Reviews & Rating - House Rules:

Read the House Rules and Click Continue to Write Your Review.

• Why can't I post a comment?
• Why hasn't my comment appeared?
• What are the House Rules?
• What is moderation?
• Is moderation done by humans or computers?
• What criteria do moderators use to make decisions?
• What happens to my post when it is sent to the moderation queue? Why do some posts take longer in the moderation queue than others?
• Why has my comment been removed when other comments that break the House Rules in a similar way are allowed to remain?
• Why was my post removed without any explanation?
• Why have all of a users' posts vanished?
• Reasons for failing a comment

• Why can't I post a comment?

  If you are unable to comment, first check you are signed in. Review & Rating section may be closed to new comments, in which case a message is displayed telling you the section is closed. In very rare cases, the our has to restrict accounts from posting to the our website. If you think this may have happened to you, please contact us.

• Why hasn't my comment appeared?

  Your comment may be awaiting moderation. Some blogs are entirely pre-moderated, which means that all comments are checked by a moderator before they appear. Most our blogs are reactively moderated, but if you are a new user to the blog your first few postings may be checked before appearing. If your comment does not appear, it may have been rejected by the moderators. If so, you will be sent an email telling you why.

• What are the House Rules?

  We've established the following House Rules so that everyone can get the most out of the our's blogs.

  Please note that these rules apply to rich media submissions such as images, video and audio clips, as well as content associated with you such as avatar images.

  Names may be failed if they...

  • Contain website or email addresses
  • Contain contact information (i.e. phone numbers, postcodes etc)
  • Appear to impersonate someone else
  • Contain swear words or are otherwise objectionable

  We reserve the right to fail comments which...

  • Are considered likely to disrupt, provoke, attack or offend others
  • Are racist, sexist, homophobic, sexually explicit, abusive or otherwise objectionable
  • Contain swear words or other language likely to offend
  • Break the law or condone or encourage unlawful activity. This includes breach of copyright, defamation and contempt of court.
  • Advertise products or services for profit or gain
  • Are seen to impersonate someone else
  • Include contact details such as phone numbers, postal or email addresses
  • Are written in anything other than English - Welsh and Gaelic may be used where expressly stated
  • Contain links to other websites which break our Editorial Guidelines
  • Describe or encourage activities which could endanger the safety or well-being of others
  • Are considered to be "spam", that is posts containing the same, or similar, content posted multiple times
  • Are considered to be off-topic for the blog discussion

  The our welcomes feedback, both positive and negative, about our programmes and services but please make sure your comments are in line with the above House Rules. Repeatedly posting personal or offensive comments about individual members of the public or people who work for the our may be considered harassment. We reserve the right to remove such messages and take action against those responsible.

  All contributions are subject to standard Terms of Use.

• What is moderation?

  Comments on our blogs are checked by a team of trained moderators to make the blogs a safe and enjoyable place to be, and ensure that they meet the House Rules. Moderators do not post comments on the blogs.

  The blog author or host does not usually moderate the content of the boards, although it is their job to keep the discussions relevant to the topic and within the our's guidelines. They may close off-topic or other rule-breaking discussions, and sometimes make a decision on comments that have been referred to them by the moderators. They may also alert the moderators to rule-breaking comments that they see in the course of their work.

• Is moderation done by humans or computers?

  All moderation is done by a team of trained human moderators. A comment is never failed without being read and reviewed by a human moderator. However, we have filters to prevent certain offensive words from being posted, or to detect comments using words which may indicate a breach of the House Rules. These posts are then sent to the moderation queue to be reviewed. These filters are only additional tools to help improve the efficiency of human moderation.

• What criteria do moderators use to make decisions?

  Moderators are trained to work to a set of detailed editorial guidelines when assessing user generated content, which are in line with the our's guidelines for all online services.

  Moderators are trained to have a working understanding of defamation and other relevant laws and are briefed about breaking news stories. When in doubt, moderators refer comments to supervisors, or the Central Communities team, who are responsible for moderation across the majority of our services. The moderators work across hundreds of blogs and boards and view the comments out of context, so they will usually refer decisions about off-topic comments to the blog author or host who are more familiar with the subject matter.

• What happens to my post when it is sent to the moderation queue? Why do some posts take longer in the moderation queue than others?

  On a post-moderated or pre-moderated message board or blog, all posts join the moderation queue and will be passed or failed as soon as they are seen by a moderator. The time taken to review a post may depend on the length of the queue but in most cases, should be within a few minutes.

  On a reactive blog, comments are usually only checked if they are complained about. These complaints are prioritised ahead of all other posts.

  Sometimes, a comment may be referred for further investigation to a supervisor, host, editor or the Central Communities Team, who are responsible for moderation across all our services. Your post will be hidden while a decision is pending and the time taken to make this decision will depend on the investigation necessary.

• Why has my comment been removed when other comments that break the House Rules in a similar way are allowed to remain?

  On a reactive blog, a comment is usually only checked if a complaint is made about it. As a result, the moderators see some comments but may not be alerted to other posts that also break the House Rules. Moderators also don't read the entire discussion when checking a comment. This allows them to remain neutral in their judgement by assessing each comment individually. However, this may mean that one comment gets removed while other equally questionable posts in the thread are allowed to remain.

  If you see a comment that you think may break the House Rules, please use the a€?complain about this comment link to alert it.

  Another reason this may happen is because there will always be some grey area when making moderation decisions. When deciding whether to pass or fail a post, a moderator is required to assess the level of potential risk, especially in cases of libel, contempt of court etc. and may fail a post to be on the safer side. Though there are guidelines that moderators follow, a breach may sometimes be debateable leading to differences in interpretation. One moderator may fail a particular post while another moderator might allow a similar post to remain. While we take a lot of care to ensure fairness, occasional inconsistencies are inevitable in the moderation process - if you wish to complain about moderation please contact us using this feedback form.

• Why was my post removed without any explanation?

  The our always explains moderation decisions via email to make the process as fair and transparent as possible. In fact, the moderation system is set up in such a way that it is not possible for a moderator to remove a post without sending an email with a brief explanation of the reason for failing the post. If you have had a post removed and you haven't received an email explaining why, there could be several explanations:

  The comment is still awaiting a decision - if it is failed by the moderator you will be informed.

  The email has been filtered by your spam settings. Please check your spam or junk email folder or change your email settings to allow emails from our.co.uk

  The email address you have entered in your account details is incorrect or no longer in use. You can check or update your email details by logging into your account and clicking on 'Settings'.

  Very, very rarely, technical issues may result in an email failing to send from the our servers. If you think this has happened, let us know through our feedback form.

• Why have all of a users' posts vanished?

  If the user is a spammer or a user who has been banned many times before all of their comments are removed when their account is closed.

• Reasons for failing a comment

  We've established these House Rules to protect you and the our from legal and editorial risks. These are intended as a guide to how you should behave and post on our.co.uk Breach of the our terms of use will result in the removal of your messages. Repeated breaches will result in the restriction of your our iD.

  The our welcomes feedback, both positive and negative, about our programmes and services but please make sure your comments are in line with the House Rules. Repeatedly posting personal or offensive comments about individual members of the public or people who work for the our may be considered harassment. We reserve the right to remove such messages and take action against those responsible.

  All contributions are subject to standard Terms of Use.

  We reserve the right to fail messages which

  Advertise a product

  Advertising or promoting products or websites is not allowed anywhere on our.co.uk. This may include links to:

  • Personal websites or forums
  • Surveys and questionnaires
  • Commercial websites or auction sites that mainly exist to sell products
  • Details of charity or fundraising events

  For example, if it's relevant to the debate, it's fine to link to a website that sells an album or book if its helping another user or recommending something they would like. However, posting up links to your own band's album or trying to drive buyers to your ebay auction or fundraising site may result in your post being removed.

  Risk breaching copyright law

  Copyright law exists to stop someone from taking another person's work and passing it off as their own. It applies to the internet in the same way as it does to TV, books and the press. Breaking copyright law can result in being taken to court.

  Please do not post large chunks of text copied from other sources as this may be an infringement of copyright. Short quotes to illustrate a point may be permissible, although this is at our discretion.

  If you wish to refer to external sources of information, it's better to include a link to an appropriate external website.

  Are not in English

  Contributions which are not in English are not allowed except on designated blogs. This is because we have to ensure comments can be checked and to ensure that all readers of the blogs understand the comment.

  In addition to this, postings with heavy text speak or unintelligible language such as codes are also not allowed as this may disrupt the natural flow of conversation.

  Risk breaking UK law

  Contributing material to a our.co.uk community with the intention to commit a crime, break the law, or condone or encourage unlawful activity is prohibited.

  In addition we may remove posts which we consider could endanger other users - for example, offering medical and health advice, or encouraging drug or alcohol abuse or self harm.

  Contain potentially defamatory statements

  Defamation laws exist to protect individuals or organisations from unwarranted, mistaken or untruthful attacks on their reputation. Posting a defamatory statement on a blog is the same as publishing it in a newspaper or magazine and can result in a court case if a formal complaint is made. For more information, see our guide to Defamation. You can also read more about our moderation and defamation on the our internet blog

  To avoid breaking defamation laws in your comments, please ensure that you verify the information in your posting, especially when presenting negative statements as facts. Also avoid jumping to conclusions, exaggerating or making subtle implications. Remember that adding the word 'allegedly' to a statement does not stop it being defamation.

  You can be held liable if you make a defamatory statement on the our website. So we will remove comments where we have insufficient evidence to defend publication of your statement. This means the our moderators may err on the side of caution when considering some comments.

  Are abusive or disruptive

  Abusive or disruptive behaviour is not allowed. This includes:

  • Using swear words (including abbreviations or alternative spellings) or other language likely to offend.
  • Harassing, threatening or causing distress or inconvenience to any person or people.
  • Flaming: This means posting something that's angry and mean-spirited.
  • Trolling: This means saying deliberately provocative things just to stir up trouble.
  • Infringing the rights of, restrict or inhibit anyone else's use and enjoyment
  • Attempting to impersonate somebody
  • Using multiple accounts to disrupt boards, annoy users.
  • Bumping or creating duplicate threads, posting in such a way as to cause technical errors, or any other attempts to disrupt the normal flow of conversation.

  Users who seriously or repeatedly demonstrate such behaviour may have their accounts pre-moderated or permanently restricted and will not be allowed to return.

  Are offensive

  Comments that contain offensive content are not allowed. Racist, sexist, homophobic, disablist, sexually explicit, abusive or otherwise objectionable material will be removed and if extreme will result in immediate and permanent restriction of your account.

  Are off-topic

  Comments that are unrelated to the subject of the blog entry to which you are contributing are considered 'off-topic'.

  Please do not contribute off-topic material in subject-specific blogs, except where a blog has designated open post. If your comment has been removed for being off-topic, you may be able to resubmit your comment in a more relevant topic area.

  Contain personal details

  Including contact or identification details in comments such as phone numbers, postal or email addresses is not allowed on most services. Please do not reveal any personal information about yourself or others as it might inadvertently put you or someone else at risk.

  Risk contempt of court

  Once a suspect is arrested for an offence, or offences, legal restrictions apply. The 1981 Contempt of Court Act makes it a serious criminal offence, once someone's been arrested, to publish anything which could prejudice their trial. Being arrested doesn't in itself indicate guilt, so messages posted to the board which presume a suspect is guilty also risk defaming the suspect.

  Please use caution when discussing reports of an arrest or court proceedings. Even linking to archived news stories, blog entries and comments may be unlawful as UK contempt law would usually prohibit any reference to the previous conviction(s) of someone facing new court proceedings.

  In addition, courts sometimes impose restrictions that prohibit the publication of specific information such as names and addresses of defendants.

  Contain spam

  Spamming or flooding is not allowed. Spamming means submitting the same or very similar contribution many times across blogs or entries. Flooding means re-submitting your contribution to the same blog or entry multiple times.

  Please do not use a signature beneath your comment to promote websites, services, products or campaigns. This will cause your posts to be removed as spam.

  Contain unsuitable URLs

  You should not post link to

  • Unlawful, unsuitable or sexually explicit content.
  • Websites that require payment to access
  • Foreign language content
  • Websites that initiate a file download or require additional software in order to view them. This includes .pdf and .mp3 files.
  • Websites that advertise or promote products

  In some cases the moderator will edit out the link/s leaving the rest of the comment visible on the board. If so the link will be replaced by [Unsuitable/ broken URL removed by moderator]

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