Discussion forum
You can have your say about certain issues on our discussion forum [external link]. We will use your feedback to help make decisions.
You can read all the posts without registering, however if you want to post a message you must register [external link]. It is free to register.
Discussion forum RSS feed [external link]
Open forums
These are the discussion forums that are currently open and you can have your say on.
How else can I have my say?
If you do not want to sign up to the forum to have your say, there are other ways you can let us know what you think. Visit the Online services page to find out more.
Important information about our discussion forum
Our forum is hosted by Website Toolbox [external link] which is a third party organisation and not controlled by us.
If you register to add posts to the forum, your registration details will be stored with Website Toolbox. Whilst we are confident that we have chosen a trusted and secure forum host, we can't accept responsibility for any information that Website Toolbox stores on your behalf. If you are in doubt, we recommend that you do not use the discussion forum.
Legal disclaimer for our discussion forum [pdf document]
Moderation
When you submit a post, it will be reviewed before it goes on the forum. We will review your posts as quickly as possible.
Our moderation hours are Monday to Thursday (9:00am – 5:00pm) and Friday (9:00am – 4:30pm).
You can submit a post at any time (including evenings and weekends) but we are only able to review posts during moderation hours.
Acceptable content
We will not be able to approve posts that are:
- Defamatory - negatively affecting the reputation of a clearly identifiable person, company or organisation.
- Personal - including private information about yourself or other people.
- Harassing - harassment is unwanted conduct (including insults and ‘jokes’) affecting the dignity of another, including written attacks on another person. Such conduct could relate to gender, race, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, disability or other similarly sensitive issues.
- Obscene - material that is offensive, indecent or pornographic, including any material of a sexual nature.
- Offensive - material that might reasonably be expected to cause distress to others. Postings should not be mean-spirited, or created with the intention of causing trouble. They should not include vulgar language. They should show respect for users of all ages and abilities.
- Confidential - any information, disclosure of which would mean a breach of the common law duty of confidentiality.
- An incitement - any posting that seeks to influence another to carry out a criminal offence.
- In contempt of court - revealing information about live court proceedings before that information has been heard in court or where reporting restrictions are in place. We will generally reject any postings relating to court proceedings, as we can't be expected to know or investigate the legal status of individual cases.
- Advertising - postings advertising a service or business.
- Party political - postings that are party political in nature. This is particularly relevant during elections, and those postings that canvass support for/against a political party.
- In breach of copyright - postings that may infringe any of the laws governing copyright. (We accept no responsibility whatsoever for any breach of such laws).
- Using multiple log-ins - if you use multiple log-ins for the purpose of disrupting the forum or annoying other users.
- Duplicate or trivial posting.
- Spamming or off-topic material.
- Impersonation postings seen as impersonating another through user name or views.
- Using vulgar or offensive user names.
- One to one arguments should be conducted through private messaging and not through public discussion.
- Messages will not be posted in languages other than English.
Any repeated misuse of the forum will result in the user being banned through their IP address.