The Tampa Bay Times welcomes and supports constructive dialogue and discourse from subscribers about stories posted on tampabay.com. Commenting forums are meant to be a civil space where people can have meaningful and informed conversations about the facts.

Times staff retain the prerogative to determine what is published on tampabay.com. To that end, just as we hold our journalism to high ethical standards, we hold comments published alongside our work to a high bar.

Tips for good commenting

You can help foster an inclusive, respectful commenting environment for everyone who visits or participates. Here’s how:

• Treat others the way you would want to be treated. Consider the impact your words could have on other commenters, on people featured in the article and on their loved ones.
• Read the entire article before commenting.
• Provide information that enhances or adds context or that could lead to further reporting on the topic.
• Stay on point. If you pose a question, make sure it relates to the article you’re commenting on.
• Respond to the substance of a comment, not the person making it.
• Be careful when employing sarcasm; tone doesn’t always come across in writing.
• Flag comments that violate our community guidelines. This is the quickest way to draw our attention to a problem.
• When possible, back up your comments with reliable sources and substantiated data. Comments blatantly spreading misinformation or found to be false will be deleted.

Unacceptable behavior

Comments that reflect any of the following will be removed and the author may be suspended or banned:

• Disparaging an identity or ideology, or any other behavior that embodies or emboldens bigotry. This includes, but is not limited to, racism, misogyny, ableism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia and transphobia.
• Harassment, bullying, insults, name-calling or any other personal or ad hominem attack. If you believe you have the stronger point, write it concisely in your own comment and move on.
• Trolling — including doxxing and aggressively instigating unproductive interactions.
• Deliberately disrupting or distorting the discussion by using all capital letters or excessive symbols.
• Violating someone’s privacy, including posting their personal information.
• Causing, inciting, threatening or advocating for violence or harm.
• Obscenities, profanities and slurs, including with symbols in place of letters or acronyms that are commonly known to represent profanity.
• Posting copyrighted material.
• Comments promoting a product or service, or soliciting money. Campaign ads or other such promotional material.
• Spam of any kind, including posting the same comment more than once or repetitively posting a single term with slight variations to test the rules.
• Promoting, encouraging or making light of illegal activity.
• Straying off topic.
• Presenting falsehoods as facts, including promoting or perpetuating conspiracy theories.
• Impersonating someone else.
• Abusing the flagging system — for example, reporting a comment that does not break the rules simply because you disagree with it or dislike the person who wrote it.
• A commenting history that indicates you visit tampabay.com solely to disparage Times journalists in the comments without contributing anything to community discussions. (Respectful, constructive criticism is encouraged.)
• Comments longer than 1,800 characters. Please do not break a longer comment into multiple shorter posts. They will be deleted.

Times staff retain discretion to moderate, suspend or ban anyone whose behavior we determine to be a detriment to the atmosphere of our site. We will take into account both individual comments and a commenter’s past behavior when making these decisions.

More information about how commenting works

Comments containing links to sites that do not conform to these guidelines will also be removed. In some cases, we might pre-moderate comments containing links.

Decisions to remove a comment, or to suspend a user, are final.

Times staff may use our discretion to close comments on an article at any time for a variety of ethical and/or practical reasons.

FAQ on commenting forums

 

 

Why does tampabay.com have comments?

 

 

We consider our stories, columns and editorials to be a starting point for conversation on tampabay.com. We welcome and encourage Tampa Bay Times subscribers to contribute to informed, meaningful discussions about the facts presented in our articles.

How do I set up an account to comment?

As long as you are a subscriber and logged in to your Times account, you’ll be able to post a comment immediately. You can update your display name when prompted before commenting, or by updating your Times profile.

How do I report a comment that breaks the rules?

Readers can alert us to a comment that violates our community guidelines by flagging it and submitting a brief report. Once a report is filed, moderators will review the comment and decide if action is required.

How are comments monitored?

We pre-screen all comments for any language or tone that violates our community guidelines. We use highly-advanced technological filters to perform the initial screening in addition to a team of moderators who work 24/7 for the Times.

What happens if I violate the community guidelines?

Comments that violate our community guidelines could lead to action taken by the Times, including the loss of your ability to comment on our site. Your subscription would not be affected. But your ability to comment may be restricted based on the severity and frequency of any comments that violate our guidelines.

Who reviews the reported comments?

Our team of 24/7 moderators review flagged comments or any reports filed by readers. Times journalists also may help moderate commenting activity.

As a Times subscriber, can I still be suspended or banned from commenting?

Yes, our community guidelines apply to all users, regardless of subscription status. If you violate our guidelines, your commenting privileges may be suspended or revoked, but you will still be able to read articles.

Will you tell me when I’ve been suspended or banned? Will you tell me why? And can I be reinstated?

If you are suspended or banned from commenting, we will notify you via the email address associated with your commenting account.

In most cases, a first violation of our guidelines results in a one-hour suspension — essentially, a warning. A second offense would result in a 24-hour suspension. If you break the rules again after that, you will be banned. Egregious violations of the guidelines – including personal attacks based on race, sex or gender, threats of violence or posting commercial spam – may result in an immediate ban. Bans are permanent.

Why are you censoring peoples’ opinions?

The Times reserves the right to allow or disallow any kind of content that doesn’t meet our standards. We are under no obligation to publish every comment. Generally, a comment is subject to removal not because of the opinion it expresses but because it violates our basic guidelines.

Why do you require a subscription in order to comment?

Commenting on Times articles is a benefit for subscribers. We believe it will encourage a more civil environment and discourage trolling behavior from fly-by commenters.

Why do old stories not have commenting threads anymore?

We reintroduced comments in June 2025. No stories prior to that have commenting features built into them. Comments on stories prior to 2019 were not archived.