All members of NowPublic share a common interest in protecting the integrity of our community. By creating an account, you agree to abide by this Code of Conduct and our Terms of Use . While our code is in fact a set of guidelines, any deliberate violation of the following points - especially those that harm other members - will result in a loss of site privileges.

NowPublic members will not:

1. Post stories or comments that deliberately obscure their vested interests. By being transparent and acknowledging a financial interest, or by disclosing a bias in your views, you help others to understand where you are coming from.

2. Plagiarize the work of others, fail to acknowledge source material, or use images that belong to others without their permission.

3. Abuse, threaten or verbally attack other members, individuals, or NowPublic staff. It sounds extremely unlikely, but you know how bullies work. We'll do our best to spot them and get rid of them to protect you.

4. Post libelous, irrelevant, obscene or pornographic material; or content that contains racist, sexist, homophobic and other slurs.

5. Deliberately post stories that are untrue, false, or misleading, or impersonate someone else or make false representations about yourself on the site.

6. Break the law in pursuit of, or during the composition or capture, of a story, photo or video.

NowPublic members will:

7. Be accountable - take responsibility for your stories and follow up if necessary. Admit mistakes as soon as you become aware of them and make the appropriate corrections.

8. Be fair. NowPublic is a community where ad hominem attacks, insults and threats are not tolerated. Discourse should remain civil and focus on the ideas being presented rather than the individuals expressing them.

9. Promote interactivity and dialogue. We have amazing tools that support real community collaboration. Reach out to others and encourage them to do the same.

10. Respect the community. Every day new members join NowPublic with a desire to have their views and opinions respected. Let's not disappoint them with rudeness or hostility.

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This code of conduct was created by consulting a wide range of material available online. Here are the main sources that inspired us:

* A Code of Blogging Ethics by Martin Kuhn from the University of North Carolina.
* The New York Times Code of Ethics. This is post-Jayson Blair; it is impressive.
* The Cyberjournalist's Code of Ethics by Jonathan Dube
* The Principles of Journalism by Kovach and Rosenstiel. This is a truly inspired, thought-provoking list, and the book is even better.
* The Ethics of Online Journalism by the USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review
NewsTrust Ratings - this is a list of criteria used by reviewers at NewsTrust - a very rigorous list indeed
The Principles of Citizen Journalism compiled by the Knight Citizen News Network.
Draft Blogger's Code of Conduct by Tim O'Reilly.