In response to people's concerns about when we can and can't 'name and shame' unsatisfactory products or services, we hope that the following policy will make things clear.

We are all responsible for our own posts on the Honest John forum and need to be aware of when posts may be considered defamatory or infringe another’s copyright, and thus may result in legal action being brought against us (that could include YOU).

Posts must not contain any material which is defamatory of any person nor contain any material which is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or infringe any copyright, database right or trade mark of any other person.

Posts are much more effective if expressed in reasonable and moderate language.

The naming of makes of car, car dealers or insurance companies is in itself perfectly acceptable: the forum could not function without free discussion about vehicles and those involved in the car industry. All facts should be simply stated (e.g. “Arnold Clark wouldn’t offer me a discount”). A genuinely held opinion may be expressed as such (e.g. “I’ve always found Mazda diesels to be unreliable”) but would need to be capable of substantiation.

A criticism about a particular vehicle, car dealer or insurance company needs to be justified: there should be a reasonable basis on which the criticism is made and therefore capable of being justified. Derogatory or defamatory comments such as “X are a bunch of crooks” are not acceptable and may be removed.

It is permissible to refer to or quote small sections from other people’s content or content from a website, book or other source provided that all use of such content is properly attributed to its owner or source. Posts must not contain substantial parts of other people’s work, even where properly attributed to its owner, and must not make inappropriate use of trade marks.

If in doubt, please do not post.

Finally, if you have any comments about this, please E-mail

moderators@honestjohn.co.uk

- rather than starting a thread about it.