The Handbag hofdames are pleased to announce that we have grown exponentially in the past few months. We would like to extend a hearty welcome to our newcomers and a “thanks for sticking with us” to those who have been with us since the beginning.
With so many new commenters, it seems like a good time to review our mission and expand on our comment policy. Our goal is “Royal Discussion Without the Drama”. To that end, we ask that you follow these guidelines for commenting.
Comments
Be candid but remain respectful. You will not always like what a royal wears, or a piece of royal jewelry, and you should be candid if you don’t. Critiquing the outfit, not the person, is perfectly acceptable.
Provide additional royal-related information. If you have additional information on the topic under discussion, please go for it. We love to expand what we call our “royal intel”. Enlivening the discussion with related information is just fine.
Avoid personal conversations. We cannot host extended personal commentary. Many commenters know each other from the Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor blog, and we don’t deny that a huge part of the appeal of that community was the camaraderie, the “we’re a family” feeling. We love that you retain the royal-related banter that we had there. How personal can we get? Hello, welcome, “have a great weekend” are perfectly fine, but if you find yourself in a conversation about your house or children, or more than two comments deep in a personal conversation, that’s too far. Please remember that we also have commenters who were not part of that group and make sure we treat everyone, new and old, as friends.
Refrain from political conversations about current events. Specifically, we ask that you not mention American politicians, political wives or families, or American policy. In general, the contemporary political climate across the globe is fraught, so we ask that you stay away from debating current political issues. However, we do talk about constitutional monarchies, so if you are providing political or historical context for royal behavior or apparel, that is fine. In fact, it’s highly appreciated.
Stay away from discussing family feuds. We want to stay away from speculating about the relationship between Meghan and Kate, or Harry and William. We don’t know what is going on, no one on the vast internet really does. The only people who do know are not likely to comment here.
Avoid body critique, including pregnancy speculation. Stick to discussing the outfit, not the body housing it. Also, let’s wait for actual happy announcements rather than speculating about possible pregnancies.
Maintain a drama-free atmosphere. We can’t cover everything, so we point people to other news sources and blogs frequently. Please also feel free to do so in the comments. Anything that increases our royal knowledge is great. We do ask that everyone refrain from discussing any drama that occurs elsewhere here. We are the fun zone.
Have fun! We want everyone to have fun here. Keep your comments lighthearted and primarily royal-related and everything will be just fine!
Open Posts
We have a series of Open Posts coming up for several events in June. Keep to the topic as close as possible. All the above guidelines apply to them. The only caveat is that you could add inquiries about other royal-related events to them. For example, it’s fine to ask on the Open Post for the U.S./U.K. State Visit if we will also cover Ascot with an Open Post (the answer is yes.)
Moderation
We have some moderating tools in place, which means some comments will end up in the moderating queue. It is easier to review comments on the front end rather than delete them after they are posted. These tools are not precision instruments, so at times completely innocuous comments will get flagged in them. If this happens to you, hang tight. We monitor the queue several times daily and will release comments that meet the guidelines as quickly as possible.
We sincerely thank you for joining us, or for hanging in with us while we build this blog. We appreciate your support and contributions. We couldn’t do it without you.
