To leave comments on Now Smell This, you must have a user account. There is a link to register on the top left of the screen, under "Login to comment".
Be sure to read our comment policy before you comment!
Comments with a blue background were left by the author of the article; those with a white background were left by readers. You may also see comments with the user name "Anonymous" — these are "legacy" comments which were left before we moved to this domain in 3/09. Those comments have lost their "threading" so it can be hard to follow the conversation, and they've also lost their user names, so it's impossible to tell who wrote them.
User Accounts
When you register, the system will send you an email to verify your email address. If you don't receive it, check your spam folder. Once you've logged in for the first time, you can change your password and make other changes to your profile — just click on the "Welcome" link at the top left of the screen (if it still says "Login to comment" after you've logged in, try pressing CTRL + F5 to refresh your browser). Don't bother entering anything in the "biographical info" field, as we don't display it.
Please note that your first comment will always be held for moderation (in other words, it must be approved before it will appear). We try to do this in a timely manner, but every so often, we do walk away from the computer. If you've been waiting for longer than 24 hours, feel free to email a complaint to robin at nstperfume dot com.
The comments section will display gravatars ("globally recognized avatars", or small images) for anyone who has one associated with their email address. You can sign up for a custom gravatar here, and you can also create a public profile for your gravatar so that you can share contact information with other readers. If you create a public profile at the gravatar site, come back and enter that URL in your profile here! If you don't have a custom gravatar, an "identicon" gravatar (a geometric image associated with your account) will be generated for you.
Lost passwords: If you've forgotten your password or user name, click on "Login to comment" at the top left of your screen. You will then see a link to retrieve a lost password. It can also be used to retrieve your user name — just enter your email address.
Inactive accounts: Please note that there is no reason to register unless you wish to comment. If you register but don't comment, your account will be removed — this helps keeps our user database at a reasonable size. Also, if you do comment but then your user account is inactive for a long period of time, it may be deleted, eventually.
Comment policy
You are welcome to disparage perfumes with abandon so long as you keep your language clean. You are also welcome to disagree with the authors, or with other readers. You are not welcome to disparage other commenters or to make personal attacks on the authors.
Mean-spirited, hostile or insulting comments, or comments that contain profanity, will be deleted (or edited) at the discretion of the editor, as will comments that express hostility towards members of any racial, ethnic or religious group.
Basically, we want to keep the peace. If your comment does not help to further that goal, we might delete it. Bear in mind that people are allowed to say obnoxious or upsetting or ridiculous things about perfumes (or about the companies or celebrities that launch those perfumes) — if you express hostility towards someone because they've said something obnoxious or upsetting or ridiculous, your comment is the one that will be deleted. It is also true that while we frequently allow the discussion to veer away from perfume, we generally try to avoid topics (like politics, or negative remarks about Bob Dylan) that tend to start arguments.
You are welcome to include relevant links to other websites. Please do not link to the front page of your own blog or website for promotional purposes. You are more than welcome to put a link to your own website in your user profile. Unwelcome links in the comments will be removed.
Retailers, ebay merchants and perfume houses may not use the comments section to advertise, promote, or link to their wares. Comments that show obvious signs of astroturfing or shilling will be removed. If you are commenting as the representative of a perfume house, retailer or other official corporate entity, please identify yourself as such within the body of the comment itself, otherwise your comment may be removed.
You should also be aware that when you comment, the site administrator and other contributors are able to see your email and IP address (see our privacy policy).
If you see a comment that you think violates our policy, please send a link to robin at nstperfume dot com.
Every so often, comments get trapped in our handy-dandy spam filter. If you left a comment that you think was in keeping with our comment policy but it did not appear, send an email to robin at nstperfume dot com, and I'll go looking for it.
If you see an error or typo in an article, please comment — we love corrections!
Emoticons / Smilies
Here are the emoticons you can use in your comments (or, just use Emojipedia):
