After further review of the charge that TennisWorld’s standards and rules policy is too “vague” and restrictive, I’m making the hard choices that always go into articulating an extremely specific policy.

We strive to provide as comfortable an atmosphere as possible for the largest number of tennis fans in a public forum, and doing that job ably requires that we have a few simple guidelines for comment posters. Here they are:

1 - Please refrain from profanity. If you feel impelled to use a foul word, keep in mind that leaving something to the imagination is a lot more fun in everything - even comment posting. $#$%@ is a four letter word, too.

Added bonus: In contrast to the pedestrian, thoughtful comments at TW, that dark, intense, profanity-laced just-right-for-Indie-film-if-only-Coppola-could-read-it screenplay that you’ve been working on all these years will now seem that much more hip, that much more edgy!!!!

So the official TW policy is that the use of profanities may get your comment deleted, depending on the context and usage.

2 - Please treat your fellow posters with respect and abstain from harassing, baiting, or berating others. Keep in mind that each of us thinks he or she should be Ruler of the Universe, but the more obvious you are about it, the more you stand to look like an absolute eejit. Repartee, playfulness, sarcasm, fierce debate – all fine. Harsh and ugly personal attacks, not allowed. Impersonating your fellow posters is also not allowed.

This is a Zero Tolerance policy. Your comment will be deleted.

3 - Vulgar and sexually explicit language will not be tolerated. The same goes for intolerance; please don’t use racist epithets, or derogatory slang to describe others.

This is a Zero Tolerance policy. Your comment will be deleted.

  1. Please email all comments or concerns about TW (and its policies) to Pete or Moderator. We will not discuss or debate how the site and comments on the site are handled publicly.

So all we're really asking is that you to keep this place clean and play nice with your fellow inmates. We realize that, quite often, there is a fine line between offensive and sardonic or saucy and sexually explicit and that is where our judgement as moderators comes into play. We are comfortable making that call, not because we want to police anyone's thoughts or morals, but because, as much as we want to avoid needlessly offending people, we're also bored to tears by crude and offensive posts.

We're a tribe, we have our own mores and customs.