To help us to make sure that the Community achieves what it has been set up to do, we ask that everyone who contributes to the discussions follows these simple rules.
- Please do not post any messages that contain obscene, threatening, hateful or offensive language.
- Please do not post messages that contain racist, sexist or homophobic content.
- You must be aged 16 or over to post messages on the Community.
- The use of the Community to gather information for surveys, articles and research studies, or similar, is prohibited.
- Messages containing personal contact details (full names, email addresses/links, phone numbers, fax numbers or postal addresses) are not allowed.
- Messages must not be excessively repeated intentionally.
- Please do not transmit chain letters, spam or junk messages to other users.
- Promotion of products with which you have an association is not allowed.
- Challenge others' points of view and opinions, but do so respectfully and thoughtfully ... without insult and personal attack. Do not deliberately post any message that could be viewed as bullying by other Community members.
- If someone posts something you feel violates our Community rules and guidelines or Terms and Conditions, please let us know immediately, and then ignore it.
- If you post something that is completely unrelated to the original topic then it may be removed.
- If you have any comments or complaints about the BLF Web Community, please write to forum.administration@blf-uk.org. Discussions about the conduct of either members or moderators should not be carried out in the Community , any such discussions will be removed from the Community.
The BLF Web Community full terms and conditions can be found here.
Please also read our general guidelines.
The role of the moderators
The moderators are here to make sure the Web Community runs smoothly and provides the support that it was set up to provide.
When anyone posts something on the Community it will not appear straight away. Posts will only appear after a moderator has checked them. Moderators are only on duty between 9-30 am and 5-30 pm Monday to Friday. Therefore anything you post after 6-00 pm on Friday will not appear until Monday morning. Any posts made after 6-00 pm Monday to Thursday will only appear the following day.The primary role of the moderators is to ensure that the Web Community is providing support to people. The expectation is that the Community will be self sufficient with occasional input from moderators. Moderators will also work in the “background”. However there will be occasions when moderators will have to have a more “visible” presence in the Community to communicate with the wider community to correct or address any general issues.
The moderators are not there to constantly watch what is going on in the Community. If a moderator is concerned in anyway with something that has been posted by a member, the moderator will first contact the member to discuss their post. Sometimes it may not be possible to contact the member concerned and it may be necessary to remove or edit the post, particularly if it breaks one of the Community rules, but every attempt will be made to discuss any issues direct with the member.
See the full terms and conditions for the sanctions taken against members who do not work within the Community rules.
The aim is not to have a “heavy handed” approach to moderation.
Moderators will not get involved in discussions on the Community to justify any steps they take. If members are in anyway unhappy with the actions taken by a moderator, they should write to forum.administration@blf-uk.org.
