HERE at M.E.N Weekly Newspapers we encourage debate on almost all the articles of the day. We're often asked how the moderation system works or why some comments aren't published and so have produced these guidelines to help users get their voice heard.

The most common reason a comment doesn't appear is that it's been submitted outside the time that our online editors work which is 9am - 5pm weekdays only.

We hope the guidelines below answer your queries but please don't hestitate to contact us via the comments thread at the bottom of the page if you have any further queries.

1. We welcome hearty debate and dissent, but the key to maintaining MEN Media as an inviting space is focusing on intelligent, insightful and passionate discussion of issues - to use a footballing phrase, we expect users to "play the ball, not the man".

2. Please respect other people's views and beliefs and consider their impact when making your contribution. We understand that people often feel strongly about things, but we will consider removing any content that other users might find extremely offensive or threatening. We actively discourage obscenity and mindless abuse. Personal attacks on other users or authors have no place in an intelligent discussion.

3. We will not tolerate racism, sexism, homophobia or other forms of hate-speech, or content that could be interpreted as such. We recognise the difference between criticising a particular government, organisation, community or belief and attacking people on the basis of their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

4. We appreciate that we have an international audience, but since we publish content in English, the conversation on the site should also be English. As such, contributions that cannot be understood by the majority of participants may be removed.

5. We will remove any content that may put us in legal jeopardy, such as potentially libellous or defamatory postings, or which is posted in potential breach of copyright.

6. We will remove any posts that are obviously commercial or otherwise spam-like. Our aim is that MEN Media should provide a space for people to interact with our content and each other, and we frown on commercial entities passing themselves off as individuals. There are technology features in place, which can help to identify spam in content or delivery form and prevent it from being published on the site, but some may slip through.

7. Think before you press the publish button. Remember that this is a public forum, and your words will be archived on this site and available for anyone to find for a long time - the web has a very long memory.

8. Keep it relevant. The vast majority of conversations on MEN Media relate to a specific blog post or topic. We know that some conversations can be wide-ranging, but if you post something which is completely unrelated to the original topic then it may be removed, in order to keep the thread on track.

9. The platform is ours, but the conversation belongs to everybody. We want this to be a welcoming space for intelligent discussion, and we expect participants to help us achieve this by notifying us of potential problems and helping each other to keep conversations inviting and intelligent.

10. And remember ... Text isn't always a great medium for conversation. Remember that tone of voice - sarcasm, humour and so on - doesn't always come across when using words on a screen. Be aware that you may be misunderstood, so try to be clear about what you are saying, and expect that people may understand your contribution differently than you intended.

In short, if you act with maturity and consideration for other users, you should have no problems.