Participation and escalation
Message boards and other interactive areas are offered on the BBC site as a shared space for contributors to use and enjoy. While moderators should be rigorous about defamatory or other illegal or offensive messages, successful online communities operate by consent and encourage a genuine sense of ownership among their users. BBC moderators will not normally edit contributions for grammar or spelling although they may edit for use of strong language. Messages with substantial problematic content are normally rejected as a whole, rather than edited. A reason should be given, and they may be resubmitted once altered.
In order to protect our users and our brand, it may sometimes be necessary to go further than simply rejecting a single message. It is the responsibility of every individual host and moderator to be able to implement a swift and robust escalation strategy where appropriate. This may range from temporarily removing a contributor from a board or forum to putting a board into 'read only' mode or ending a live chat early. Hosts and moderators should refer in the first instance to the person who is editorially responsible for the space.
Further guidance is available from Head of Editorial Affairs, New Media and Technology and Editorial Policy.
Hosts and moderators can obtain detailed guidelines from BBC New Media. House rules reflecting these guidelines are published for visitors to see on the BBC site.