Community Guidelines

Last updated February 18, 2019

The Views Community is an open platform for authentic voices to share their thoughts and experiences, and through conversation move us towards greater understanding. Views Community seeks to foster original writing that informs, educates, and expresses truths boldly. To be eligible for inclusion from member-only content, user posts must meet Views' Rules as well as the following guidelines and content requirements.

Please read these guidelines carefully as it will help you make informed decisions when posting your stories to the Community.

1. Editorial Guidelines

All types of thinkers, writers, and journalists can share their personal opinions about the news. If you have an idea to share respectfully, it’s welcome to be published to the Community. We encourage you to highlight your own perspective, rather than summarizing the news article — whether that comes from real-world experience, original research, or reporting in the field. Here's how you can get the best out of the Community:

1.1 Profile

Try to complete your profile. Entering a real name and adding a profile picture can help readers relate to your message on a personal basis.

1.2 News Articles

Each personal story needs to be backed by a news article. In order to promote trust and accountability within the platform, we ask that you link your story to news articles which come from verifiable, honest publications. Most articles are covered. If you feel that a news publication has not been included in out list of "true news", feel free to share your concerns.

1.3 Finishing Touches

We strongly recommend scanning for typos before publishing and sharing. We also ask that you link your story to news articles that have been published in the past day or two so Community stories always keep readers updated with the latest happenings.

1.4 Let the Conversation Live

Keep active in the channels and try to respond to new opinions. Like the comments you get and engage with readers, where appropriate.

2. Content Guidelines

2.1 Advertising

You may not sell advertising in or on your content

2.2 Sponsorships

If you have been sponsered by a news publication to drive views to their website, you must state this in your story.

2.3 Posts

2.3.1 Title

• Use an appropriate title for your story.
• Clickbait titles will be reported and considered as an infraction.
• Each title is allowed a maximum of 15 words.

2.3.2 Story

• Make sure your story is, in some way, related to the news article.
• To ensure you are contributing something meaningful, we ask that you have a minimum of 50 words stretching to an unlimited number of words.
• No foul language or derogatory terms are allowed.
• As of right now, we ask that all posts be written in English. In the future, we will work towards localization of different languages.

2.3.3 Tags

• Add reatable tags to your story that can help with discovery.
• Try to keep tags short, something that relates to your story and is likely to be searched for. This promotes views to your post and exposure to the right audience.

2.3.4 Category

• Link your post to one of the six categories.
• This ensures other users can have a more personalized experience.

3. Infractions

3.1 Minor Infractions

Minor infractions are easy to fix. Usually these are small problems like typos or unrelated tags. These issues can be fixed with a simple edit. Ignoring requests to correct a minor infraction can lead into a major infraction.

3.2 Major Infractions

3.2.1 First Major Infraction

For a first-time infraction, you will still be allowed to post to the Community as a free member. However, you have used up one of three chances to redeem yourself.

3.2.2 Second Major Infraction

If you violate a major guideline for the second time, you will be banned from the Views Community for exactly one month. In this month, your Premium membership will also be revoked.

3.2.3 Third Major Infraction

If you violate the guidelines a third time, you will suspended from the Community and you account will be disabled.