Announcements Revisiting Our Community Terms Of Service

In the spirit of full transparency, one area we feel we've come up short and let our community down is the comments section.

This is an effort to address that.

Even with automated and manual moderation, the comments section – whether on Hodinkee.com or our social media channels – can quickly veer off-topic, leading to an unproductive, incoherent, and sometimes toxic environment that doesn't benefit our community and undermines our mission.

We can all do better. We want this community to grow, and be an inclusive and encouraging place. To that end, we want to remind everyone of our Community Terms of Service. Please read carefully, and join us in fostering a dynamic, engaging, and welcoming environment for all of its members.

(As a reminder, these Terms of Service can always easily be found at the top of our comments section, to the right of the comment button.)

I. Please adhere to the following guidelines as you participate in discussion:

1. Keep your comments on-topic. Hodinkee welcomes spirited discussion, debate, and criticism – as long as comments relate directly to the article being commented on.

2. Remember that our community is international, diverse, and encompasses a wide range of watch knowledge, scholarship, and interests.

3. Comments are auto-moderated; occasionally a comment will be flagged for manual moderation and there may be a delay before it is published.

II. The following are grounds for deletion of a comment:

1. Racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks; hate speech or offensive generalizations about a group based on race, sex, ethnicity, ability, and/or beliefs. Comments deemed overtly or subtly discriminatory will be removed at the sole discretion of our moderators.

2. Personal attacks of any kind – including comments on the appearance of a Hodinkee staff member, contributor, or a fellow commenter.

3. Suggestive or sexually abusive content.

4. Profanity or vulgarity.

5. Using Hodinkee Community resources for commercial promotion, including the selling of watches or other items, or the promotion of goods and services.

6. Spamming, repeatedly leaving a similar comment, or creating multiple accounts to leave a similar comment.

7. Linking to outside content.

8. Impersonating others, including Hodinkee staff members and watch brands, in your username and/or avatar (the inappropriate avatar will be removed and the community manager will reach out via email to request a username change).

Repeated and/or egregious violations may result in your account being banned.

We thank you for being a part of the Hodinkee Community. Hodinkee would not be what it is without your support and feedback, so if there is anything you think would improve your experience with us, feel free to drop us a note at community@hodinkee.com.