Policy and Terms

The Society of Honor by Joe America ("Society of Honor"; "Society") claims certain rights and offers certain protections to contributors and readers who comment.

The Society aspires toward open and constructive dialogue. This is not a chat site. It is a forum for thoughtful discussion. Contributors who speak in OPPOSITION to Joe America or other authors and contributors are welcome and are allowed to present their views freely as long as the focus is on issue rather than insult, and the intent is to open minds rather than close them.

The following Policy and Terms will help provide important understandings about how this blog site operates.

Moderation and Deletion of Comments
  • The Society of Honor currently does not moderate comments and this policy will remain in force as long as comments are substantially forthright, constructive and non-disparaging. We believe in the principle of "responsible self-editing" where readers exercise maturity, courtesy and integrity with regard to their comments.
  • The Society and its editor(s) retain the right to delete any comments that do not meet the standard of being "substantially constructive and non-disparaging". Unduly obscene remarks are not constructive.  
  • The right to delete is wholly within the purview of the Society of Honor and its editor(s).
  • The Society may change its policy with regard to comments at any time to protect the integrity of the site.
Article Copyright and Copy Permissions
  • Published articles are the copyrighted property, jointly, of the author and the Society of Honor.
  • Excerpts from articles may be freely taken and re-published elsewhere as long as attribution is granted to the author and the Society of Honor by Joe America
  • Copies of entire articles, or sections and quotes from articles, may be freely made for private or academic use as long as attribution is granted for documents presented to others. 
  • Entire articles may be re-published with the prior consent of the Society of Honor or the article's author. Refer to the "Contact Us" page to submit a request for re-publication.
Ownership of Comments (Revised September 19, 2023)
  • Comments are the property of the commenter who grants the Society of Honor full right of re-publication and use. Excerpts from comments may be freely taken and re-published as long is attribution is granted to the commenter (name or alias) and the Society of Honor by Joe America.
  • A commenter may freely repost, publish or make use of his comments elsewhere, at his discretion.
Links to the Society of Honor by Joe America
  • Links back to articles published on this site may be freely made, without permissions, as long as the site containing the link is not of bad taste or questionable moral or legal standing. We welcome back-links to broaden the reach and impacts of the Society of Honor and its many contributors
Privacy Policy 
  • The Society of Honor gathers and stores the comments and names or aliases of those who choose to comment. No other personal information about those who comment is gathered and stored. 
  • The google blogging platform used by the Society of Honor automatically tracks sources of comments for statistical purposes. This information is not used by the Society to identify personal locations or gather personal information.
  • The Society of Honor does not use names or aliases of those who choose to comment in any other way than to identify the source and shared ownership of comments.
Photograph and Image Policy (Effective September 1, 2012)
  • The Society of Honor re-publishes photographs, charts or hand-drawn images obtained during topical internet searches. Attribution is granted where such attribution is readily available.
  • Photographs, charts or hand-drawn images known to be copyrighted are published only with prior consent of the owner.
  • The Society will immediately remove published photographs, charts or hand-drawn images if it is shown by the owner that they are improperly acquired. Such improper publication by the Society is wholly inadvertent.
Submission of Articles for Publication
  • Free-lance article submissions are welcome. They will be published at the discretion of the Society of Honor editor(s).
  • Criteria for submission: (1) relevant to the Philippines, (2) well-written original work, (3) properly documented as to source material, (4) thought provoking and constructive.
  • The editor(s) of the Society of Honor have full right to decline publication of any submitted article for any reason whatsoever.
  • Published articles are jointly owned by the author and the Society of Honor and either party may make use of the article for his own purposes. 
  • The opinions expressed within articles belong soley to the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Society of Honor, its publisher, other article writers or those who read and comment on this blog site. (Revision: November 14, 2012)
Cybercrime Protections (Addition January 6, 2013)
  • Nothing in this blog should be taken as a truth. The articles are rife with satire, exaggeration and opinion compiled to produce certain meanings, meanings intended to advance the well-being of the Philippines. Many expressions are intentionally provocative to work through the armor of reader complacency; no malice is intended. It is impossible for the publisher to distinguish fact from fiction for every phrase written. Therefore readers are advised that they are required to take NONE of the statements literally, as truth. The only truth is the meaning readers gather for themselves, based on their own history, conditions and intellect. The Society cannot be responsible for extracted meanings that diverge from intent, where the intent is the well-being of the Philippines.
  • As stated in the section "Ownership of Comments", thoughts and opinions expressed by commenters are entirely those of the commenter. The Society has no way to discern which are intended with malice or which are satire, exaggeration and opinion, intended for the well-being of the Philippines. Complaints need to be taken up with the commenter directly.
  • The Society gains no revenue from its publications. No advertisements are run. No articles are sold. No incentives are taken to express a certain viewpoint. No payments are made to contributors. The sole reason for being is to advocate for a healthy, wealthy and wise Philippines. The publisher has retired from employment and issues this blog soley for the personal satisfaction he gains by contributing to the well-being of the nation he has come to love. If words contained herein are deemed harmful in anyway, the Society is happy to share its revenue with complainants in whatever proportion complainants deem reasonable.
Philippine Elections (Addition March 13, 2013)
  • The Society seeks to comply with COMELEC regulations and a Philippine Department of Immigration warning, the latter issued March 13, 2013, that mandates that foreigners avoid in any way seeking to influence the outcome of elections. Potentially offending blogs have been removed. Complaints regarding remaining commentary may be brought to the attention of the editor via the "Contact Us" tab, above. 
  • The editor neither encourages nor discourages Filipinos from voicing opinions regarding elections, recognizing that it is their right to express their views under Philippine Law. Foreigners are encouraged to respect COMELEC regulations and the Immigration mandate and refrain from expressing views that may be seen as favoring one candidate over another. The Society recognizes, however, that comments belong to the comment author, not the Society.