Scope
This document covers all aspects of community interaction and moderation on the Racing Post website, in particular comments on blogs or articles. Please read and digest, as contributing to the website will mean you are bound by these terms and conditions.
Because we have integrated the Facebook comments tool into our website, you will also be bound by Facebook’s terms and conditions of use. Facebook’s Community Standards policy can be found here.
Community aims
The Racing Post website provides a growing number of opportunities for readers who wish to discuss content we publish, join in a specific debate or reach out to our journalists. Our aim is to ensure this platform is inclusive and pleasant, and to facilitate lively, entertaining and, above all, intelligent discussions. In turn, we may get story ideas from the discussion, comments being the starting point for another Racing Post article.
Community standards
To achieve this aim there are some simple guidelines which we expect all participants in the community areas of the Racing Post website to abide by. These apply across the site and directly inform our moderation policy.
If your comment is removed, you are banned from commenting or a comment thread is closed we are unable to enter into discussion about it - please refer to these guidelines for information.
Furthermore, there may be instances where the comment has been removed by Facebook for contravening their own community standards. The guidelines below refer to Racing Post’s own community standards.
Racing Post editorial policy dictates which stories have comment threads enabled, and these may be closed at any point. In the interests of maintaining community standards comment threads on stories will be reduced overnight. There is no comments facility available on either tipping or sports content.
- Please be civil. Some basic rules:
- Criticise ideas, not people
- Avoid offensive language, including profanities
- Be respectful of other people’s views when contributing and be mindful of your impact on others
- We welcome debate and disagreement, but personal attacks, persistent trolling and abuse will not be tolerated. The key to maintaining the Racing Post website as an inviting space is to focus on intelligent discussion of topics and expression of views.
- We reserve the right to redirect or curtail a comment thread that is deemed to have become toxic to others. We don’t want to stop people discussing topics they are enthusiastic about, but we do ask contributors to find ways of sharing their views in a pleasant manner.
- We will not tolerate racism, sexism, homophobia or any form of comments that incites hatred. These comments are harmful to our community and offenders will be immediately banned.
- Do not personally criticise Racing Post journalists or tipsters
- We acknowledge criticism of our coverage but will not allow comments that are plainly unfounded or misrepresent Racing Post or our journalists.
- Attacking our writers or tipsters will lead to your comment being removed and may result in a ban from commenting.
- Be mindful of the law in respect of published content
- We will endeavour to remove any comments that may put us at risk of legal action, such as potentially libellous or defamatory postings, or material posted in potential breach of copyright.
- Do not post advertorial or promotional content
- We will remove comments that are clearly commercial or otherwise resemble spam, including linking to personal blogs.
- Keep comments relevant
- If you post something which is unrelated to the original topic then it may be removed, in order to keep the thread on track. This also applies to queries or comments about moderation, which should not be posted as comments.
- Consider the community
- Above all, be mindful of how what you are contributing to the Racing Post website may impact others who use the platform. We wish to encourage lively, open discussion but if abused this privilege will be removed without warning in the interests of the wider community. We reserve the right to make decisions that we believe maintain the standards and values our customers expect of Racing Post.
- If you spot something you believe is contrary to this community spirit and contravenes the guidelines above, please use the reporting facility available in the comments, either marking as spam or reporting abuse directly to Facebook. Racing Post will get notified of this report, and we will endeavour to remove contravening comments as soon as practically possible.
Please note
The views expressed in community areas of the Racing Post website do not necessarily reflect or represent the views of the company, its staff or contributors.