The Trent has a vibrant community of users and we encourage active participation from our readers and users by commenting on our news stories, opinion pieces, and articles.
Our newspaper is dedicated to the growth of our community and we wish to maintain a respectful, engaging, enriching conversation. One that makes our community members more informed about their world.
Towards achieving this aim, we have put together the following Comments Policy that guides participation in The Trent Community.
If you wish to participate in our community, we wish that you abide by these simple rules.
1. Comments on The Trent are moderated 24/7. Our staff moderate the comments with tools and with the help of community participation.
2. If your comments consistently or intentionally make this community a less civil and enjoyable place to be, you and your comments will be EXCLUDED FROM IT.
3. The Trent promotes a receptive, transparent and civil atmosphere for comments and users. Critical, in-depth and intelligent discussions and debates are encouraged and the best of these are highlighted in various ways. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to voice their opinion regardless of identity, politics, ideology, religion or agreement with other community members, the author of the post or staff members as long as those opinions are respectful and constructively add to the conversation. However, this community does not tolerate direct or indirect attacks, name-calling or insults, nor does it tolerate intentional attempts to derail, hijack, troll or bait others into an emotional response. These types of comments will be removed from the community where warranted. Individuals who consistently or intentionally post these types of comments will be warned and, if necessary, excluded from the community.
4. Many comments are pre-moderated. To maintain a civil atmosphere, our moderation team may read comments before they are displayed to other users. If this is the case, you may see your comment pending approval. Approval times can vary depending on the site-wide comment load, so please be patient — we will get to all comments as quickly as possible.
5. The community monitors itself, in conjunction with the core moderation team – and you can help! Every member of this community has the power and responsibility to help elevate the level of conversation and remove the trolls who would degrade it. Community members who consistently and reliably flag comments that are removed by our moderators may be given additional tools that will allow them to hide or remove comments entirely. We take this ability very seriously and if you see any of the “community moderators” acting inappropriately, please report them to us by emailing [email protected]
6. Every person’s opinion is valuable and unique. Pretending to be someone else removes that unique value from you or from others. Don’t misrepresent yourself or others, spread mis-information, create multiple accounts. If you do, you will make the community a less enjoyable place.
7. This community is a safe space. We strongly believe that The Trent should be a safe space for individuals, groups and their ideas. As such, violent and hostile language or calls for violence and hostility are not welcome here. If you directly or indirectly threaten the physical or mental well being of a member of this community, or an individual or group who is the subject of an article, you will be removed immediately. If a credible threat is made against an individual or group, not only will it be removed but it is likely that it will be reported to law enforcement agencies and we will co-operate with them to any extent requested. Personal identifiable information should never be posted to the The Trent comments section. It never turns out well for anyone. If you see any threats, harassment or personal information trolling please report, email [email protected].
8. If you have comments, we are here and we have real people who read and reply. If you have complaints, questions, concerns, or just feedback – positive or critical, again, email [email protected].
Last Updated: January 01, 2014
