Moderation Policy

Walkhighlands aims to be a friendly and supportive place where you can share your trips, enjoy some banter with like-minded folk, or indeed debate controversial outdoors issues. Moderation will be kept to a minimum but for the benefit of all do please observe the points on this page.

Why have moderation?

The intention of moderation is not to censor free speech. If the forums were completely unmoderated then the site would soon be filled with commercial plugs placed by companies, would contain racist and sexist material, links to pornography and lots of slander and personal fights between users. This isn't what most people would want from a forum so moderation is needed. On the other hand it is not our policy to generally remove critical posts - it should be possible to have sensible debate.

Trolling

For those unaware, 'trolling' on the internet means making posts with the intention of starting a row, or of causing a row between other members. Sometimes the 'trolling' is easy to spot for those familiar with it, but unfortunately there are also 'trolls' who try to create conflict by making deceiving posts or private messages - both under their own username or whilst pretending to be several different people using multiple accounts. This type of 'troll' often appears not to be actually involved in the row, or to be the injured party, but the usual aim is to manipulate and mislead other users into arguing with each other; the troll often hopes to create a blazing row. Both types of 'troll' are common on internet forums, often working across many sites; repeated trollers will be banned. If you think someone may be trolling, please IGNORE them and report the post using the '' button.

Posts promoting your own website, company or blog

The other common problem is posters using the forum to promote their own company, or gather users for their own website or blog. The forum is not the place to promote your company, product, personal website or blog; please do not make posts that promote it. Commercial posters and PR companies should note that Walkhighlands offers a range of advertising options, and it is unfair on the companies that pay for the site to try to freeload. Commercial posts also become very annoying for other users.

Deceptive posts

Deceptive posts where a poster from a company or PR firm pretends to be a member of the public and recommends a product or service they own or work for will lead to an immediate ban.

Third party commercial websites

Due to misuse of the forums by PR companies and others, we don't allow new threads to be started either praising or linking to third party businesses or websites, even if you have no connection with the website or company concerned. If you wish to let Walkhighlands users know of a great deal then you could always recommend to the company that they advertise on Walkhighlands in the normal way. Any posts linking to commercial websites made by new forum members are likely to be removed.

Other problems

Please avoid:

• Swearing, sexist, abusive, crude or politically offensive language or images. Please keep your language civil - there are some posters on the Forum who are under the age of 10 so bear this in mind.
• Posting bad links. Do not add links to any racist, offensive (politically or otherwise) or pornographic website - this will result in an immediate ban.
• Don't write posts that are intended to communicate with just one particular person. Use private messages to contact one person - or email them if you know their address.
• Personal insults, generalised criticism or abuse of other posters. Disagreeing with someone's point of view or about issues is fine - enjoy the debate. What is not welcome is lacing your argument with personal insults or trading abuse. i.e. name-calling etc. You are free to make posts disagreeing with columnists, but posts making generalised attacks on a columnist will now also be removed; Walkhighlands staff and contributors should be treated with the same respect offered to other community members.
• Using multiple identities on the site; this is a tactic often used by trolls to try to create conflict.
• Do not carry arguments or disagreements with another person over into other threads. This leads to threads that make no sense to anyone else reading; it can also be perceived as bullying. If you want to continue a discussion with a particular person, why not send them a private message?
• Political parties are often relevant to discussions, but we ask posters to keep party political references strictly to the topic being discussed. General 'ding-dongs' about people's political allegiances, whether Tory, Labour, SNP, Unionist, Independence supporter or whatever, does not really help to advance discussions, and we will moderate all posts reported for this.
• Try not to jump to conclusions and assume offence is intended when reading posts. One problem with communicating on the internet is that clues such as facial expressions and tone of voice are absent, so it is very easy to assume that a comment intended as banter or in light-hearted way was a direct provocation - soon leading to a flame-war of retaliation. If different interpretations of a comment are possible, try to assume the best one; the alternative of a forum where humour and banter are banned to prevent possible offence which wouldn't make contributing very enjoyable.
• Moderation decisions are final. If you wish to complain about the way a thread has been moderated then please contact us directly. Do not post your complaint on the forum or attempt to gather support - try to remember that you may not know what a user has been up to behind the scenes with additional accounts or messages. All posts attacking moderation will be removed

How to report a post

If you read a post you feel breaks any of these guidelines, do report it using the exclamation mark button by the post title () - this way all the moderators will be able to see your report.