HOUSE RULES

The comment section of this site is intended to be an area where you can read and engage in lively, rational discussion on any issue.

We are keen for the section to promote honest and forthright discussion of the issues and to allow people of all opinions to express their views.

However in order to make the experience satisfying and rewarding for everyone involved, there are guidelines which we would ask you to adhere to.

All comments will be viewed by our moderators before appearing on the site. Our moderators will assess the comments solely on the basis of the rules outlined on this page.

If they believe that the comment exceeds the boundaries outlined here, the comment will not appear. If a comment includes unacceptable elements, UTV reserves the right to edit or delete the comment.

We will not edit comments to change the meaning and spelling intended by the user.

All decisions and actions of our moderators are final and no dialogue will be entered into.

THE RULES

Criteria which our moderators judge comments on include, but are not limited to, defamatory, libel, racism , sectarianism, sexism, homophobia, obscenity, threatening language, impersonation or expressing support for a proscribed organisation.

We will not publish or will remove any content that may put us in legal jeopardy.

Please refrain from making sweeping generalisations about sections of the community. We would ask users to find ways of sharing their views that do not feel divisive, threatening or inflammatory to others.

We will not publish or will consider removing any content that other users might find unacceptably offensive.

We would ask that you use your name on comments wherever possible. Again this helps to add to the mature and constructive debate on the site.

If for any reason you decide to use a pseudonym we would ask that you choose a name which is not offensive in any way and adheres to the boundaries outlined above.

We acknowledge constructive criticism of the material we publish and/or broadcast, but we will not allow misrepresentation of UTV and our journalists to be posted on the website.

Please do not use swear words in your comments.

We will not publish comments that are commercial or spam-like.

Users should not breach copyright restrictions by posting information in any form (e.g. text, video, audio, graphics) to which they do not hold the copyright.

Please try to ensure spelling, punctuation and grammar in your comments are of a suitable standard. Due to the substantial number of comments we receive, our moderators do not have the time to correct your spelling.

Please do not post messages which are not related to the topic being discussed. We understand that discussions can widen beyond the original topic and are keen to foster debate, but comments which are irrelevant contribute nothing to the debate.

Please do not post the same comment a number of times. Once is sufficient. Our moderators check comments regularly and if you are patient it should appear within a reasonable period of time.

This might take longer depending on the volume of comments we receive every day. Moderation will also take longer at the weekend.

Most comments posted after 8.30pm will be moderated the following morning.

These rules may be updated from time to time. It is your responsibility to check for, and adhere to, the updated rules.

Use of this site constitutes your acknowledgement and acceptance of the rules outlined.

The IP address of anyone posting a comment to the site will be automatically logged by our web server. Any information gathered from that process will remain confidential and will only be disclosed as required by law.

Your name, location and comment will be displayed in the comment section if your post passes moderation.

We advise that you never disclose personal information about yourself and anyone else (including telephone number, home address or email address) through any posting on the website.

The growing number of comments posted on the website means we will not enter into correspondence regarding specific decisions made by moderators, although all correspondence will be read.

The views expressed in the comment section of the website in no way reflect those of the UTV group. UTV takes no responsibility for your posts on this site.

UTV reserves the right to delete any comment at any time if it judges the comment to be unsuitable for any reason.

(Last updated: December 2011)