Terms of Service

We are more than happy to answer your questions or help you out in any way possible. However, at the Men in Aprons headquarters, we have a few standards that we wish for you to adhere to if you are going to contact us. Those standards are etiquette and disclosure.

Email Communication
We don't mean to sound old-fashioned, but we are, so that's how it comes out. If you are going to send us an email, you need to use proper phrases like “please” and “thank you.” You need to use proper opening phrases like “hello” or “dear, .” You need to use proper closing phrases like “sincerely” or “thanks!”

The internet is a breeding ground of anonymous rudeness, discourteousness, and hatred. Some people think that because they have access to the world wide web, that they are entitled to a certain type of response, despite how they ask for it. This sense of entitlement generally is to blame for curt emails that do not follow good etiquette. Any emails that use rude language or do not use proper communication etiquette will simply be put in the trash.

So if you want to talk to us you must use proper etiquette. Put simply … you gotta ask nicely.

We welcome criticism at Men in Aprons, but don't be an asshole about it. And don't act like you are doing us any favors by telling us how to run this site or design it. We have things set up here for a reason. This is our fourth year in existence, and I would be willing to be that we know a lot more than you do about running a weblog.

Comments:
Men in Aprons is a blog, after all, and we open up comments for each article so that you can leave your mark and continue the conversation. We enjoy keeping an open dialog with our readers, so please feel free to comment on any entry. We encourage it with the following stipulations.

1. Stay on topic. Keep the subject of your comments about the article you are commenting on. If you need to send a comment otherwise, just drop us an email. Off-topic comments will be deleted.

2. Contrary to the way other weblogs are run, we do not believe that the comment area of an article is an open forum for users to chat. This is how flame wars start and how feelings get hurt. Comments are to be made about the article. If you wish to have a discussion with another user, take it offline to emails. Unfortunately, Men in Aprons is not a big enough site to warrant the creation of a message forum, but we would be open to the idea in the future.

3. We respect your right to have an opinion, but if you are going to shout it out in the comments, please do not use foul language or insult other users or the authors. Again, this goes along the lines of good etiquette. Play nice. Respect other users’ opinions. Back up your comments with facts if you can.

If you feel that you are not being heard or if you dislike the above rules, please feel free to start YOUR OWN weblog. Being bloggers ourselves, we encourage people to get a place to state their own opinions. You can start a blog easily and maintain it the way you want. Also, having your own blog is a way to continue the conversation and expound on what we have said. Blogging is an incredibly powerful and empowering medium.

Disclosure
If you are going to leave a comment, you must provide an email address. While we realize that there is no way for the system to verify that the address is valid, we hope that you will provide a valid address so that we may contact you if necessary.

This is especially important if you decide to leave a nasty comment. Any outrageous or rude comments will be deleted if you do not leave a valid email address.

If at any time you feel you are being treated unfairly or if you disagree with our policy, please contact the publisher, Adam Byrd, and voice your concerns. But please use the above etiquette protocols to do so.

Thank you.