Content Policies

I pride myself on accuracy, and will endeavor to publish only verifiable fact (or qualified opinion) in nonfiction and news pieces. My fiction work, for obvious reasons, follows no such standard.

Changes to news pieces and factual corrections to opinion pieces will be annotated as such and credited when possible. Corrections of grammar, style, and spelling errors, as well as minor edits to improve clarity, will generally be made without note.

My presentation of information will be inevitably colored by my own political and social biases; I do not deny it or attempt to hide it. I believe knowledge of my biases is necessary for my readers to properly interpret the information presented on this site. Unlike many media outlets, I share my biases openly and encourage my readers to engage in critical discussion of my work.

In news-style reporting of election results, candidates will be listed alphabetically by last name.

Off on a Tangent commemorates various religious, civil, and cultural holidays with special images and/or statements. All Roman Catholic holy days of obligation, all U.S. federal holidays, and several other days are marked in this way. When holidays conflict with one another, religious holidays take precedence over personal holidays, and personal holidays take precedence over civil and federal holidays.

Quotes or reprints from other material will be cited and linked when possible. No links will be made from this site to sites that circumvent browser pop-up blocking technology, auto-play music, make obnoxious noises, or overburden the user with flashy advertisements. On the rare occasion that I must cite one of these websites, I will do so with a non-clickable URL.

The views expressed on this web site are mine and mine alone. They do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer (Network Solutions, its management, or its staff), my religious community (the Catholic Church), or any other associations or organizations of which I am a member.

I do not receive or accept any payment, goods, or services from any company, association, charity, political party, or political action committee to write on this web site. Potential conflicts of interest are noted whenever they arise.

Style Rules

Off on a Tangent is published according to Modern Language Association (MLA) style rules with the following caveats and clarifications:

• The serial comma (the comma before ‘and’ in a list) is used in accordance with MLA rules. While many style guidebooks—particularly in the field of journalism—pan the use of this comma, I believe it is essential. The serial comma ensures clarity and better mirrors the spoken form of the American-English language.
• Singular possessive nouns end in ‘s, even when the last letter in the noun is also an s (e.g., James’s girlfriend). Contrary to what many of us were taught in school, this is the preferred usage. MLA rules leave this to the author’s discretion.
• The em-dash character (—) is used when appropriate, as opposed to the double-hyphen (–). MLA rules leave this to the author’s discretion.
• The ellipis character (…) is used when appropriate, as opposed to the triple-period (… or . . .). This prevents improper line breaks. Off on a Tangent’s usage is not in exact accordance with MLA rules, which currently recommend three spaced periods or three spaced periods enclosed in brackets, depending on context.

I am actively bringing legacy content—some written for classes that required the use of other style guides and some pre-dating my standardization on the MLA style—into compliance with my current style rules.

User Participation Rules

All visitors—registered or not—may view most content, view or post comments, contact me directly, and more.

Anybody may register, free of charge, for an Off on a Tangent account. Registration requires a valid email address for activation. Registered users may post comments without filling in their name and email address and have access to some restricted content. In the future, more ‘members only’ features may be added.

I allow comment postings to be published by users on my website because I like to know what my readers think. These postings are not necessarily permanent. Future site migrations, technology upgrades, and/or policy changes may result in the removal or replacement of the discussion system. Comment content, being secondary to my original content, will only be ported to updated systems when the effort involved is trivial.

After one year from the date of a particular post, comments are automatically disabled. Comments that have already been added will remain visible, but new comments cannot be added. This is done to reduce spam.

Comments are the property of their authors. By submitting a comment on this web site, users grant non-exclusive publishing rights to Scott Bradford Creative Enterprises for any purpose, and license to all under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

In addition, users making participating in discussion must follow these guidelines:

• Discussion posts must relate to the associated content item (if applicable). Stay on topic!
• Discussion posts must exhibit merit. Criticism and argument are fine, but I expect constructive criticism and intelligent argument.
• Discussion posts of an advertising or “Spam” nature are prohibited.
• Discussion posts including personal insults, unbased accusations, or clear falsehoods are prohibited.
• Discussion posts in violation of Virginia and/or United States law, or posts encouraging the violation of Virginia and/or United States law, are prohibited.
• Impersonation of the editor/webmaster is prohibited. Only the editor/webmaster may post with the usernames sbradfor, sbradford, scottb, scottbradford, Scott Bradford, etc.

If I determine that any post violates these policies, it will be removed. On rare occasion, I may allow a post to remain with only the offending portion removed. Such posts will be clearly marked as edited.

If a user regularly abuses comment privileges, that user’s Off on a Tangent account may be temporarily or permanently disabled.

I will never remove forum posts or punish users merely for disagreeing with me; on the contrary, I welcome a good debate! These rules and the consequences for breaking them are merely intended to maintain civility, which is oft-lacking in public discourse today (including on this site when the comment/forum policy was more lax). Constructive, intelligent discussion and debate is both permitted and encouraged.