Beef Central Comment Policy
We encourage all readers to familiarise themselves with these guidelines for posting comments to Beef Central.
We reserve the right to not publish or remove without notification comments which we feel are in breach of our guidelines.
- Real names: In order to maintain transparency and open and considered debate, Beef Central will not accept comments from people who do not provide their full name (first name and surname). We accept that this policy will discourage some readers who prefer anonymity from posting comments but we believe the use of real names is important to help us maintain a transparent forum and a reasonable standard of debate.
- Play the ball, not the player: We encourage committed, passionate and even heated debate on any of the issues or stories that Beef Central covers, but insults or insinuations are not part of this. We will not accept comments that contain personal remarks about the author of a story, about individuals mentioned in stories, or about others providing comment.
- Play nicely: Bad language, derogatory remarks, name-calling, streams of invective, or threatening, insulting or harassing comments or which could be perceived as such will not be posted.
- Balanced debate: We aim to provide a forum for balanced debate on issues relevant to the Australian beef cattle industry. Where new posts repeat views expressed in previous comments on the same thread we reserve the right not to publish those comments. We are seeking to ensure a range of perspectives are voiced on each debate, not to provide a forum for one side of an argument to hijack a debate with multiple comments.
- Be constructive: When making your case support your position with evidence and reason. Explain why you disagree or agree with something. Your reasoning is as important as your opinion. Back up your ideas with evidence and fact where possible.
- Stay on topic: We understand conversations can take unexpected turns but reserve the right not to publish comments that diverge significantly from the issue/s discussed in the article above.
- No promotion/press releases: Comments will not be accepted which aim to promote particular products, services, organisations or individuals, nor will comments that are effectively a press release for an individual or organisation.
- No shouting please: Posting in block capitals is equivalent to shouting and will not be accepted.
- Comment forum for everyone, not single individuals: Our comment section does not exist as a platform or soapbox for individuals to continually comment. The comment section is for everyone, not for single people or organisations to dominate. We reserve the right to limit the number of comments published by any single commentor at any given time, to prevent any one commentor dominating threads, and/or to prevent a single commentor attempting to dominate a debate or intimidate others.
- Keep it brief: We reserve the right not to publish or to edit comments for length if they exceed 200 words.
- Keep it legal: Any content which is defamatory, prejudicial to an ongoing court case, or could otherwise result in legal action, will be deleted.
- Stick to the Facts: It important that commentators verify all facts before submission. Submissions where facts are clearly wrong will not be published. Comments based on hearsay or supposition will not be published.
Please note that Beef Central cannot endorse or stand by the accuracy, truthfulness or reliability of any material posted by users in comments to its articles.
We aim to maintain a reasonable standard of debate and thank our readers for supporting us in this endeavour. If you wish to discuss any elements of this policy, contact us at [email protected]
