Effective as of April 28, 2026
We welcome reader comments on My Ballard. Comments help build the neighborhood conversation that this site has always been about, and we want them to stay useful, civil, and on topic. By posting a comment, you agree to the terms below.
What we expect from commenters
- Stay on topic and add to the discussion. Disagreement is welcome; personal attacks are not.
- Use a consistent name or screen name. We do not require your legal name, but we do not allow impersonation of other people, businesses, or public officials.
- Write your own words. Do not paste material you do not have the right to publish.
- Keep it suitable for a general audience. Many of our readers are neighbors, families, and local business owners.
What is not allowed
We will edit, hold, or remove comments that, in our sole judgment:
- Contain personal attacks, harassment, threats, or hate speech directed at any person or group.
- Defame, libel, or knowingly spread false statements about a person or business.
- Publish private information about another person (home address, phone number, employer, etc.) without their consent.
- Promote violence, illegal activity, or self-harm.
- Are commercial spam, affiliate links, SEO link-dropping, or repeated promotional posts.
- Are off topic, repetitive, or appear to be coordinated rather than from individual readers.
- Violate someone else’s copyright or other intellectual property rights. We may also remove comments that do not clearly violate the rules above but are disruptive to the conversation.
Moderation
Comments are moderated by My Ballard staff and, in some cases, by community moderators we designate. We may approve, edit for length or clarity, hold, unpublish, or delete any comment, and we may suspend or ban accounts that repeatedly violate this policy. We are not obligated to explain individual moderation decisions. If you see a comment that you believe violates this policy, use the report or flag link on the comment, or email us at tips@myballard.com.
Ownership and responsibility
You are solely responsible for the comments you post. By submitting a comment, you grant My Ballard a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to display, reproduce, and distribute your comment in connection with the site and our related communications. You also confirm that your comment does not violate the rights of any third party. My Ballard does not endorse the views expressed in reader comments, and comments do not represent the views of My Ballard, its writers, or its advertisers.
Privacy in the comment area
Please do not post information in comments that you would not want to be public. Your screen name and comment are visible to all visitors and may be indexed by search engines. For details on how we handle the email address and other data tied to your comment account, see the Registration or Account Data section above.
Changes to this policy
We may update this Comment Policy at any time. Continued use of the comment area after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.