UPDATED 9/21/12 10am MST.
Welcome to the Van Halen News Desk – the most popular Van Halen website on the internet. Our Comments section to be a place for our community of passionate Van Halen fans to share lively and spirited debate. We encourage all our readers to get involved and give us their thoughts! In order to keep the exchange civil and to promote intelligent discussion about all things Van Halen, we are publishing a list of basic rules of VHND etiquette. Our rules for posting comments are:
***NOTE 95% of our regular contributors have been naturally abiding by these (previously unwritten) rules all along. We’re finally officially posting them now to try to improve everybody’s experience here.
***Stay On Topic
Keep your posts relevant to the story, or at least on the subject of Van Halen. Please do not make small talk that has nothing to do with Van Halen. Such posts may get deleted. Keeping it on the subject of VH will prevent our Comments section from getting overrun with socializing and small talk that is of no interest to the vast majority of our readers.
No Haters
Hateful rants against a Van Halen member or ex-member are no longer allowed. Fair or constructive criticism is welcome, but disturbing hateful rants will be deleted.
No Trolls
A troll is a person who enters an established forum and intentionally tries to cause disruption, most often in the form of posting inflammatory, off-topic, or otherwise inappropriate messages. We expect to get very few trolls from now on (since commenters now have to register with a valid email address). New trolls will be banned and their comments will be deleted.
No flame wars, personal attacks, or name–calling
We might edit it, or we might just delete the comment altogether. Users who repeatedly attack others may be banned. It’s perfectly fine to disagree on something, but be mature about it or you’re out. Name calling adds nothing to intelligent discussion.
***Regarding profanity
Profanity adds nothing to intelligent discussion. So let’s try to keep it reasonably clean and not use it all the time.
No impersonating
Impersonating anyone, whether it be another user, a band member, or anyone from the Van Halen camp is not allowed.
***Act like an adult
Please act like a mature adult and refrain from juvenile behavior so that people don’t think you’re in the third grade. Please try your best to use proper spelling and grammar. Helpful tip: know the difference between your (belongs to you) and you’re (you are) and between there (refers to a place), their (belongs to them), and they’re (they are). Bad grammar will NOT get your post deleted – it just lessens your credibility.
Show respect and be open-minded
Respect other people’s opinions and understand that if someone disagrees with you it’s okay. There are no “better” or “worse” singers or songs. It’s a matter of personal preference.
First time’s a charm
Don’t repost the same stuff again and again..
Errors and typos
If you spot an error or a typo in a VHND story, we prefer that you email us at news@vhnd.com rather than posting a comment about it. After the error is corrected, your comment will remain, and people won’t know what you were talking about.
Thanks for respecting the rules and enjoy the VHND!
HOW TO POST COMMENTS
Because of problems we’ve had with a few persistent trolls, no more anonymous posting as a “Guest” is allowed. From now on, VHND is requiring all people who wish to post comments to register with their actual email address to so that their profile is verified. This will virtually eliminate problems with haters, trolls, and people posing as more than one person.
Posting on VHND is easy. Our commenting system is powered by Disqus, which is used by over half a billion people across some of the largest sites on the web. You can comment with Disqus using your social networking accounts (such as Facebook or Twitter), or by setting up a Disqus account. (Setting up your Disqus account is very simple and only takes a minute or two – just click on the Disqus button above the comment field for information.) This allows you post comments immediately.
HOW TO REGISTER
Under the appropriate news story, type your comment in the comment field and then click the “Post as” button. Then, in the new window, either sign in through Facebook, Twitter, etc. or click “Register a new Disqus profile” link. You’ll simply type in your email address and create your username and password. Disqus will immediately email you a link, which you’ll use to verify your email address. That’s it – your account will be set up and you’ll be able to post on the many sites that use Disqus.