by Latoya Peterson

This election is really testing me in terms of the comment policy. So, here are a couple things to keep in mind while commenting:

1. Racialicious is first and foremost an anti-racist space. Most of our comment policy is designed to reflect the common issues that arise in discussing race in a large forum. However, that does not mean it’s open season on every thing else. Please think twice before posting a comment that contains a sexist remark (or any other -isms).

2. Because this election has been so divisive, I am putting a permanent ban on the use of all candidate nicknames. You can use initials, first name, last name or both – nothing else.

3. Our site is staffed by progressive women who generally fall from center to far left on the political ideology spectrum. However, conservatives are welcome here, provided that they are willing to critically examine the role of race in our society. I really enjoyed the majority of the comments on The Politics of Selling Out post, and hope to see that level of nuance employed to most of the political posts here from now until the election. Post election, I want to start examining the trends in minority voters to decline a party affiliation, as well as look at conservatives of color and how they operate in political situations that arise around race.

4. Just a small note – I am the main mod, and I’ve been splitting my time recently between here and Feministe. Some other folks are pitching in here or there, but I am still the main authority. So if I tell you to do something, please, for my sanity, just do it. If I tell you to stop using political nicknames, I don’t want an argument. It’s unnecessary and just creates moderation problems for me. I’m not going to read through twenty angry, off-topic comments because you thought something was cute. Ditto with belaboring a moot point – if I ask you to stop, just stop.

5. Finally, I am getting a lot of emails about different articles or memes surfacing around the internet. Remember readers, this is an election year and misinformation is flying high. So I am intentionally not posting some of the articles and video links that have been sent to me. I posted that one link to Palin because someone was on record, with their name, reporting what they had heard her say about hiring African Americans. Palin and Alexander can debate about what is actually said, but the point is someone owns this statement. Anything else, I am highly skeptical of until I see some named sources/unnamed sources who have intimate ties to the Palin administration in Alaska or a paternity test. Keep questioning. Question what we link to, question what you read, question ALL the candidates – Obama, McCain and Biden aren’t immune to questioning. But seriously, if a news items seems a little too good to be true, it probably is.

Thanks, and I can’t wait until November 5th,

LDP