Conversation guidelines on USATODAY.com

The good:
What you contribute matters. Your unique experiences, thoughts and content drive this community and the world's storytelling. Where you contribute matters. You know USA TODAY for covering all kinds of news and life, so forget one-track thinking and bring the different parts of your life to the community.

How you contribute matters. If you're interested, thoughtful and down-to-earth, you can find the same in so many USA TODAY readers and reporters — all here, all as human as you are. When you contribute matters. News and information move all the time, but readers and reporters can work together to keep up and make their involvement count. Your personal experiences can drive the reporting.

Who contributes matters. You're one of many here. The community welcomes you, someone like you, and someone not like you at all. Why contributing matters. When you look at the changing world, it's simple. We're all in this together.

The bad:
Don't attack other readers personally. If you're attacked, take the high road, hit the "Report Abuse" button and walk away. Let the community moderators sort things out. Don't be profane or vulgar. Children and families visit the site all the time, and "bleeping" a few letters isn't good enough. Don't use hate speech. Slurs, stereotypes and violent talk aren't welcome here.

Don't advertise. Keep your personal business dealings to your profile page or blog, or talk to our advertising department. Don't make the same comments repeatedly. Advertising or not, that's spamming (and boring). Don't copy-and-paste outside material. Even if you attribute or link to the original, copying more than a small portion likely breaks copyright laws. Contributions from your own knowledge and experiences are always the best.

Basically, use your best judgment. The guidelines on this page are just a starting point. Our official Terms of Service has more. As a host, USA TODAY welcomes a vast spectrum of people and perspectives. We have a responsibility to all of our members to keep the community fair and decent.

And we're just getting started. If you have ideas on how to improve the conversation or community, tell Community Center. If you have a hot news tip, tell our investigation team. If you just want to get to know us, visit the Reporter Index and click on a profile. The USA TODAY community of readers and reporters is developing all the time.