Commenting guidelines
Updated July 21, 2026 — 5:39pm,first published August 17, 2017 — 12:00am
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Commenting on our stories is an exclusive subscriber benefit.
We welcome your comments and insightful contributions to the debates sparked by our stories. Please keep your commentary on-topic. All comments are subject to the guidelines outlined below. Publication of your comment is at our sole discretion.
We seek quality comments over quantity. We’re looking for relevant, articulate and well-informed comments from all sides of the debate. We welcome respectful comments that offer unique insights on important stories. Posts that highlight a commenter’s expertise or first-hand experience of the specific topic will be prioritised. We will not publish posts that attack others and resort to unconstructive name-calling.
Commenters are encouraged to use their real name or a variation of their real name (e.g. first name and initial) when posting. Offensive or juvenile screen names that detract from the quality of the conversation — and are not in keeping with the values of this masthead — will not be accepted. Screen names that intentionally impersonate others will also be rejected.
By providing your real name — or any other personal information in your comment — you consent to such personal information being published in the comments section across relevant Nine publications, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times and WAtoday. Our collection and use of such information is in accordance with Nine’s privacy policy, which can be found here.
Due to the large volume of comments we receive, we are unable to reply to queries about our moderation decisions. Please ensure your comments comply with these guidelines:
1. Join the conversation, but don’t dominate
- Comments are capped at 1500 characters.
- Please keep your posts succinct and relevant to the topic of the article.
- Our moderators will reject posts from commenters who they deem are dominating, or are attempting to dominate, the discussion or silencing other commenters and their views. This is to allow for a range of viewpoints from a cross-section of commenters.
- Repeating, either in whole or in part, one of your earlier published comments on the same article will not be tolerated.
2. Criticise ideas, not people
- Focus your comments on the idea being expressed, not the person expressing them.
- We’ll always consider the context, but as a general rule, comments including swear words and offensive language - including swear words with some letters replaced by dashes or asterisks - will not be published.
- While we welcome constructive criticism and feedback, personal attacks on our authors or continual and repeated criticism which is not constructive will be removed.
3. Be respectful of each other and comply with all laws****
- We value passionate debate, but comments that can be reasonably considered insulting, offensive, threatening or obscene will not be published. Material that may incite violence or hatred will not be published.
- Comments that discriminate on the basis of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, disability or other characteristics will not be published.
- Comments that we believe may be defamatory, breach copyright or breach any other laws will not be published.
- Comments containing links to unsuitable material or videos of any kind will not be published.
- Never impersonate someone else, or post personal details (such as phone numbers, email or postal addresses) that could inadvertently put someone in danger.
- Please don’t SHOUT (or post in all capital letters).
- Abuse of the moderation team or other commenters will not be tolerated.
4. Be constructive
- Comments that are not constructive will not be published. The point at which a healthy debate leads to an argument that results in the community space becoming a hostile and unattractive place to communicate will not be tolerated.
- Commenters we reasonably believe are conducting an organised campaign or who circulate misinformation, in an attempt to mislead or otherwise, will be banned.
- Commenters who submit inflammatory posts or provoke others in the comments will be suspended or banned.
- Commenters who incite conflict or who we believe are being deliberately provocative will be suspended or banned.
- There is a zero-tolerance rule on spam, scams and referrals.
- Using links or URLs in your comments adds to moderation times as our moderators need to check each link to ensure the content on the URL meets our guidelines. Please limit the use of links to external sites.
- Comments that solicit for monetary or other benefits, including crowdfunding, will be rejected.
- Please use ‘respect’ to show your agreement or appreciation of another comment and refrain from posting brief comments such as “Agree”, “Yes” or “So true”.
Repeated or serious breaches of our guidelines will result in your commenting profile being suspended or banned. Subscriptions belonging to suspended or banned commenters will remain active and you will still be able to read our stories, but you will not be able to join the conversation. Suspensions and bans are at the discretion of the Senior Community Engagement Editor.
We also reserve the right to introduce any further changes.
FAQ
Why don't you publish all comments automatically?
We want to create a space that fosters healthy discussion where community members feel safe and valued.
Further to this, Australia's strict defamation laws heighten the importance of a moderated comment section. We receive regular legal advice on what sort of language is appropriate in the comment section of our websites.
We employ a small team of expert moderators who are assisted by AI tools in accepting and rejecting the thousands of comments we receive on articles each day. Some comment moderation may be automated.
Why aren't comments open on all articles?
Our moderation resources are limited, which means difficult decisions have to be made about hosting discussions in our comments section.
Our moderating team's job includes rejecting comments that contain trolling, abuse, spam, scams and defamatory content as much as it includes approving the valuable commentary many of you spend time writing.
We are actively working to make our moderation processes more efficient and part of this work includes being selective about which stories have comments open.
Some articles have comments closed due to legal advice.
Who moderates comments?
To ensure swift moderation of your comments, we use a combination of AI technology and expert moderators.
Do you edit comments before publication?
No. Comments are either approved or rejected.
My comment didn't break any of the rules, why wasn't it published?
Your comment may not be published for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to:
- A breach of the commenting guidelines.
- Risk of defamation or other legal issue.
- Use of external links.
Why do comments close after 24 hours?
Closing stories after 24 hours helps to reduce backlogs, shorten moderation times and ensure the most recent stories are given priority.
How do the moderators choose which comments to moderate first?
Our moderators prioritise stories which are promoted on the homepage and have the largest number of readers engaged.
What about criticism of your publication?
We welcome constructive criticism, opinions and corrections of our work. Personal attacks on our staff and contributors or continual and repeated criticism which is not constructive will be rejected.
We want to avoid our comment section becoming a discussion about moderation practices and improvements. Comments about our moderation policies and decisions will not be published.
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