Comments Policy

This is the Comments Policy of the Jake Symons Site. Summed up in two words this policy would be “be kind.” This isn’t about blocking freedom of speech or censoring views that disagree with me. It’s about target moderation of comments that attack members of the community to ensure I’m doing all I can to make everyone feel welcome.

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Be Nice

There are bound to be disagreements in the comments and social media between you and me and amongst members of our community. These are fine, and I will not censor your comment just because I disagree. I’m happy to be challenged on what I write. 

But the overall aim of this comments policy is to ensure I foster a kind community. I want comments to be a place for on-topic healthy discussion.

And it’s in that spirit of kindness and good faith that all comments should be written on this Site and when interacting on social media. 

Comments that aren’t welcome

Comments that aren’t welcome

All comments should be related to the post and provide value in some way, be that offering your viewpoint or adding an extra point. Comments that are off-topic or exist to promote a product or target a specific user or group are not welcome and are against this policy. 

Spam

Spam comments are any comment that solely exists to promote a product or service. Comments that exist just to get a backlink or to drive traffic to a site are unacceptable.

If you’re looking for promotion or outreach, reach out on my contact form, and I’d be happy to provide some marketing advice or consider a collaboration. 

Abuse

Abuse is disgusting, and I have a zero-tolerance policy approach. This section is common sense, and I don’t need to lay out all the forms that abuse can take here. If you don’t know what constitutes abuse, you should probably refrain from commenting on the Site anyway. 

If your comment exists for targeting a specific person/group, then the chances are it will be removed. These include comments that contain hate speech, threats of violence or harassment, to name just a few. 

Additional Rules

As a mental health blog, the information discussed on this site is often of a sensitive and personal nature. Because of that, in addition to the standard “Be Nice” rules you’d find on any decent public forum, I’ve added a few additional rules that apply here. 

Triggering Topics

Self-harm and suicide are addressed on this Site, and all posts which include this will start with a warning along with any others I believe may be triggering. However, posting graphic descriptions of self-harm, suicide, eating disorders is not okay in the comments. This is because it may cause harm to another reader.

Threats of violence to yourself are also not okay as they could upset another reader in an already vulnerable position.

Please always reach out if you need help or upset by anything you read on the site. Help is always there ,and you can contact the Samaritans or Childline (if you’re under 18) to discuss your thoughts. Always call 999 if you’re going in crisis or feel like you’re going to make a bad decision. While I may not be able to help, there are people who can. 

Personal Information

Making your personal information public on the internet can make it easier to target you, and I don’t want that to happen to you when you are on this Site.

Personal information (such as your address, school, date of birth) should be kept private to you. It shouldn’t be shared on this Site. I may remove comments which contain personal information or the information of another person.

Names

It’s required to fill out the Name field when leaving a comment on our Site. This makes it easier to understand the flow of conversation if every comment is attached to a name. You may use a nickname, providing it does not contain profanity, racial slurs or similar.

This is not an exhaustive list

It would be impossible to create a complete list of what is and what is not okay to leave in the comments. The point above explains the general idea of comments – that they’re to maintain healthy, non-triggering on topic discussion about the post.

Moderation Decisions

Automated blocking may occur on certain spam comments if they contain specific phrasing (such as keywords in the “Name” field). Otherwise, any decision to delete comments will be taken by me.

I’m the sole moderator of my site, so I’ll use my discretion to decide if your comment should be deleted or not. If you feel I have wrongly deleted your comment, please reach out so I can reassess the decision and permit you to comment again.

No Edit Policy

I will never edit your comments on this Site in an attempt to censor or change the meaning of what you have posted. Your comment will either be kept or deleted in line with this policy. 

Comments will only be edited on this Site if you request them to be so using your data protection rights under GDPR. I will edit or delete the comment in question at my discretion.

I reserve the right to delete comments and block IP addresses of individuals who repeatedly breach the comment policy.

Your Responsibility

When you leave a comment, you are solely responsible for what you write. When posting a comment on this Site, you agree to hold me (Jake Symons), any guest post authors and other commenters harmless from your remarks. Anyone affiliated with this site, including myself, are not liable for any consequences you experience as a result of posting a comment on my Site. Liability for comments and their consequences rests solely with the commentator.

Social Media

Rules

When interacting with me on social media (or using my channels as a place to interact with another user), the social platform in question is responsible for your privacy and safety.

All comments on social media must comply with the platform’s own terms of service. You are responsible for the content you post on social media.

However, I do take action on social media in the following ways:

If I find content that breaks the platform’s terms of service or is borderline such as spam or discussing triggering topics then I will take action to remove your comments. This may be using platform-specific features (such as “hide replies” on Twitter) or reporting your comment to the moderation team of the platforms themselves.

Any account that falsely represents me (Jake Symons) or one of my businesses’ will also be reported both on the platform and by law where applicable. If you spot an imposter, please report it to me.