Community Guidelines & Reader Comments Policy

1. Welcome to the VNN Community

VALCORED News Network believes informed public discussion is an important part of journalism.

Readers may hold different opinions about politics, economics, culture, religion, technology and other significant subjects.

We welcome constructive debate, reasonable criticism and diverse perspectives.

However, meaningful discussion requires respect for other participants and an understanding that public comments may affect real people.

These Community Guidelines establish the standards expected of people participating in VNN’s interactive services.

Our guiding principle is:

Challenge ideas freely. Discuss evidence seriously. Treat people with dignity.

2. Purpose

These Guidelines aim to:

• Encourage meaningful public discussion.
• Protect lawful expression and legitimate disagreement.
• Reduce harassment and abuse.
• Prevent serious misuse of comment features.
• Protect personal privacy.
• Address spam and manipulation.
• Support responsible discussion of sensitive issues.
• Explain user responsibilities.
• Establish transparent moderation expectations.

3. Scope

Where relevant features are enabled, these Guidelines apply to:

• Article comments.
• Reader replies.
• Community discussions.
• Reader-submitted material.
• Public profiles.
• Interactive submissions.
• Other user-generated content displayed through VNN services.

Separate policies may apply to editorial submissions, confidential news tips or formal complaints.

4. Participation

Readers participating in discussions are expected to act responsibly.

Users should:

1. Address the subject being discussed.
2. Engage respectfully with other participants.
3. Distinguish facts from personal opinions.
4. Avoid knowingly false allegations.
5. Respect other people’s privacy.
6. Avoid threatening or abusive conduct.
7. Disclose material promotional interests.
8. Respect copyright.
9. Follow applicable laws.
10. Comply with reasonable moderation decisions.

VNN may restrict access to interactive services where proportionate and appropriate.

5. Freedom of Expression and Constructive Disagreement

VNN recognises that public debate may involve strong disagreement.

Users may criticise governments, businesses, institutions, public policies and public figures.

A comment should not be removed merely because it expresses an unpopular viewpoint or challenges VNN’s reporting.

However, lawful expression does not create an unrestricted right to use privately operated comment facilities without moderation.

VNN may apply reasonable rules addressing unlawful content, threats, harassment, privacy violations and other harmful conduct.

Moderation should focus on the substance and conduct involved rather than favouring a particular political position.

6. Respectful Communication

Personal disagreement should not become targeted harassment.

Users should avoid:

• Persistent personal insults.
• Threatening language.
• Deliberate intimidation.
• Repeated unwanted targeting.
• Sexual harassment.
• Degrading personal attacks.
• Attempts to organise harassment against an individual.
• Abusive conduct directed at other readers.

Criticism of a person’s public actions or statements may be legitimate.

However, personal attacks that contribute little to the subject under discussion may be moderated.

7. Hate Speech and Discrimination

VNN does not permit comments that unlawfully threaten, vilify or encourage violence against people because of protected or personal characteristics.

These may include race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, disability, sex, sexual orientation or other characteristics protected by applicable law.

Discussion of public policies, religious beliefs and social issues may involve disagreement.

Such discussion should not be confused automatically with prohibited hostility towards individuals or groups.

Context, intent, language and potential harm should inform moderation decisions.

8. Threats and Incitement to Violence

Users must not post credible threats, encouragement of violence or unlawful instructions intended to harm others.

Comments suggesting an immediate or serious threat may require urgent review.

Where appropriate and legally permitted, relevant information may be referred to competent authorities.

VNN’s comments section is not an emergency service.

If immediate danger exists, users should contact the appropriate emergency authority. In Australia, call Triple Zero (000).

9. Privacy and Personal Information

Users must not post another person’s private information without an appropriate lawful basis.

Prohibited disclosures may include:

• Private residential addresses.
• Personal telephone numbers.
• Private email addresses.
• Bank account information.
• Identification documents.
• Passwords or access credentials.
• Confidential medical information.
• Intimate images.
• Information intended to facilitate harassment or stalking.

Public availability of information elsewhere does not automatically justify republishing it in a VNN discussion.

Users should also avoid unnecessarily disclosing their own sensitive information.

10. Defamation and Serious Allegations

Users must not knowingly publish false factual claims that unlawfully damage another person’s reputation.

Particular care should be taken with allegations concerning:

• Criminal conduct.
• Professional misconduct.
• Financial wrongdoing.
• Sexual offences.
• Corruption.
• Personal dishonesty.
• Other serious accusations.

Users should distinguish established facts, allegations and personal opinions.

Repeating a rumour or adding the word “allegedly” does not automatically make a defamatory statement lawful.

VNN may restrict content presenting significant legal risk.

11. Misinformation and Fabricated Content

VNN supports legitimate discussion of uncertain and contested matters.

However, users must not deliberately distribute fabricated evidence, fraudulent information or deceptive impersonations.

Potentially prohibited behaviour includes:

• Inventing quotations.
• Posting fabricated official warnings.
• Deliberately circulating false emergency instructions.
• Presenting manipulated evidence as authentic.
• Operating deceptive accounts to manufacture apparent public support.
• Distributing materially false information with foreseeable serious safety consequences.

Moderation should distinguish deliberate deception from good-faith error or legitimate disagreement.

12. Health and Medical Discussions

Readers may discuss health topics and personal experiences.

However, comments should not be used to provide dangerous instructions or deliberately misleading medical claims that create a serious foreseeable risk.

Personal experiences should not be presented as universally established medical facts.

Readers should not disclose confidential patient information or other people’s private health details.

VNN comments are not a substitute for qualified medical advice.

13. Crime, Courts and Legal Proceedings

Users should avoid comments that:

• Breach suppression orders.
• Identify legally protected individuals.
• Encourage interference with witnesses.
• Publish unlawful threats.
• Misrepresent allegations as convictions.
• Disclose confidential jury information where prohibited.
• Create serious risks to ongoing legal proceedings.

Moderation may be necessary to address contempt, defamation, privacy or other legal concerns.

14. Children and Vulnerable People

Additional care is required when discussions involve children or vulnerable individuals.

Users must not disclose information that unlawfully identifies protected children or exposes them to serious risk.

Sexual exploitation material, serious abuse and other prohibited content are not permitted.

Where legal age restrictions apply to particular online services, VNN should implement relevant requirements.

Parents and guardians should consider whether public comment participation is appropriate for younger users.

15. Spam and Unauthorised Advertising

VNN comments must not be used primarily for unsolicited promotion.

Examples of prohibited conduct include:

• Repeated advertising links.
• Automated promotional messages.
• Deceptive affiliate promotions.
• Phishing.
• Fraudulent offers.
• Unauthorised product marketing.
• Repetitive irrelevant posts.
• Artificial engagement campaigns.

Commercial interests should be disclosed where relevant.

VNN may remove promotional content that does not contribute legitimately to discussion.

16. Bots, Automated Accounts and Artificial Engagement

Automated activity may undermine genuine community discussion.

Users must not operate deceptive automated accounts intended to impersonate real participants or manipulate public discussion.

VNN may restrict suspicious activity, including large volumes of repetitive or coordinated submissions.

Legitimate automated accessibility tools or other lawful technologies should not be treated as abuse solely because automation is involved.

17. Copyright and Third-Party Content

Users must respect intellectual property rights.

Do not submit protected photographs, complete copyrighted articles or other materials without an appropriate lawful basis.

Users should provide attribution where necessary.

Attribution alone does not always replace a required licence or permission.

VNN may remove material where there are reasonable grounds to believe rights have been infringed.

18. Usernames and Impersonation

Users may be permitted to use display names or pseudonyms, depending on website configuration.

However, users must not deceptively impersonate:

• Another individual.
• A journalist.
• A public authority.
• An organisation.
• VNN editorial personnel.
• A verified source.
• Another reader.

Accounts or display names creating a materially misleading impression may be restricted.

19. Political Discussion

VNN welcomes evidence-based discussion of politics and public policy.

Readers may support or criticise political parties, governments, campaigns and public figures.

Comments must nevertheless comply with relevant rules concerning harassment, unlawful threats, defamation and coordinated manipulation.

Political disagreement alone is not grounds for removal.

Paid political promotion or organised campaigning must not be disguised as spontaneous independent reader activity.

20. Off-Topic and Repetitive Comments

Comments should generally relate to the article or discussion.

Repeated off-topic material may disrupt meaningful conversation.

VNN may remove excessive repetition or redirect discussion where appropriate.

The aim is to maintain constructive participation, not suppress legitimate disagreement.

21. Graphic or Disturbing Material

Users must not submit unlawful or gratuitously graphic content.

Material involving violence, sexual exploitation, serious injury or other disturbing subjects may be restricted.

Where an image is relevant to a legitimate news tip, users should consider contacting the newsroom through an appropriate editorial channel rather than posting it publicly.

22. Reporting a Comment

Readers may report content they believe breaches these Guidelines.

Community Reporting Contact

A report should identify:

1. The article URL.
2. The comment or username concerned.
3. The reason for the report.
4. Relevant supporting context.
5. Any immediate safety concerns.

Reports should be made in good faith.

Submission of a report does not automatically result in removal.

23. Moderation Approach

VNN may use appropriate moderation methods, including:

• Automated spam detection.
• Pre-publication review.
• Post-publication review.
• Reader reports.
• Manual editorial assessment.
• Temporary restrictions.
• Removal of unlawful or seriously inappropriate material.

The moderation method depends on the actual website configuration.

Current Moderation Approach

Comments are checked automatically before they appear (Comment Guard): readers agree to the community rules first; links, email addresses, HTML and shouting in capitals are not accepted; each person can post one comment per story; and automated spam is stopped by invisible checks, with no puzzles to solve. Comments containing insults, profanity or slurs are refused. Comments that pass these checks appear straight away and can be reported using the contact details on this page.

VNN does not guarantee that every comment will be reviewed before appearing unless a universal pre-publication review process is genuinely operating.

24. Moderation Actions

Depending on the circumstances, VNN may:

• Decline publication.
• Remove a comment.
• Restrict a discussion.
• Disable comments on an article.
• Issue a warning.
• Temporarily suspend commenting privileges.
• Block abusive accounts.
• Restrict harmful automated activity.
• Preserve evidence where lawfully required.
• Refer serious threats for appropriate action.

Moderation should be proportionate to the seriousness and recurrence of the conduct.

25. Appeals and Reconsideration

Users may request reconsideration of a moderation decision.

A request should identify the affected comment and explain why the decision should be reviewed.

Where practicable, significant appeals should receive an assessment separate from the original decision.

Repeated submissions without new relevant information may be declined.

26. User Responsibility

Users are responsible for the content they submit, subject to applicable law.

They should ensure that their comments are lawful and that they have appropriate rights to share any submitted material.

VNN may also have legal responsibilities concerning material hosted on its services.

A user-responsibility statement does not automatically eliminate those responsibilities.

27. Privacy of Comments

Public comments may be visible to other readers and indexed or redistributed by third parties.

Users should avoid sharing unnecessary personal information.

Details about comment-related data handling are available in VNN’s Privacy Policy.

Removal of a public comment does not necessarily erase all records lawfully retained for security, complaints or legal purposes.

28. Changes to Comment Features

VNN may modify, restrict or discontinue comment features where reasonably necessary.

Commenting may be disabled on particular stories involving heightened legal, safety or moderation risks.

The absence of an open comment section does not prevent readers from submitting legitimate editorial complaints.

29. Community Standards and Accountability

VNN should seek to enforce these Guidelines consistently.

Relevant context should be considered, particularly when comments involve quotation, criticism, satire or reporting of statements made by others.

Moderation should not unfairly represent a removed comment as proof that the author committed unlawful conduct.

30. Our Community Commitment

We want VNN discussions to contribute to public understanding rather than hostility or manipulation.

Constructive debate can be vigorous without becoming abusive.

Good journalism creates informed conversations. A good community makes room for evidence, disagreement and respect.