Who can take part in the discussions?

Currently, the discussions can be freely browsed and read by anyone.

However, participation in the discussions - including starting a new topic or replying to a topic - is only open to consumer.org.nz personal members.

Note that if you access consumer.org.nz using a corporate, institutional, or complimentary subscription, you won't be able to participate in discussions. Similarly, if you have bought access to a single report, you aren't entitled to participate in the discussions.

What topics can I discuss?

At any time, we aim to have two or three specific discussions running, based around topics that are of current interest to our members -"hot" consumer issues, topics we have recently published reports or articles on, or topics we are in the process of researching.

Discussion is limited to these topics - we don't currently have general/open discussion forums. However, we will be monitoring the popularity of our discussions, and may look to expand the range of topics members can discuss in the future.

We also provide:

• Site Suggestions, where members can place comments and suggestions about consumer.org.nz, and the information and services we provide.
• Site Announcements - a read-only discussion where we post information about site updates, enhancements, etc.

Who Are Consumer Moderators?

Consumer Moderators are our staff members who oversee specific discussions. They generally have the ability to edit and delete posts, move topics etc.

Consumer moderators will review discussions, and contribute from time to time where necessary to maintain focus, assist with references to our information, and to ensure that our guidelines are respected.

However, our discussions are designed primarily as a place for members to share and exchange ideas - our staff is not able to engage in extended debates with members. Their heavy responsibilities as testers, writers, and editors limit their availability.

Logging in to discussions

To participate in the discussions, members must login in consumer.org.nz. Follow the login links from any discussions page.

If you have automatic login option enabled on consumer.org.nz, you will be automatically logged in to discussions.

Your discussions profile

When you first access the discussions as a member, you will be prompted to review and update your discussions profile via the Account Settings page of your discussions profile.

This allows you to:

• Select a personal discussions username which will be displayed publicly when you post or reply. Note that this can be different from your consumer.org.nz username.
• Specify an email address for email notifications of topic replies. This email address is not publicly displayed. You only need to provide this if you wish to receive email notifications. Note that this email address can be different from the main email address attached to your consumer.org.nz member record.
• Add some personal text that will display below your username.

How can I change the information on my discussions profile?

You can review and update your discussions profile at any time by:

• Logging in to discussions.
• Clicking the "Edit your profile" link in the left hand navigation.
• Then click the "Account settings" link under "Modify your profile".
• Once you've made any required changes, click "Save Changes".

What is email notification?

If you post a new topic, or reply to an existing topic, you can choose to be notified by email when someone else replies to that topic.

You can also choose to receive email notifications of new posts in a topic without posting in that topic, by clicking the "Turn on notification for this topic" link displayed in the left hand navigation of the topic page.

Only consumer.org.nz members may receive email notification.

How to do I turn off email notification?

If you no longer wish to receive email notifications for a topic, you can update your notifications settings.

• First, login to Consumer discussions (if you aren't already.)
• Then click "Edit your profile" link in the left hand navigation,
• Then click "Notifications".
• You can then review and update your notifications.

Can I send email directly to other members?

No. We don't make member profile information, including email address, publicly available. This is to protect the privacy of our members. You'll need to communicate via the discussions.

Why have some of the words in my post been blanked

Certain words have been identified as unacceptable. If your posts contain any of these words, they will be blanked-out like this: *****.

The same words are censored for all users, and censoring is done by automatic matching against our list of potentially objectionable and abusive terms.