Commenters, we’ve heard you. 

 In response to repeated requests from folks upset with the disruptive effect of inflammatory comments, we are tightening our standards.

Here’s the new rule:

We will reject inflammatory and highly provocative comments that seem likely to hijack the comment thread — by making the discussion more about the commenter’s inflammatory view than about the story. We also will reject comments that are clearly off-topic.

Here are some reminders about our current policy:

• We do not allow ad hominem attacks and gratuitous insults aimed at commenters.

•We require commenters to use their real names.

• We do not allow the use of nicknames for people or groups that are meant to denigrate or deride. The use of “Democrat” as an adjective is one such example, and we’ve banned the use of several derogatory terms some use to refer to the Tea Party.

Since our beginning in November 2007, we’ve been credited with developing and maintaining one of the most civil environments in the nation for online commenters at a news site.

We intend to preserve that reputation, and we encourage more readers to take part in our online discussions — respectfully.

With political rhetoric heating up everywhere, we’re finding ourselves rejecting more and more comments.

The biggest reason for the rejections is the violation of our policy promoting civility, which basically boils down to: no personal attacks, no foul language, no libelous statements and no uses of wording likely to “incite” hate or sexual harassment.

And here’s a quick review of our basic guidelines outlined in our Terms of Use policy:

• MinnPost welcomes user comments on our stories and posts. MinnPost’s mission is to engage the public in news analysis of issues in their community and to encourage interaction with our editors, writers and other posters.

• We intend for this area to be used by our readers as a place for civil, thought-provoking and high-quality public discussion.

• In order to achieve this, MinnPost requires that all commenters register and post comments with their actual names.

• MinnPost reserves the right to remove postings that include the use of foul language, personal attacks or the use of language that may be libelous or interpreted as inciting hate or sexual harassment; however, we are under no obligation to do so.

• User comments may be included or excluded at our discretion.