Moderation policy

Staff at Kensington and Chelsea Council want this website to be as open and transparent as possible. It should be a safe space where residents can discuss, comment and communicate with each other about local issues and new ideas. Conversations therefore requires the use of a strict but fair moderation policy to ensure that comments are suitable and promote an environment where everyone feels welcome.

All posts will be pre-moderated, meaning they will not be available online until they have been checked by a moderator. We will aim to moderate all comments within two hours during normal business hours (Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm).

Moderation is performed by staff at Kensington and Chelsea Council and we will only remove comments deemed unsuitable by the following:

  • Threats or incitements to violence, incite hatred based on race, religion, gender, nationality or sexuality or other personal characteristics.
  • Use of swearing, hate speech or obscenity. Ideas and comments should not be malicious or offensive in nature and should not constitute a personal attack on a person’s character.
  • Duplicative or substantially duplicative postings by the same person or entity (spamming of the site).
  • Requests for or offers of employment.
  • Advertisements for commercial products or services.
  • Information posted in violation of law, including libel, condoning or encouraging illegal activity, revealing classified information, or infringing on a copyright or trademark
  • Revealing personal details, such as private addresses, phone numbers, email addresses or other online contact details.
  • Consistent off-topic comments. Posting multiple comments that are unrelated to the “Idea” (including misinformation and disinformation) may be removed.
  • Anything that impersonates or falsely claims to represent a person or organisation.
  • Comments containing links to harmful external websites or malware/phishing attempts.
  • Any comments or text in languages other than English as we will be unable to moderate them.

We may edit or remove certain words (for example, personal information) and approve a comment. Comments that are unsuitable will be removed completely if they violate the moderation policy. Moderators can also remove comments which do not respond to the topic of conversation where necessary.

If your comment is moderated and refused, you will be notified immediately by email, explaining why we have refused the post.

If you are under 16 years old you will need to confirm that you have your parent/guardian’s permission to register to participate. 

We value your time and your input, and our aim is to facilitate this platform without overreaching our authority and to be as invisible as possible while ensuring that a focused, constructive discussion can take place. This moderation policy is subject to change to address additional matters as may be warranted. If you have a complaint about an item of user-generated content on this site or feel that your own content was removed in error, please contact us.

 

This statement was prepared on 9 October 2020. It was last reviewed on 12 August 2021.