For all things bikes

Our editorial team includes in-house and freelance moderators who are responsible for moderating our web-based publications. We normally moderate prior to publication (pre-moderation) but will sometimes allow immediate publication and then post-moderate to remove unacceptable comments.

A comment-pending token may appear in the comment list to signify receipt. If so, once the comment has been checked by a moderator, it will either be replaced by the comment or by a comment-rejected token.

Primarily, we seek to avoid abusive comments. We encourage debate but expect that debate to be conducted in a reasonable manner. Secondly, we expect the comments to be presented in reasonably well-written English.

Our aim is that all comments should be accepted for publication but we may have to reject some as not meeting the necessary standards. In all cases, the moderator's decision will be final.

No, the job of the moderator is to approve or reject an article for publication. It is not the role of the moderator to edit your comment. Essentially, if a comment includes elements that are unacceptable, then the whole comment will be rejected.

However, consistent with our aim to include all comments whenever we can, some comments may be passed to an editor for a decision and could potentially be edited. These decisions are judgment calls and we try to be fair and objective in the way that we apply them. As an example, we try to keep comments on-topic and relevant. This means that we may choose not to accept comments after a certain cut-off period and we may edit a comment to remove off-topic elements.

It is not the job of the moderator to check the facts stated in a comment and a comment will not normally be rejected for factual incorrectness. Where a comment includes statements that are blatantly untrue, it may be rejected on the same grounds as an abusive comment.

All comments posted by non-registered users will be moderated. Registered users can build up trust status such that their comments are accepted without moderation.

The creation of trust status is based on a number of factors including the number of comments made; the number of times your comments are commented upon; your rating in terms of positive recommendations and negative reactions; plus an objective review of your history by the moderator panel.

No, the writer does not have any involvement in the moderation of comments. The writer does, however, have the right of reply to a comment in exactly the same way as anyone else does.

Yes, we invite application from potential moderators with a good standard of English language and grammar and the ability to work from home whilst still being part of a team. We expect our moderators to be (or to be able to be) neutral, impartial and fair minded. Please send an e-mail to jobs@flights.co.uk

Who owns the copyright in my comments?

In posting a comment, you "grant us a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide license to republish any material you submit to us in any format, including without limitation print and electronic format". This is a fundamental part of the terms and conditions of using this website.

No. Reports of abuse cause the comment to be reviewed by the moderator and it remains the moderator's decision whether the comment will or will not be removed. Reports of abuse may affect the standing (trust status) of the comment maker.

We do not currently allow any HTML markup although we may, from time to time, choose to allow limited markup for bold and italic. We may also, subject to moderator approval, allow links to external resources. Use of unauthorized HTML will normally cause the comment to be rejected.

Any web user can register and we encourage you to do so. As a registered user, you can create a profile for yourself to include a picture or icon of your choice plus a short description or biopic. We only ask for a minimum of information so as to avoid the risks of identity theft.

Once you are registered, all of your comments are listed under your name and can be viewed on your profile page. As you become more active, your standing will increase and you we may make you a trusted contributor able to make comments without the need for moderation. In the process of achieving trusted status, account will be taken of various factors including the percentage of positive rankings that you receive and the number of times your comments are commented upon.

We encourage registered users to provide their real name but it is conventional in weblogs for people to appear under a username. Many contributors wish to remain anonymous and we accept that. If you provide a real name, we will use that instead of your username.

The ranking buttons, which are only available to registered users, are akin to a voting system. The ranking influences both the comment and the comment maker.

As a registered user, you have your own profile page. You may upload an image in JPG, GIF, BMP or PNG format with a maximum size of 700kB. This will be scaled down to the standard size of 60x60 pixels square. Our moderators will check each uploaded image before accepting it for publication.

The obvious idea is that the image would be a picture of you but a symbol that reflects you or your interests may also be acceptable. We reserve the right to reject images that may breach copyright, trade mark or any other intellectual property law. We will also reject any image which fails to meet our standards of taste and decency, or those that may, in our sole opinion, cause offence.