The Globe and Mail is committed to encouraging intelligent discourse among our readers and to creating a forum where diverse views and opinions on a wide range of topics can be aired. In our continuing efforts to facilitate a dynamic online conversation we have created two distinct types of forums.

The first type of conversation is a semi-moderated or reactively moderated conversation. Comments submitted to a semi-moderated conversation pass through a filter that automatically detects inappropriate language or other issues. The comment then appears on the website.

The second type of conversation is fully moderated. In a fully moderated conversation, every comment is reviewed by a Globe and Mail editor before it appears on the site. While we will attempt to publish as many comments as possible there will be occasions where the volume of comments makes it impossible to publish every appropriate submission. Only registered users of the site may contribute to an online conversation and in all cases the policy described in our Editor’s note must be followed.

On semi-moderated conversations we encourage our community of readers to assist with the moderation by alerting us any time a published comment violates our stated policy. Please do not alert us if you disagree with a comment, find a spelling error or are bothered by multiple postings. Once you submit a complaint about a comment, a message will be sent immediately to the editors of the site who will determine whether the remark belongs on the site.