When submitting content to any Channel 4 site, you are bound by the site terms and conditions. Please read our Terms and Conditions upon which all submissions are made, we may use your comments across our sites and in our programmes.

Channel 4 Communities are expanding all the time and you’ll find more details on the Interact Homepage. The Community Guidelines now incorporate both the Forum Rules and Comments Policy. If you have been brought here from a Forum Rules, or Community Policy link, you are in the right place!

About the Guidelines

We’ve created these guidelines for your reference, so you can enjoy the lively forums and other community areas without inadvertently breaking the law, and knowing how to escalate a problem to us without having to get your fingertips burnt by internet trolls!

If you post a comment on the Channel 4 Forums or elsewhere on www.channel4.com it must comply with these guidelines. If you’re unclear about any of them, ask us a question at chat@channel4.com. If you disagree with the guidelines, we’re always open to feedback but please note, if your comment doesn’t comply it will be removed and you might even find your account suspended.

Some communities have temporary additional guidelines specific to that community. If site specific guidelines conflict with any of the general guidelines below; the site guidelines will prevail. You will find details of any additional guidance on the relevant site.

Registration

You must register to comment on the Forums. To join the Channel 4 forums please click here. Please note this account can only be used on the forums. If you encounter any problems registering on the forums please email chat@channel4.com.

Not all other areas require you to register. You will be prompted to sign-up when you attempt to comment or upload an image/video if it’s required. Please follow the onscreen instructions to complete your registration.

If you have any problems with registration for any areas other than forums, please contact Channel 4 Help at www.channel4.com/help. Make sure you’ve copied the url of the page you are on and tell us what you are trying to register for.

What’s Moderation and who does it?

We moderate all community areas on Channel4.com on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. This means one of the moderation team will review your comment respectively before or after your comment is published. If they find something that breaks the Community Guidelines, you’re comment(s) will be removed.

Channel 4 Moderators will never contribute to a community area without disclosing their role as a moderator, or as part of C4 Communities - even if they’re off duty and are diligently checking in!

In addition to Moderators you may see an Editor or Official Contributor in the forums. They will have an official account and may be a Channel 4 member of staff, a freelance programme-maker or be otherwise connected to Channel 4. Their forum username will have an additional description (in red) that will announce their position.

On with the Guidelines

Please be aware that Channel 4 has the right to remove any topic or post that it feels necessary to maintain a pleasant and constructive community tone. If you think you have been banned, contact chat@channel4.com. Do not register a new name as that will lengthen any ban.

The following rules are applicable across Channel 4 Communities. Forums have some additional guidelines below, so make sure you read them too.

You should:

RELEVANCY: Make sure your comment is relevant to the content. Off-topic comments will be removed, unless it’s a designated off-topic area.

ALERT: Use the alert button that is present on every post if you think a moderator needs to check the post for any reason. If you think someone is misusing the community and attack back your own account could be suspended; so don’t retort, hit report!

ENJOY: Try to have fun. If you find yourself getting wound up or stressed take a break for a bit - coming back refreshed and eager to throw your wit at us once more.

EMPATHISE: Be patient with other users. Even if someone posts in a way that annoys you (in txt spk for example), stay polite and light-hearted in any response. (In 10 years they might be your doctor, or Member of Parliament.)

Contact chat@channel4.com if you have any questions or problems that are forum-related. Replies may take up to a week when things are busy.

Make sure you don’t:

(Breaking these rules may result in your suspension)

BAD LANGUAGE: No swearing of any kind is allowed in Channel 4 Communities (even with ***s!).

OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOUR: Don’t post in a manner likely to offend users, disrupt the community or just, in general, be mean.

THEFT: Don’t copy and paste large chunks from other sites or include copyrighted material in your post.

VIRUS RISK: Don’t link to any kind of media or executable file directly. If you suspect someone has attempted to post one, DO NOT open it. Please note Channel 4 is not responsible for third party sites.

BICKERING: Don’t get into personal arguments with other users. We do not allow the abuse of other forum members and commenters. If another user is attempting to get into an argument with you please do not rise to the bait. Use the alert button (present on the bottom right-hand corner of every post) rather than getting into personal attacks. If a thread deteriorates into a personal argument all posts will be removed and all parties involved suspended.

SAFETY: Don’t give out any personal information about yourself or another person, especially contact information. You may think you know the people you are chatting to on the forum, but you do not know the many thousands of casual guests who wander the forums and can read what you post.

CONFIDENTIALITY: Be aware that copying an email that has been sent to you by either and individual or a company may break the confidentially terms between you and the sender, which can be found in the footer of the email. These posts will be removed.

ILLEGAL: Do not include anything that is obscene, indecent, harassing, threatening or offensive or that promotes cruelty, violence, vandalism, fraudulent or criminal acts or anything that could encourage others to commit illegal acts or acts that could cause physical harm if replicated.

LIES & COURT CASES: Do Not say untrue things about people or companies as this may be defamatory and don’t mention any court cases or arrests as this may constitute a contempt of court.

SPAM: Don’t try to promote your website, business, dodgy money making scheme, hamster breeding farm or your lonely single self.

DELETED COMMENTS: Do not repeatedly re-post deleted topics or comments, as this leaves us with just one option (banstick!)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE: Messages may be removed if posted in languages other than English (we are not an overly educated bunch here).

LINKS: You can link to any website to illustrate your comment so long as it is not:

- Commercially motivated

- A link to content the breaches copyright

- A direct link to a media or executable file, e.g. wmv, mp4, mov, mp3, pdf

- A link to obscene or unlawful content

- Considered spam or off-topic

- Additionally if you are using the forums you cannot your personal web-space e.g. MySpace Facebook, Bebo, Youtube etc post

If you are a blogger, you may add a link to your blog in the ‘url’ field where available, (this is not applicable to the forums).

Please note Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of 3rd party sites.

Additional Forum Specific Rules:

RESEARCH: Read the topic list before you post and choose a topic that already exists rather than starting a new one if you can find a relevant one. This will increase the visibility of your post, as people do tend to keep an eye on active topics more than the multitude of newly created topics.

TROLLS: Some people use forums purely to annoy others for their own amusement. Reaction is what they seek and will feed them so that they stick around longer. Use the alert button and move on to some more interesting topic; do not get into personal arguments as this will result in all parties being suspended. So don’t feed the trolls!

ONE ACCOUNT ONLY: Do not register duplicate or multiple accounts.

SIGNATURES: Do not add anything to your sig. (signature) that others users may get annoyed by, such as very long sigs or excessive emoticons, and Do Not put any links in signatures.