NIH Comment Guidelines

You are encouraged to share your thoughts and ideas any other website owned or administered by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where commenting is supported. However, NIH blogs are not intended to serve as public forums. The views expressed in the Comments section reflect those of the individual(s) who authored the comment(s) and may not reflect those of NIH or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Due to the fact that NIH utilizes moderated blogs, comments submitted for consideration are not immediately visible. All comments are reviewed before they can be posted to ensure compliance with these guidelines. Be advised that NIH does not plan to respond to individual comments or questions on a routine basis.

The information below is designed to encourage respectful and constructive dialogue. Comments that include the following are prohibited:

• Vulgar, obscene, profane, threatening, or abusive language; personal attacks of any kind
• Discriminatory language (including hate speech) based on race, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or disability
• Endorsements of commercial products, services, organizations, or other entities
• Repetitive posts (for example, if you submit the same idea multiple times)
• Spam or undecipherable language (gratuitous links will be viewed as spam)
• Copyright infringement
• Links to external sites
• Images or videos
• Solicitation of funds
• Procurement-sensitive information related to any current/future NIH acquisition
• Surveys, polls, and questionnaires subject to the Office of Management and Budget Paperwork Reduction Act clearance
• Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or Sensitive Information (SI)
• Off-topic posts
• Reporters’ questions — all media inquiries must be directed to the NIH Office of Communications and Public Liaison

We ask that your comments be respectful and relevant to the specific topic. We welcome your comments at any time. However, given the need to responsibly manage federal resources, the reviewing and posting of comments will occur Monday through Friday during regular business hours.

In submitting your comments to an NIH website, you irrevocably grant NIH permission to copy, distribute, make derivatives, display, or perform your work publicly and free-of-charge.

Reporters are asked to send questions to the NIH media office through their normal channels and to refrain from submitting questions here as comments. Media inquiries will not be posted or answered.

Thank you for taking the time to review our comment policy. We encourage your participation in our discussion and look forward to hearing from you.