During our first six weeks of maintaining a Web site for The Campus newspaper, we’ve learned a lot.

We’ve discovered the convenience of being able to update college news whenever the news happens.

We’ve learned that some alumni really care about what’s going on at their alma mater.

But one of the most significant things we’ve learned about is that an Internet news source develops through its interactive nature.

The “comment” section found at the conclusion of every article and column is an integral part of the website.

Reader input is extremely important to us as editors, reporters, photographers and columnists.

Here are some guidelines regarding comments on alleghenycampus.com.

Be respectful. The Campus’s Web site is a community where dialogue is encouraged. Some of the comments posted lately have been borderline verbally abusive.

In the future, our Web site Manager will remove comments deemed unnecessarily insulting to the point of abuse, and the user will be e-mailed with a notification explaining our decision.

In the words of NYTimes.com, “Debate, but don’t attack.”

We want you to give voice to your disagreements and we encourage differing viewpoints. A heated back-and-forth discussion that sticks to the subject at hand (instead of attacking fellow commentators on a personal level) is a way of constructively debating that we strongly support.

We’re not asking you to censor yourselves, and we hope this doesn’t discourage anyone from letting their opinion be heard on alleghenycampus.com.

However, we are requesting that you remain mindful of what you are saying, how you are saying it, and why you are choosing to phrase your comment in a specific way.

All editorials represent the majority opinion of the Editorial Board.

The Campus welcomes all reader response. We reserve the right to reject  or edit letters not meeting standards or space requirements (maximum 400 words).  The deadline for submission  for letters is 5 p.m. the Monday before publication. Letters must be typed, signed and sent to Box 12, with a phone number included for verification. All questions should be directed to Kristin Baldwin, editor–in–chief.

Allegheny College’s Statement of Community

Allegheny students and employees are committed to creating an inclusive, respectful and safe residential learning community that will actively confront and challenge racism, sexism, heterosexism, religious bigotry, and other forms of harassment and discrimination. We encourage individual growth by promoting a free exchange of ideas in a setting that values diversity, trust and equality. So that the right of all to participate in a shared learning experience is upheld, Allegheny affirms its commitment to the principles of freedom of speech and inquiry, while at the same time fostering responsibility and accountability in the exercise of these freedoms. This statement does not replace existing personnel policies and codes of conduct.