The community area is a place for your voice to be heard and this page explains a bit more about how it works and hopefully answers some of the questions you may have. If it doesn't, you can contact us here and we will get back to you within five working days.

How it works

Mirror Mouthpiece Forums

The forums are like message boards; use the 'Reply' button under any topic or post to add a reply or new thread to the discussion.

Who decides what topics to post?

Generally the moderator will post the topic and then you are free to discuss it with whoever else is online. If the focus of the topic is completely moving away from the original post, then the moderator may decide to post a comment to address this, however we believe in letting you have your say so we will only do this where completely necessary.

How are the comments I post used and how private are they?

A copy of the posts you make may be supplied in full to the Mirror Group, however we will only include your username and in some cases some demographic information about you such as age or gender. The Mirror Mouthpiece Community is completely confidential and anonymous so your personal details such as email address and name will not be passed on with your posts.

Who are the forums for?

The forums are only for Mirror Mouthpiece Community members. Some forums you will be personally invited to join as they are topics that you have registered an interest in and some will be available at all times for you to login and participate in whenever you want.

Who runs the Mirror Mouthpiece Forums?

The Forum is managed by eDigital Research plc. You can contact us with any questions/comments or complaints using this feedback form and we will get back to you within five working days.

What do I do if I see something that I regard as inappropriate, irrelevant or just plain rude?

First rate the answer as 'bad': this will give the comment a negative score. If any comment reaches a certain threshold, it will be removed automatically. You can also click on 'report post' and the moderator will investigate: if they agree that the post is inappropriate, they will remove it. Please note that any member that posts anything unjustified, negative or derogatory regarding any of the Mouthpiece organisers, breaks the terms and conditions, or is defamatory, obscene, indecent, threatening, abusive, harassing, unlawful or deemed to be incorrect, is likely to be suspended or deleted as a member of the panel without notice.

How do I add a photo?

If you don't have any albums, you will first have to add an album. To do this, click 'My Photos' in the right-hand sidebar, and then scroll to 'Create album'. Give you album a name and click Okay. You will be presented with a list of all your albums, and by each one you may 'Add/Remove Photos'. Selecting this allows you to upload as many photos as you would like to the current album.

How do I add a friend?

Any time that someone posts on Mouthpiece you may click on their username to view their details. From here you can choose to 'Make them a friend'.

What is the purpose of having friends?

Having friends allows you to see pictures that they have restricted to friends only.

How do I send a private message?

Similar to making friends, once you are visiting a users details page, you make 'Send them a message' to start communication with them.

Usernames and passwords

Who is EGP-12345? What a strange username!

All members need to register for Mirror Mouthpiece with a username and password which should not be disclosed to anyone else, apart from the user name appearing in discussion. Members who for any reason do not give a username, or use their email address as their login, have their username hidden to preserve their privacy and an EGP-12345 number is used instead.

I am having trouble finding a username that hasn't already been taken

This happens sometimes and we do apologise; usernames must however be completely unique so other Mirror Mouthpiece members and our moderators can see who is contributing posts. It is worth trying to add a series of memorable numbers to the end of your chosen name, such as RJones1234, although we advise against using numbers such as your date of birth or anything that is personal.

I have forgotten my username and/or password

Go to the usual area where you login and click on the link which says 'forgotten your password'. You will be asked to supply the email address you used to register and your login details will be sent to that email account within a few minutes.

How is this different from the forums on Mirror.co.uk / Sundaymirror.co.uk / people.co.uk?

Mirror Mouthpiece forums are for specially invited members of the Reader Panel, and are your chance to give your feedback directly to the Mirror Group, and exchange views with other members of the Reader Panel. They are not just open to use by anyone who visits our websites.

Moderation

Moderators

Some of the discussion areas on Mouthpiece will be moderated by eDigitalResearch from time to time. Moderators will steer the topics of discussion and ask questions to add to the debate.

eDigitalResearch endeavours to moderate the content of the forums, however they are in part self-regulating and you can at any time report unfavourable posts which will be dealt with accordingly within a reasonable time frame. The eDigitalResearch moderator will not be available to answer questions/reply to complaints directly on the forum. If you have a specific question for the eDigitalResearch team please use this contact form and you will receive a response within five working days.

Self-regulating moderation - the use of 'Good' and 'Bad'

Is the act of rating people's comments - you can give a positive score to posts you think are good and worthwhile, or a negative score to comments you feel don't contribute to the discussion or are otherwise irrelevant. 'Good' and 'Bad' should not be used as a way of agreeing or disagreeing with comments, but as a method of ensuring that comments on Mirror Mouthpiece are relevant and add to the discussion.

All comments can be rated: you cannot rate your own comments, but you are able to see how others have rated you. Any rating you give is permanent and cannot be changed so please take care when rating!

I made a mistake, how can I retract a rating I gave?

You can't, so please be careful with the ratings you give out.

What details can other members see about me?

Your profile

Your contributions to the forums are available for all other Mirror Mouthpiece community members to see - your post history, username and the date you joined the panel will be visible online. There will also be two scores: one for your reputation and one for your karma.

Can people see my email address or contact information?

No - only your username, post history, date you joined the panel and Reputation and Karma scores are displayed. Other information about you will only be revealed if you include it in your posts (we strongly recommend you don't do this!)

Online surveys

If you are also signed up to the Big Question Mirror Reader Panel you will sometimes be invited to participate in your usual online survey and find that it is connected to a Mirror Mouthpiece forum.

Comments made in the survey by you will then become available in the forum for discussion - you will however be advised upfront that a survey links to a forum and that your answers to a particular question are being published so you can choose whether or not to proceed. Your comments will be published in the usual way and attributed to you by your Mirror Mouthpiece username. Once you've participated in the survey, you can then jump into the community area to see what everyone else is saying.