Commenting on our websites

Hi Kris,

As I mentioned to you on Friday I’ve temporarily suspended all comments on Money Morning articles. I did so while concluding a review of our obligations as a publisher under the new Australian Consumer Law which went into effect in July of last year. Along with the compliance officer, I’m satisfied we’re meeting our obligations so we’ll enable commenting later in the day. I’ve also enclosed our official commenting policy in case you want to publish it to Money Morning readers.

Money Morning has almost 60,000 readers now, and from what I’ve seen, there a lot of informed, thoughtful, provocative, and stimulating comments on various articles. I hope it can continue to be a place where independent thinkers can exchange ideas on economics, finance, and the share market.

That said, I’ll reiterate what the terms and conditions stipulate: we reserve the right to remove comments which are, at our sole discretion, unacceptable.

As a libertarian, I am not a big fan of regulating anyone’s speech. There’s also a real benefit to letting people from all walks of life contribute their unique points of view and real experience to the comments. It makes the site more valuable for everyone. I hope that continues.

But Money Morning is not a debating society. We have no obligation to serve as a forum or podium for readers to post links or engage in discussions on topics not related to financial markets. There are plenty of places on the Web to do that. Money Morning is not one of them.

I’d like the discussions to be as free, open, respectful, and un-moderated as possible. But it will be moderated if and when we think it’s necessary. If that upsets anyone overly much, I hope they can find a new place to discuss their ideas with one another. And in the meantime, we’ll open up the posts to new comments later today.

Regards,

Dan Denning
Publisher, Money Morning

Commenting on our websites

You are welcome to participate on our websites by posting comments at the end of each article. Please note that in order to post a comment you will be required to submit your email address. This DOES NOT make your email address publicly accessible. Nor does it subscribe you to our e-letters.

You must submit a name to submit a comment, but it does not have to be your name – aliases are completely acceptable as long as they are unique and not meant to impersonate another person (i.e., “Barack Obama” is not acceptable) or are considered by Port Phillip Publishing, at its sole discretion, to defame another person, to be offensive or otherwise unacceptable.

You are responsible for the content of your messages and you are liable for activities conducted by you, or by others authorised by you, or otherwise acting on your behalf.

By submitting messages you agree to indemnify and to continue to indemnify Port Phillip Publishing to the full extent possible under the law against all claims, costs and expenses (including but not limited to reasonable legal and administrative expenses) arising out of any such messages.

Messages are submitted by users over whom we have no control. We cannot guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of these messages. Some users may breach these Terms and Conditions and post messages that are misleading, untrue or offensive. To the extent allowable under the law, you bear all risk associated with your use of our websites and you should not rely on messages in making (or not making) any specific investment or other decision. In the event that you have any right, claim or action against any users arising out of that user’s messages, then you will pursue such right, claim or action independently of, and without recourse to, us.

To the extent allowable under the law, we expressly exclude our liability for any loss or damage arising from the posting of messages by any person on our websites.

We have the right to moderate all comments and we reserve the right to remove any comments which we deem, in our absolute discretion, to be advertisements, offensive, illegal, defamatory, contain profanity, or are otherwise considered to be unacceptable..

Unlawful Activity

Port Phillip Publishing has the right to investigate any breach or complaint about a violation of these terms and conditions. Port Phillip Publishing will take any necessary action to protect itself and may report any unlawful activity to the relevant legal authorities.

Breaching the Terms and Conditions

Any subscriber or website user found to be in breach of these Terms and Conditions may have their subscription or website access suspended, amended or cancelled. We reserve our right to take whatever action is available to us under the law. We reserve the right to cancel any subscription at any time. Where we cancel your subscription, the unused portion of your subscription will be refunded on a pro rata basis.

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