If everybody stuck to our etiquette and style rules we’d never need to step in, but sadly sometimes members do cross the line. The following rules are all grounds for moderation so they should be considered inviolable. Continued violation of these rules may lead to a temporary or permanent site ban.

We operate a "3 strikes and you're out" policy where - unless a violation is particularly serious - a user violating the rules below will receive two email warnings from the Administrators, followed by a site ban.

If you observe any violations of these rules by others, please do let us know immediately by clicking the ‘flag’ icon at the bottom of each post. This report will be sent to the moderation team and the thread owner.

1. Copyright Violation - We expect that all content posted in the forums will have been created by the poster, but plagiarism or copyright violation not be tolerated. Where possible, we prefer summaries and hyperlinks to direct quotations of third party material. If you wish to quote something for which you do not own the copyright, you must make the excerpt explicit by using the “blockquote” formatting tool in the text editor and credit the author, ideally with a hyperlink. It is your responsibility as a poster to be aware of copyright law (UK or elsewhere) and to make sure that your material is compliant. Under fair use rules, it may be possible to use quotations of work made available to the public, e.g. fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review, or fair dealing for reporting current events are possible defences allowed in some circumstances by copyright law against actions for infringement. However, it is important that the quoted material is no more than is necessary, and the source is mentioned. Please be aware that the law in this area is not 100% clear, particularly in relation to the Web, so it makes sense to err on the side of caution.

2. Non-public Information - We expect all users to comply with all relevant laws and/or market conventions. If you suspect that information posted on the site about a company or a person could be non-public (e.g. confidential price-sensitive information regarding a takeover bid), please notify us immediately so that it can be removed and, if appropriate, the authorities can be notified.

3. Misleading Information - Stockopedia is a place for people to share their investment thinking and will not tolerate "pump and dump" activities. Please refrain from hyping stocks without providing thoughtful analysis - any member posting comments such as "Stock ABC is going up! Buy now!" without further substance will be banned. It is a criminal offence to deliberately create a false or misleading impression as to the market in, or the price of, any investments thereby inducing another person to acquire or dispose of those investments.

4. Advertising / Spam- Self promotion of your website, product, or services is not allowed within content. We are however happy for Stockopedia Contributors to promote themselves and their interests indirectly via their Profile . To accommodate this, we have set up space in the Profile to advertise what matters most to you in order to thereby drive traffic to your business/blog/book. You can enter the promotional details here and, if you upload your corporate logo, this will be seen alongside your Articles and other content. Direct self-promotion anywhere else is however not acceptable since it blurs the line between content and advertising for other users. Please also be aware that Stockopedia is a community website designed to help keep investors informed, it is not a place to promote financial products. As stated in more detail in the Terms of Use, you must ensure that your Content and any advertising in your Profile does not constitute investment advice, a financial promotion, an advertisement for any particular investment, or any other financial activity pursuant to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. No repeat posts with the same text should be posted in different forums.

5. Disruptive Behaviour You must not disrupt or interfere with discussions. This behaviour may include creating a disproportionate number of posts or discussions; creating off-topic posts; making statements that are inflammatory; manipulating topics to disrupt conversation; or any behaviour that interferes with conversations or inhibits the ability of others to enjoy this website. We also expect users to respect the privacy of others - unless they have chosen to state their real name in their profile, our working assumption is that they wish to remain anonymous. There's also no need to be rude when posting, however much you may disagree with what is written. Insulting or flaming another member is considered very poor form - it is not constructive and does not advance the debate. Consistent and repeated use of offensive language may result in you being banned from the site. Heated personal arguments will not be tolerated, however serious and vigorous intelligent discussion on the topic of the thread is encouraged. Posting inappropriate pornographic, racially abusive or other undesirable content will lead to an instant ban with your IP address blocked.