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Editorial Policies

In short: We’re an open forum

ToffeeWeb is a website for Everton fans. We believe in providing an open forum where supporters can share their views, opinions and experiences — whether those views agree with ours or not.

We welcome contributions that challenge the opinions expressed in our articles, and we believe that a healthy range of viewpoints is an important part of any supporter community.

Our writers and contributors have different opinions and perspectives. We aim to provide a broad range of views across the site, and we will not always agree with everything that is written or submitted.

The publication of an article, comment or contribution on ToffeeWeb does not necessarily mean that ToffeeWeb, its owners or its editors agree with or endorse the views expressed.

Editorial standards

All material published on ToffeeWeb may be subject to editorial review, including articles, submissions and comments.

Editorial review may include minor changes to spelling, grammar, formatting, layout and readability. We may also add links to relevant pages on ToffeeWeb or external websites where we believe they provide useful context or information.

We will generally seek to preserve the meaning and intent of submitted material. However, we reserve the right to edit, restrict or remove content where necessary, including where:

We welcome contributions on Everton and related topics and particularly value submissions that are well-structured, informative, original and interesting.

The decision to publish material, and the extent of any editorial changes, rests with ToffeeWeb.

Please also ensure that you have read and comply with our Terms and Conditions of Use.

Comments, Monitoring and Moderation

The comments sections attached to ToffeeWeb articles are intended to facilitate discussion between Everton supporters. They are not intended to operate in exactly the same way as traditional message boards or unrestricted discussion forums.

We want people to be able to disagree, debate and challenge one another. However, participation comes with an expectation that members will treat fellow supporters with a reasonable level of respect.

How comments are moderated

Comments submitted by members will normally appear on the site without being individually approved beforehand.

However, all comments are potentially subject to subsequent review and moderation.

Please do not assume that an offensive or inappropriate comment has been seen by a moderator simply because it remains visible. With a large and active community, we rely in part on members reporting comments that they believe breach our policies.

Where available, please use the reporting or flagging facility attached to the relevant comment rather than responding to the comment with a complaint about moderation.

Comments may be edited or removed where appropriate. This can include changes to:

New and restricted accounts

Comments from newly created member accounts may be held for moderation before publication. This is intended to protect the community from spam, trolling and other unwanted activity.

Accounts may also be placed on pre-moderation where a pattern of behaviour has been established that makes additional moderation necessary. This may include repeated abusive comments, personal attacks, deliberately disruptive behaviour, or repeated breaches of our commenting policies.

Pre-moderation may subsequently be removed once a consistent pattern of appropriate participation has been established.

Disagreements about moderation

We recognise that moderation decisions will not always be universally agreed with.

However, please do not use an article’s Comments section to argue about a moderation decision or complain about a withheld comment. Doing so can disrupt the discussion for everyone else and may result in further moderation of the account.

Questions, complaints or appeals concerning moderation should instead be directed to the site owner through our Contact Us page.

Moderation is not necessarily immediate

ToffeeWeb is an active community and comments can be posted at any time of day or night. Not every comment is reviewed immediately.

The fact that a comment remains visible does not mean that it has been reviewed and approved by a moderator.

Where a potentially unsuitable comment is reported, we will endeavour to review it as soon as reasonably practicable.

Moderation and editorial discretion

Moderation decisions are made in the context of the discussion in which a comment appears. The nature of an article, the subject being discussed and the circumstances surrounding a particular comment may all be relevant when deciding whether action is appropriate.

Our moderators are human and moderation will not always be perfectly consistent. We aim to apply these principles fairly and sensibly, but we reserve the right to exercise editorial discretion in individual circumstances.

External Links Policy

ToffeeWeb regularly links to external websites, news reports and other sources that we believe may be of interest to Evertonians.

Where possible, we aim to link to the original or primary source of information. Where a story has been reported by multiple outlets, we may link to the source we consider most relevant or authoritative.

External links may be used to:

Links to external websites are provided for information and convenience. A link to another website does not necessarily mean that ToffeeWeb endorses, agrees with or approves of that website, its owners, its editorial position or the views expressed in the linked material.

ToffeeWeb has no control over the content, availability, security or future operation of external websites and accepts no responsibility for material published on third-party sites.

External websites may also change or remove content after we have linked to it.

News Archives and Historical Record

The ToffeeWeb Everton News section contains an extensive archive of news stories and external links relating to Everton Football Club.

This archive is intended to provide a long-term record of the stories, reports and developments that have shaped the club’s recent history.

The inclusion of a story or external report in our archive does not necessarily mean that ToffeeWeb considers the information within it to be accurate, nor does it constitute an endorsement of the views expressed by the original source.

Where appropriate, we may update, amend or remove links when circumstances change or when information is no longer available.

Our approach

ToffeeWeb exists to encourage discussion among Everton supporters.

We don’t expect everyone to agree. In fact, disagreement is an important part of a healthy supporter community.

What we do expect is that contributions are made in good faith, that members respect the fact that other supporters may hold different opinions, and that everyone understands the distinction between an individual’s contribution and the editorial position of ToffeeWeb.

We will continue to provide a platform for a wide range of Everton views while retaining the right to moderate, edit or remove material where we believe it is necessary to protect the community and the website.

These policies should be read alongside our Terms and Conditions of Use.