Friday, July 17, 2009

Comments Policy


I don't have one. Apart from the obvious. I delete spam and abusive comments (of anyone).

But the Prime Minister does, and how!

"Users who wish to comment on the Prime Minister’s blog will need to register.

Your registration information is not for publication and will not be stored with the record of the blog. By registering and contributing to the blog, you give permission for your comments to be posted on the site, and for us to contact and invite you if other online forums are held on the PM’s website.

In order to facilitate discussion registered users will be asked to provide a unique screen name to serve as their identifier during discussion. Please note, screen names will be limited to 20 characters and screen names which breach the Protocols for Participation will be rejected.

Once registered just head to the latest PM’s Blog and post a comment in response after the Prime Minister commences the blog.

Comments are limited to 300 words or less. Each Prime Minister’s blog will be open for comments five business days from the date of its publication.

All blog comments will be subject to moderation. The purpose of moderation is to ensure that the discussion does not include offensive or discriminatory language and to keep the discussion on topic. Moderators will check all comments against the published blog comment rules and approved guidelines for moderation. For more details, please see our Moderation Policy and Protocols for Participation outlined below.

We welcome your participation in the blog. To ensure that your contribution meets legal requirements and the discussion stays on track, all comments posted to the blog will be moderated according to the Protocols for Participation set out below.

Blog posts that do not comply with these protocols will not be published and contributors will receive a message inviting them to resubmit their comments in a manner that complies with the protocols. Moderators will not edit comments. Contributions will only be moderated in accordance with the protocols.

Moderation and publication of comments will take place during business hours, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. While users may submit comments at any time, comments will only be processed and posted during business hours. We undertake to moderate all posts within 24 hours of receipt.

The intent of the Protocols for Participation is to create a positive environment where people are able to publicly contribute their views to the consultation forum, in the spirit of having input to government policy, without fear of abuse or harassment or exposure to offensive or otherwise inappropriate content and protecting the operators of the consultation forum from legal liability.

Talking in the Prime Minister’s blog is like a physical meeting, so normal social conventions apply. Help us to keep the conversation on topic, by being polite, constructive and respectful of others.

By registering and contributing to the blog, you give permission for your comments to be posted on the site, and for us to contact and invite you if other online forums are held on the PM’s website.

When contributing your views to this blog, please ensure that you:

do protect your personal privacy and that of others by not including personal information of either yourself or of others in your posts to the forum, (such as names, email addresses, private addresses or phone numbers);

do post material to the forum that is relevant to the issues currently being consulted on;

do represent your own views and not impersonate or falsely represent any other person;

do not abuse, harass or threaten others;

do not make defamatory or libellous comments;

do not use insulting, provocative or hateful language;

do not use obscene or offensive language;

do not post material to the forum that infringes the intellectual property rights of others;

do not post multiple versions of the same view to the forum;

do not promote commercial interests in your posts to the forum;

do not include internet addresses, videos, images or links to websites, or any email addresses, in your contribution; and

do not post overtly party political comment (eg. reference to candidates, fundraisers, support for political parties)."



I love the bit about nothing "overtly party political"