NationalWorld community guidelines

When we launched NationalWorld earlier this year, one of our commitments was that we would invite you to have your say:

“We will involve you, our audience, in our journalism, and actively encourage you to shape our reporting on the issues that matter to you.”

As a registered member of NationalWorld.com, you can comment on and react to a range of news stories, opinion pieces, features and explainers, brought to you by our team of journalists and commentators across the UK.

We are keen to ensure that NationalWorld remains a space for intelligent, civil debate, and so we ask everybody to respect the guidelines.

We will aim to take context into account when making decisions on moderating comments - however, due to the large volume of comments, sometimes it is impossible to enter into lengthy conversations over decisions.

We reserve the right to delete comments - or ban users - without notification or explanation.

Comments

To leave a comment on the website, you need to register for an account, this can be done in the commenting window at the bottom of the article page. Where you would add your comment you will see a link to login or sign up; if it’s your first time commenting then click on ‘sign up’ and register with your email address, and if you have already registered on the website then simply click ‘login’ and input your account details.

How the moderation process works

Our Viafoura moderation programme automatically refers for moderation comments which contain certain words. When a comment has been referred for moderation, it is suspended from the site until a moderator has approved it for publication. This process usually takes less than 24 hours.

If you notice a comment you've made does not appear on the site immediately, this is likely to be the reason why. Unless it contains abusive language, or in any other way contravenes our community standards, it will reappear on the site within 24 hours.

Deleting comments

If you’ve left a comment you want to delete, just click the […] below the word ‘share’ in the top right corner of the comment, and then click ‘Remove comment’ - it will be deleted.

Reporting comments

If a comment breaks our guidelines, it’s possible to flag it to bring it to the attention of the moderators. You can do this by clicking the 'flag’ option above the comment. Any user can flag an inappropriate comment.

Personal attacks

Comments that are abusive to other commenters or our journalists will not be tolerated.

Hate-speech and inciting violence

We will not accept sexist, racist, homophobic, or other discriminatory language or views, nor comments which are defamatory, malicious, threatening, false, misleading, offensive or abusive. Comments which incite violence or appear threatening or harassing will also be deleted - and those users banned.

Bad language or indecency

Comments which include swear words will automatically be referred for moderation and usually deleted. Any swearing directed at another user will automatically be deleted. Please also refrain from posting any content which could be seen to be indecent, obscene or of a sexual nature.

Privacy

Respect the privacy of other commenters and don’t include personal addresses, email addresses, phone numbers or full names in your post. Do not impersonate another user in your post.

Staying on-topic

Please refrain from breaking off from the topic under discussion to engage in personal chats or spats.

Flagging

Flags are an important way for commenters to communicate with the moderator. Please don’t abuse the flagging function by using it as a weapon in personal vendettas.

Keep it concise

Around 200 words is enough to develop your argument. Anything more than this isn’t conducive to lively debate.

Repetition

Our moderating system will automatically flag comments from the same user in a single thread if they exceed the frequency limit.

Links

If you include a link to another website, please be sure the content complies with these guidelines and is relevant to the topic. Any comments including unsuitable links will be deleted, but we should not be assumed to endorse any link which has not been deleted.

A note on copyright and libel

We reserve the right to close comments on reports concerning ongoing court cases and other articles for any reason. We will delete comments which we deem to be potentially defamatory, in breach of copyright or otherwise unlawful.

Commenters using another thread to open discussion on a topic closed to comments will be banned.

Please note that you are responsible for your posts and we will not accept any liability for their content or accuracy. We also reserve the right to republish your posts, and accept your contribution on the clear understanding that your posts are your own work and not copied from others. By contributing posts you are agreeing to all the above and warranting that your comments are not defamatory, obscene or in breach of anyone else’s rights. This means generally that you must own the rights in everything you submit or must obtain permission from the rights owner to submit the material.

Spam

Comments intended to sell a product or promote commercial interests will be deleted, as will multiple posts.

Write in English

Comments in languages other than English will be automatically deleted. This also applies to html code.

Technical Issues

Comments containing content which is technically harmful (including, without limitation, computer viruses, logic bombs, Trojan horses, worms, harmful components, corrupted data or other malicious software, harmful data or conduct) are not permitted. Nor is any activity which attempts to get round any protections we put in place for the security and operation of the website.

Breaches of these guidelines

Please do not leave comments which are in breach of these guidelines or any of our other policies.

If you wish to report what you feel is a violation of these community guidelines, please flag the comment first. This is the most efficient way to bring matters to our moderators’ attention.