1. Be kind to others. If a hot-button topic is touched on, speak charitably to those you're disagreeing with. Don't make negative generalizations about men/women or any group of people defined by genetics, nationality, etc. If you want to make sweeping negative statements about a group defined by behavior, like pimps or journalists, that's more acceptable, but try to be calm and analytic about why a behavior is negative.
Speaking of journalists, I used to comment on Slate Star Codex, a science/philosophy blog run by a pseudonymous San Francisco psychiatrist who deleted it because a New York Times journalist declared that he was going to doxx him. I'm against that.
