Website Principles and Editorial Policy

This has quite unashamedly been borrowed in large part from the BBC and Wikipedia. Camden Leaseholders’ Forum are not for reinventing the wheel unless we have to!

Please read on for our:
Principles
Editorial Policy
 

Principles (applicable to both general content and the Discussion Board)

1. Trust
We are committed to achieving the highest standards of due accuracy and strive to avoid misleading our audience.

2. Truth and Accuracy
We seek to establish the truth and are committed to achieving due accuracy in all our output. Accuracy is not simply a matter of getting facts right; when necessary, we will weigh relevant facts and information. Our output, as appropriate to its subject and nature, will be well sourced, based on sound evidence. We will strive to be honest and open about what we don’t know and avoid unfounded speculation.

3. Editorial Integrity and Independence
Camden Leaseholders’ Forum is independent of Camden Council. Our fundamental remit is to represent leaseholders and freeholders that pay Camden Council service charges. Any other interests will be made clear in all our communications.

4. Engagement
We mainly exist to safeguard the interests of leaseholders and ensure Camden Council service charges are value for money; in order to achieve this we engage with Camden Council in the spirit of positivity with coherent constructive practical evidence-based criticism being the main tool. For more details about our methodology in trying to achieve this please see “About Us” elsewhere on the Forum website.

5. Harm and Offence
We aim to reflect the world as it is but we balance our right to publish content with our responsibility to avoid unjustifiable offence.

6. Fairness
Our output will be based on fairness, openness, honesty and straight dealing. Contributors and audiences will be treated with respect.

7. Privacy
We will respect privacy and will not infringe it without good reason. Private behaviour, information, correspondence and conversation will not be brought into the public domain without permission from the person(s) concerned. We will not distribute leaseholders’ contact details without their explicit permission.

8. Transparency
We will be transparent about the nature and provenance of the content we offer. Where appropriate, we will identify who has created it.

9. Accountability
We are accountable to our audiences and will deal fairly and openly with them. We will be open in acknowledging mistakes when they are made and encourage a culture of willingness to learn from them.

10. Practicality
We will not be able to tackle every issue that Camden leaseholders face and wish to admit this honestly. On a regular basis we will reappraise our core aims and align our resources with those core aims.

ANY CONTENT NOT MEETING THESE PRINCIPLES WILL BE REMOVED.
 

Editorial Policy (mandatory for the main website and advisory for the Discussion Board)

1. Clarity
Avoid esoteric or quasi-legal terms and dumbed-down language. Be plain, direct, unambiguous, and specific. Avoid platitudes and generalities.

2. Length
Be as concise as possible—but no more concise. Verbosity is not a reliable defence against misinterpretation. Omit needless words. Direct, concise writing may be clearer than rambling examples. Footnotes and links to other pages may be used for further clarification.

3. Practicality
Emphasise the spirit of the rule. Expect editors to use common sense. If the spirit of the rule is clear, say no more.

4. Scope
Maintain scope and avoid redundancy. Clearly identify the purpose and scope early in the page. Content should be within the scope of its policy. When the scope of one advice page overlaps with the scope of another, minimise redundancy. When one policy refers to another policy, it should do so briefly, clearly and explicitly.

5. Hyperlinks/References
Avoid overlinking. Links to policies, guidelines, essays, and articles should be used only when clarification or context is needed. Links to other advice pages may inadvertently or intentionally defer authority to them. Make it clear when links defer, and when they do not.

6. Contradictions (not applicable to the Discussion Board)
Not contradict each other. The community’s view cannot simultaneously be “A” and “not A”. When apparent discrepancies arise between pages, editors at all the affected pages should discuss how they can most accurately represent the community’s current position, and correct all of the pages to reflect the community’s view. This discussion should be on one talk page, with invitations to that page at the talk pages of the various affected pages; otherwise the corrections may still contradict each other.
 

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About Camden Leaseholders' Forum

This is the official Camden Leaseholders' Forum account. Why not come along to one of our meetings to see us in the flesh? Alternatively email camden@leaseholdersforum.org.uk if you want to get in contact or, best yet, post to the Discussion Board and then you will not only hear from us, but also you fellow residents too, who have their own stories to tell and answers to give...