We have had a few occasions recently of complaints regarding offensive or abusive posting and, while these issues will always be assessed on a case by case basis, the Admins and Moderators feel it is appropriate to try and offer some guidance on the approach which they adopt.

Firstly, we regard sanctions such as pre-moderation, suspension and banning to be very much options of last resort. We will always try to resolve issues by private discussion before any sanction is imposed.

Secondly, we do not wish to curtail peoples' right to express themselves fully and passionately. This is a football board and, within reason, if a comment would be acceptable on the terrace at a premiership ground, then it is acceptable here.

Broadly speaking, posts will be moderated if they are racist or libellous. Libel means something which is both derogatory and demonstrably untrue. So for example, a comment such as "Dennis Wise is a fucking kent" would not be libellous because it is a matter of opinion. "Dennis Wise is a paedophile" would be libellous because it's a question of provable fact.

So far as abuse of other posters is concerned, we do not want to stop healthy banter, and the general rule is that you can abuse what someone says, but not the person saying it. This is something that has to be assesed subjectively, but we will not allow gratuitous abuse of other posters which is not related to the topic under discussion.