Putney.news covers a place where people live. The comment section exists to extend that coverage: to add information, share experience, correct the record, and debate ideas. We want it to feel like a conversation between neighbours: frank, sometimes heated, but conducted in the knowledge that the people being discussed are part of the same community.
How moderation works
When you comment for the first time, your comment is held briefly while we review it. Once approved, your future comments appear without delay – because we would rather extend trust than treat every reader as a suspect.
Comments are occasionally flagged automatically by the software we use, which looks for signals that a comment may not be contributing to the kind of conversation we are trying to foster. Flagged comments are reviewed before they appear. Most are approved. Some are not; not because we disagree with them, but because they would make other readers less likely to join in, and that matters to us as much as any individual comment.
What we don’t publish
We don’t publish comments that are abusive, threatening, or personally insulting to anyone named in an article, to other commenters, or to our journalists; that are defamatory or make serious allegations without evidence; that present misinformation as established fact; that are irrelevant to the story being discussed; that are designed to discourage other people from commenting, including comments that dismiss a concern by comparing it unfavourably to unrelated issues elsewhere; or that are posted using multiple names or accounts by the same person on the same article.
What we do publish
We don’t require agreement with our reporting. Critical comments, corrections, and challenges are welcome – provided they engage with the story.
Criticism of public figures, including elected officials, is welcome where it engages with their actions, decisions, or conduct in their public role. The bar for what we publish is higher when comments move away from what someone has done and become primarily about who they are as a person.
A note on identity and factual claims
Comments that offer opinion, reaction, or analysis are welcome from anyone. Comments that make factual claims – about the commenter’s direct involvement in a story, their identity, or the accuracy of our reporting – are held to a higher standard. We apply the same accountability to factual claims in comments as we do to factual claims in our journalism. This means we may ask you to verify who you are before we publish a comment of this kind, privately and in confidence. We won’t always publish your name. We do need to know there is a real, accountable person behind the claim.
A note on tone
This is a local publication covering a real community. The people discussed in our articles are often neighbours, local officials, or business owners. We ask that comments reflect that – not because we want to smooth over genuine disagreement, but because the goal is a section where everyone feels comfortable joining in, not just the loudest voices.
Enforcement
Where a comment is not published or is removed, we will normally notify the commenter by email and explain why. We won’t always be able to enter into extended correspondence about moderation decisions.
We reserve the right to return any commenter to moderated status or restrict access altogether if their pattern of participation is working against the kind of conversation we are trying to have. We make these decisions editorially and we stand behind them.
Repeat violations, including the use of multiple names or accounts to evade a previous decision, will result in a comment block.
A note on automated comments
We may remove comments that appear to have been generated by automated tools rather than written by a real person engaging with the story.
Questions
If you believe a moderation decision was wrong, contact the editor at editor@putney.news. We will always respond.
Last updated: April 2026