Contribution rules

These Contribution Rules apply to those WWF websites where users are able to submit content to the site.

If you wish to contribute content to our websites you must first register as a contributor and must comply with the following Rules, in addition to our general site Terms and Conditions which you must read also.

In these Rules, "Contributions" refer to any content posted or submitted by users of the site, including but not limited to, stories, comments, suggestions and emails.

We are not responsible for Contributions posted to our websites. These Contributions express the views of the author of the Contribution, not the views of WWF or any of the other organisations involved in provision of the sites.

Any user who feels that a Contribution is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by completing the Report a Contribution form. We do not monitor Contributions by users before they are placed on the website, and so we are reliant upon users to point out any Contributions which infringe these Rules. We have the ability to remove Contributions and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary.

You must not post or transmit to or from this website (nor link from this site to) any material:-
  • that is knowingly false or misleading
  • that is defamatory, illegal, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, liable to incite racial hatred, blasphemous, discriminatory, pornographic, sexually oriented, threatening or invasive of a person's privacy
  • which you do not own or for which you have not obtained all necessary licences and/or approvals
  • which is technically harmful (including, without limitation, computer viruses, logic bombs, Trojan horses, worms, harmful components, corrupted data or other malicious software or harmful data)
  • soliciting names, addresses and phone numbers of minors for any purpose
  • impersonating any person or entity, or falsely stating or otherwise misrepresenting your affiliation with anyone or entity
  • disclosing private or personal matters concerning any other person, including personal addresses or phone numbers. Addresses and/or phone numbers of legitimate, public institutions and organizations may be posted unless proven to be fraudulent or in error
  • revealing what appears to be personal information about another contributor that would identify them in the real world and which they have not otherwise made public online, including by posting links or URLs to any area that would reveal such information
  • revealing e-mail addresses not made public online by a contributor by connecting them to a known screen name used for posting
  • containing photographs of individuals without their consent
  • which has the purpose or affect of disrupting discussions, causing inconvenience or annoyance to other contributors or site users. Examples include:-

    • Making comments of no relevance to the story or topic commented against
    • Spamming, ie creating essentially identical messages in different stories or
  • which we consider at our sole discretion has the effect or intent of bringing the website, WWF or any of its campaigns into disrepute.


Advertising and soliciting business

Unless you have our written consent to do so, you must not use our site to:-
  • advertise or offer to sell any commercial product or service, including by posting your own commercial contact details (eg address, email address, phone numbers or website address)
  • solicit names and addresses or other personal information for commercial purposes.

If you do want to advertise on or sponsor our site please contact chemicalsandhealth@wwf.org.uk.

You must not use your access to the website, or information gathered from it, to send unsolicited bulk email (spam).

The above list is not exhaustive and we reserve the right to prohibit any conduct or material that we believe may be harmful to any of our contributors, users, WWF or any individual, company or organisation.

You are responsible for all Contributions posted or transmitted under your user name and password or through your email address, whether by you or anyone else. Please don't disclose your password to anybody. If your password has been stolen, you must let us know immediately.

Breach of the Rules

Breach of either the letter or the spirit of these Rules may result in any of the following action being taken, as determined by us at our complete discretion:-
  • Written warning to the contributor
  • Removal of Contributions from the site (both the Contribution in question and possibly also any other Contributions by the same contributor)
  • Request to the contributor to edit a Contribution
  • Temporary suspension of access to contribute content to the site
  • Permanent termination of access to contribute content to the site
  • Report to the appropriate authorities.


Any person whose access has been suspended or whose registration has been terminated must not re-register as a contributor to the website without our prior consent.

We shall be entitled to reveal your identity (or any information which we have about you) in the event of a complaint, legal action or request from law enforcement authorities arising from any Contribution or other action by you.

Removing Contributions

To keep the website up-to-date and relevant, from to time we may remove Contributions. We may also remove any discussion or topic that becomes extremely off subject, limited to a small group for the purposes of exclusive chat, or is otherwise contrary to the ethos of the Chemical Voices website.

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless WWF, (and any other organisations involved in provision of the site) and their trustees, directors, officers and employees, from and against all liabilities, claims, demands and expenses arising out of your breach of the Terms & Conditions or these Contribution Rules or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.

Our use of your Contributions

Anything that you Contribute to the site may be highlighted, commented on or reproduced elsewhere in whole or part, such as on the site homepage or in the websites or publications of WWF or one of the other campaign organisations associated with the site.

Contribution Guidelines

Please keep things civil
We welcome comments on the stories and topics submitted by others, but please keep comments civil and polite. Of course it is ok to disagree with someone else's contribution, but please keep comments constructive, factual and objective. Please:-
  • Respect other contributors and treat them as you would wish to be treated in return. Assume that they start with positive intentions and are every bit as intelligent and informed as you are
  • Don't get personal. Comment on what other contributors say, but avoid commenting on the person
  • Don't use sarcasm - it often doesn't work in written communications
  • Don't use abusive or inflammatory language
  • If you come across an argument between contributors which seems to be getting out of control, resist joining in and instead please let us know by using the Report a Contribution form.


Avoid defamation

The laws of defamation (libel) apply to your Contributions to this site, just as to any other publication. It is your responsibility not to submit a Contribution which defames an individual, company or other organisation.

If you include comments on what a company is doing or not doing in relation to chemicals considered to be harmful, you need to take care that your comments do not make assumptions or statements which cannot be backed up.

It can be a good idea to give the company you are talking about a chance to comment on what you propose to say. If you have written to the company, you can summarise their reply in your story provided that they have not marked their response "Confidential". Note, simply copying the company's reply into your story without their consent could breach the company's copyright in the letter, unless the company has agreed to you doing so. You could tell the company that you propose writing a story on the site about your experience of their product, and asking them to provide a response which you can use in the story.

If you feel that you have been defamed by any Contributions to the site please notify us by using the Report a Contribution form. To consider your complaint we need your name, company name if relevant, contact details (both a land address, telephone number and email), details of the exact content complained of and details of why you are complaining about that content. Please note that no action can be taken without this information. Once we have this information we will investigate your complaint as soon as possible.


Other problems

  • If you use a company's logo without their consent you may breach the company's trade mark, copyright or other intellectual property rights. This is possibly the case even if you post a photograph of a product bearing the company's logo alongside a comment about that product. It is safest not to use logos at all.
  • If you copy text, photos or other material from another website you are likely to breach someone's copyright.
  • Don't post any material unless you created it yourself or you have permission to do so from the person who created it.
  • It is ok to summarise points made in articles or research findings. It may also be ok to quote small extracts, eg a few sentences, provided that you credit the source that you are quoting from and the author and do not copy entire or large sections of the article/ publication. However, whether or not it is ok to quote directly from an article or publication may depend on both the nature of the work you are quoting from and the importance of the extract quoted. The safest option is to either obtain the copyright owner's consent to the quote or instead simply summarise the point made and give the name of the publication and the web address where it can be found.
  • Linking to a page within a website, as opposed to a site homepage, can sometimes constitute copyright infringement. Unless you have permission to do so, always link to the site homepage rather than direct to the article you are referring to.
  • We advise that you do not include your e-mail address in any content you post to the site, unless you really want to receive junk e-mail.


Personal liability

You will be personally liable for any material you post or transmit to or from this website.
Posting or emailing certain types of material can result in:-
  • Criminal liability, eg harassment or incitement to racial hatred
  • A claim for damages against you by a company or individual, eg if you use copyright material or a trade mark without authority or you make a defamatory statement.

Note the above general guidance is not a substitute for specific advice. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not make defamatory or otherwise illegal statements.