Gift tip: Influence

The Charlotte region is vast and diverse. The more voices engaged in conversation, the better for us all. The Charlotte Observer welcomes your comments on news of the day, but we ask that you keep the discourse civil.

• Do not use profanity or obscenities. And don't try to camouflage profanity with asterisks, abbreviations or other symbols or foreign phrases.
• Do not use threatening language. Talk of violence won't be tolerated.
• No racial, gender or sexual-orientation name-calling.
• Do not attack other commenters for their views. Do not libel or defame anyone or violate their privacy.
• Keep your comments succinct and stay on topic. Comments that bear no relation to the story may be deleted.
• Do not add images to your comments.
• Do not report comments as abusive simply because you disagree with them. Report them only if they violate these guidelines.
• Do not post spam or advertising of any kind.
• Do not post a comment using all capital letters.

We do not monitor each and every posting, but we reserve the right to block or delete comments that violate these rules.

You can help: Notify us of violations by hitting the "Report Abuse" link. Users who continue posting comments that violate these guidelines may, at our discretion, be blocked from submitting future comments as well.

And finally, as Mark Twain said: "Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."

Enjoy the discussion.