediprocity no matter what browser you elect to utilize. Mediprocity still STRONGLY recommends you always use the “Sign-Out” feature to close your account completely.

Browser Warning:

All users who access Mediprocity through the browser should always navigate to the Profile tab located in the top right corner of the Mediprocity platform. This can easily be found as it is identified by your Full User Name. A user should always click this and select “Sign Out” to ensure you have completely ended your session.

This is also important for shared workstations. You should always use the “Sign Out” to close your session and avoid anyone accessing your data. If for some reason you have mistakenly forgotten to Sign Out, the system will automatically end your session after 15 minutes.

Android Mobile Browsers:

If you are using Mediprocity through a browser on an Android smartphone or tablet, the user may now use/access the camera from the device. It is important to note that Android stores a copy of the photo on the device, along with allowing you to attach it to a secure Mediprocity message.

Because of this open behavior on an Android, all users should refrain from taking photos when using Mediprocity through a browser on a mobile device. If a user does indeed use the camera feature, Mediprocity recommends that the user goes back into their picture gallery and deletes the image from the gallery and makes sure it is also removed from their trash.

For the highest HIPAA-compliant standards please use Mediprocity through the native Android application which may be downloaded and installed through the Google Play store. The camera functionality using the Mediprocity Android app is fully secure and does not store on the user’s device.

TERMINATION OF ACCESS:

If You use the Site in any manner that is prohibited by these Terms of Service, Mediprocity may without notice terminate or suspend Your use of or access to the Site or the Services.

ACCESS CONTROL:

Mediprocity has implemented administrative and technical security control mechanisms including but not limited to login time-outs, encryption, unique user IDs, access codes and logging to support client compliance with information security regulations and guidelines.

Users should be aware these technical controls operate in combination with User selected controls implemented on User owned and operated mobile devices, web browsers, and personal computers. Users should implement appropriate access controls on devices used to access Mediprocity. Users should implement timeouts of shorter duration than the desktop application which is set for the 1 minute/2 hours duration when using a browser. Users on desktops or laptops should implement a much shorter timeout that would enable their system to go to sleep and enable password protection. As a general recommendation, security controls should be stricter on mobile devices or any computer located in publicly accessible areas, e.g. login timeouts should be immediate or very short on these devices. Mediprocity sets application timeouts based on typical use models and to accommodate standards across multiple client organizations.

Users should set device-specific timeouts to match their organization security policies. Mediprocity is not liable for any harm related to relaxed or absent access control mechanisms on User owned and operated devices including but not limited to mobile phone screen locks or personal computer desktop screen time-outs.

LINKS:

The Mediprocity Web Site may contain links to independent third party websites that are controlled exclusively by such third party website operator. Mediprocity disclaims any and all liability for any information, material, products or services that are referenced, offered or promoted on any third party website(s). By providing links to such third party website(s), Mediprocity does not endorse, recommend or guarantee any material, product or service offered in such third party website(s).

If you view a user posted a link outside of Mediprocity, the link may be unverified and/or an unsecured Web Site.

WARRANTY DISCLAIMER:

YOU AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE MEDIPROCITY WEBSITE SHALL BE AT YOUR SOLE RISK. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, MEDIPROCITY, ITS OFFICERS, PHYSICIAN ADVISERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN CONNECTION WITH THE WEBSITE AND YOUR USE THEREOF.

MEDIPROCITY MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THIS SITE’S CONTENT OR THE CONTENT OF ANY SITES LINKED TO THIS SITE AND ASSUMES NO LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY (I) ERRORS, MISTAKES, OR INACCURACIES OF CONTENT, (II) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF OUR WEBSITE, (III) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SECURE SERVERS AND/OR ANY AND ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION AND/OR FINANCIAL INFORMATION STORED THEREIN, (IV) ANY INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION OF TRANSMISSION TO OR FROM OUR WEBSITE, (IV) ANY BUGS, VIRUSES, TROJAN HORSES, OR THE LIKE WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR THROUGH OUR WEBSITE BY ANY THIRD PARTY, AND/OR (V) ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY CONTENT OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF ANY CONTENT POSTED, EMAILED, TRANSMITTED, OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE VIA THE MEDIPROCITY WEBSITE.

NEITHER MEDIPROCITY NOR THE PARTICIPATING PHYSICIANS ARE PROVIDING MEDICAL ADVICE IN OPEN POSTS, OR PROFILES AND MEDIPROCITY DOES NOT WARRANT, ENDORSE, GUARANTEE, OR ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY INFORMATION, OPINIONS, ADVICE PRODUCT OR SERVICE ADVERTISED OR OFFERED THROUGH THE MEDIPROCITY WEBSITE OR ANY HYPER-LINKED WEBSITE OR FEATURED IN ANY ENGAGEMENT CONTENT OR OTHER PROMOTION AND MEDIPROCITY WILL NOT BE A PARTY TO OR IN ANY WAY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING ANY INTERCHANGES OR TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN YOU AND OTHER PARTIES USING OR APPEARING ON THE WEBSITE.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:

IN NO EVENT SHALL MEDIPROCITY, ITS OFFICERS, PHYSICIAN ADVISERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM ANY (I) ERRORS, MISTAKES, OR INACCURACIES OF CONTENT, (II) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF OUR WEBSITE, (III) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SECURE SERVERS AND/OR ANY AND ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER INFORMATION STORED THEREIN, (IV) ANY INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION OF TRANSMISSION TO OR FROM OUR WEBSITE, (IV) ANY BUGS, VIRUSES, TROJAN HORSES, OR THE LIKE, WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR THROUGH OUR WEBSITE BY ANY THIRD PARTY, AND/OR (V) ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY CONTENT OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF YOUR USE OF ANY CONTENT POSTED, EMAILED, TRANSMITTED, OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE VIA THE MEDIPROCITY WEBSITE, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT MEDIPROCITY IS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THE FOREGOING LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

Mediprocity does not recommend or endorse any specific drugs, tests, physicians, products, procedures, opinions, “off-label” drug uses or other information that may be mentioned on the site. Your reliance upon the Materials obtained or used by You at or through this Site is solely at Your own risk. Mediprocity is not a physician credentialing agency and while Mediprocity will use its resources to make reasonable verifications Mediprocity is not responsible to discover falsified identities or credentials and makes no guarantee or warranty of such. It is the users’ responsibility to assess the nature and source of information received.

You specifically agree that Mediprocity is not responsible or liable for any threatening, defamatory, obscene, offensive or illegal content or conduct of any other user, party or any third party infringement of someone’s rights, including intellectual property rights. If you are dissatisfied with the Mediprocity Web Site or its Content for any reason or with these Terms of Use, your sole and exclusive remedy are to discontinue access to the Mediprocity Web Site and use of any Content available on the Mediprocity Web Site.

INDEMNITY:

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Mediprocity, its parent corporation, officers, physician advisers, directors, employees and agents, from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or debt, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney’s fees) arising from: (i) your use of and access to the Mediprocity Website; (ii) your violation of any term of these Terms of Service; (iii) your violation of any third party right, including without limitation any copyright, property, or privacy right; or (iv) any claim that one of your User Submissions caused damage to a third party. This defense and indemnification obligation will survive these Terms of Service and your use of the Mediprocity Website.

MISUSE:

Mediprocity may restrict, suspend or terminate the account of any User who abuses or misuses the Services or offers competitive services. Misuse of the Services includes inviting to connect other Users with whom you do not know or with whom you do not have a medical referral or consult objective; abusing the Mediprocity messaging services; using the Services commercially without Mediprocity’s authorization, infringing any intellectual property rights, violating any of the Do’s and Don’ts listed in HIPAA STATEMENT, or any other behavior that Mediprocity, in its sole discretion, deems contrary to its purpose. In addition, and without limiting the foregoing, Mediprocity has adopted a policy of terminating accounts of Users who, in Mediprocity’s sole discretion, are deemed to be repeat infringers under the United States Copyright Act.

DISPUTE:

This Agreement or any claim, cause of action or dispute (“claim”) arising out of or related to this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the state of Delaware or state of Missouri regardless of your country of origin or where you access Mediprocity, and notwithstanding of any conflicts of law principles and the United Nations Convention for the International Sale of Goods. You and Mediprocity agree that all claims arising out of or related to this Agreement must be resolved exclusively by a state or federal court located in Delaware or Missouri, except as otherwise agreed by the parties or as described in the Arbitration Option paragraph below. You and Mediprocity agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the courts located in Delaware or Missouri for the purpose of litigating all such claims. Notwithstanding the above, you agree that Mediprocity shall still be allowed to apply for injunctive remedies (or an equivalent type of urgent legal relief) in any jurisdiction.

ARBITRATION:

For any claim (excluding claims for injunctive or other equitable relief) where the total amount of the award sought is less than $10,000, the party requesting relief may elect to resolve the dispute in a cost-effective manner through binding non-appearance-based arbitration. In the event a party elects arbitration, they shall initiate such arbitration through an established alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) provider mutually agreed upon by the parties. The ADR provider and the parties must comply with the following rules: (a) the arbitration shall be conducted by telephone, online and/or be solely based on written submissions, the specific manner shall be chosen by the party initiating the arbitration; (b) the arbitration shall not involve any personal appearance by the parties or witnesses unless otherwise mutually agreed by the parties; and any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator shall be final and may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

NO INJUNCTIVE RELIEF:

Our failure to act with respect to a breach of this Agreement by you or others does not waive our right to act with respect to that breach or subsequent similar or other breaches. Except as expressly and specifically contemplated by the Agreement, no representations, statements, consents, waivers or other acts or omissions by any Mediprocity Affiliate shall be deemed legally binding on any Mediprocity Affiliate, unless documented in a physical writing hand signed by a duly appointed officer of Mediprocity.

ASSIGNMENT AND DELEGATION:

In no event shall you seek or be entitled to rescission, injunctive or other equitable relief, or to enjoin or restrain the operation of the Service, exploitation of any advertising or other materials issued in connection therewith, or exploitation of the Services or any content or other material used or displayed through the Services.

AMENDMENT:

Mediprocity may modify these Terms of Use from time to time in its sole discretion and your continued access to the Mediprocity Web Site and the Contents therein shall be deemed to be your acceptance of any such modification. It is expressly your responsibility to regularly determine whether these Terms of Use have been modified. MEDIPROCITY WILL NOTIFY OUR USERS FIRST WHEN A MODIFICATION OCCURS. If you do not agree with any modification to these Terms of Use, you must immediately stop accessing the Mediprocity Web Site.

GOVERNING LAW:

Use of the Mediprocity Web Site shall be governed by all applicable Federal laws of the United States and the laws of the State of Delaware and/or the State of Missouri you irrevocably consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located within the State of Delaware to resolve any dispute that may arise.

Notices and Service of Process may be delivered to; Mediprocity, Inc. Attn: Legal 714 Spirit 40 Park Drive Suite 140 Chesterfield, MO 63005 Additionally, Mediprocity accepts service of process at this address. Any notices that you provide without compliance with this section on Notices shall have no legal effect.

ENTIRE AGREEMENT:

These Terms of Use constitute the entire agreement between You and Mediprocity with respect to the Mediprocity Web Site.

Mediprocity Website Comment Policy

We want you to feel at home when you post a comment on Mediprocity. We want everyone to feel at home posting comments on Mediprocity. We don’t know what your home is like, but we know how we expect people to behave when they visit ours. That’s why we reserve the right to delete comments and ban users as needed to keep the comment threads here civil and substantive.

Our No. 1 house rule is simple: Don’t be a jerk.

Want to be the kind of commenter we’d love to bring home to Thanksgiving dinner? Here’s what we like to see in comments:

Weigh in with smart, informed ideas that contribute further to the story.
Give us useful, constructive criticism. Spot a typo or an error? Let us know and we will correct it.
Demonstrate and share the intelligence, wisdom, and humor we know you possess.
Don’t feed the trolls. You wouldn’t dive into a debate with our ill-informed, weird uncle Lester just for the heck of it. And you definitely wouldn’t feed him. (We told you he was weird.) Downvote and flag comments instead.

Although we can’t be everywhere at once, here are some of the kinds of comments we’re going to do our best to curtail:

Promoting your own brand, product, or blog. So you’ve got a competing product? How would you feel if we made comments on your site against our site? Be respectful and we will do the same.
Impersonating authors or other commenters. We can’t believe we have to say this, but: Don’t do that.
Comments that make it clear you didn’t read the article. Enraged that we didn’t mention X in a story about Y? Slow down, Speedy McFingerson. If you’d made it past paragraph two, you’d see a very well thought-out discussion of that X you hold so dear.
Comments that are completely out of left field. Sometimes discussions veer off a bit, but are still related to the original subject. That is fine. Hijacking the conversation to promote off-topic commentary is not.
Threats — no matter how vague — against the author or other commenters. Things can get heated. Before you casually mention your foe’s home address, take a deep breath and think twice.
Racism, sexism, homophobia, you get the drift. Call us the PC Police, fine, but don’t say we didn’t warn you when you get banned or deleted.
Trolling. If you’re just out for a good trolling and are not contributing meaningfully to the conversation, we’ll be pushing you back under the bridge.