We love our readers' helpful commentary, and frankly, Lifehacker wouldn't be the site it is without the help of our readers and commenters. We strive to let in a smart and plugged-in community, and we want comments that serve as first-rate contributions to the post at hand. We value informed response and welcome spirited debate. Above all, comments should always further the discussion. Our old guide to weblog comments is a great jumping-off point for the completely uninitiated.
We like to see good spelling and grammar, because we're nerdy like that. Capitalization and punctuation are important, too—though we'll give you the benefit of the doubt over the occasional typo rather than freaking out over a misplaced apostrophe. These basic requirements go a long way towards making us all look better. Staying on-topic in a thread is essential—but now you can also take a topic to your own generated #hashtag page, then direct others there. Editors may sometimes caution that a thread has gone off-topic and should be moved to another forum.
Many readers have already discovered how to make their voices stand out via our #tips pages. Here you can share breaking tips, links of interest, timely video, or whatever else you might think would be useful to Lifehacker's editors. Give us some substantive lines on why we should follow up and your post may be promoted or featured on the front page. The #tips page is also an excellent space to audition as a first-time commenter with a juicy tidbit or to show off your investigative instincts. Self-promoters and spammers will be summarily banned, but quality contributors have the spotlight.
In addition, there is now an informal commenter forum, #openthread, where the conversation is yours to guide. This is the place to add comments, liveblogs, pictures, video, and links that are relevant to your community. It's also easy to jump over here if you find yourself veering off-topic and want to take others with you.
So: thumbs up to attention to detail, thoughtful typing, and prodigious use of the 'Shift' key. Personal attacks, inappropriate behavior, and off-topic rants in comments are subject to bans, disemvowelling, and deletion. Starred commenters should be aware that their privileges are not guaranteed, and should be careful in the comments they approve and promote. We'll quickly demote commenters for unruly or obscene posting. Baiting trolls helps no one, and we want the level of dialogue maintained to be high. But editors and moderators are equally on the lookout for our best contributors, too, to promote and star for brilliant efforts of the commenting kind, so let's see what you've got.
