Comment Policy

The mission of The Connecticut Mirror is to expand civic engagement in our state by providing professional, nonpartisan news reporting about state government, policy and politics. We invite you to join us by submitting comments that elevate the discourse about issues confronting our state.

As a partner in civic engagement, you will be asked to register once, then log in whenever you wish to post a comment. We prefer that you use your own name -- other readers will take your comments more seriously -- but screen names are acceptable. You can enter your user name when you register, and although we require an email address, it's never made public.

Criticism and opposing views are welcome. Slurs, gratuitous profanity and ad hominem attacks are not. We expect you to address each other and the general readership with civility and respect. Comments should respond to issues raised in the story to which they are attached or in other comments. Your views on a candidate are welcome; however overt electioneering, such as encouraging others in how to vote, is not acceptable.

To encourage the exchange of ideas and to prevent a handful of individuals from dominating the comments, we've established a few rules. First, don't submit redundant comments; if you've said it once, that's enough. Second, we may limit the number of times any individual can comment on a particular article or issue.  Third, please limit the length of your comments; only the first 100 words or so (about as long as this paragraph) will appear on the main post page, with a link to the rest. If you wish to make a more extensive argument, consider submitting an essay for Connecticut Commons.

Comments are reviewed by members of the staff before posting. Readers who consistently offer thoughtful, accurate, reasonable comments that advance the conversation will see their posts appear in a more timely fashion. We will be as flexible as possible in the interest of promoting open discussion, but we may reject comments at our sole discretion. We also invite readers to alert us to comments they consider inappropriate or abusive. Readers who repeatedly violate these guidelines will be asked to refrain and may be barred from commenting.

The Connecticut Mirror and its publisher, the Connecticut News Project, are not responsible for the content of comments.