As you know, The OpinionPanel Community (OPC) is all about making the views of our members heard, often through market research.  But the ‘Community’ section of the OPC website is another way for us to hear and share our members’ views. All the articles in this section are submitted by OPC members. (If you’re a member and would like to submit an article, here’s how you can do it)

Although written by members, we at OPC have the final editorial say on articles.  While we always try to encourage contributors to keep their articles balanced and reflective of the real life of young people, it is important we also protect our younger members (OPC members include those aged 13 to 30) trying not to expose them to inappropriate content. For more sensitive subjects, we try to stick to the following guidelines:

• Alcohol, Smoking, Solvent Abuse and Illegal Drugs

  These may be mentioned in some articles as part of “over 18” culture, however the use of these substances will never be endorsed or encouraged, nor will we allow the publication of articles that provide explicit detail on how to use such substances.

• Intimidation, Humiliation and Violence

  These human behaviours may be discussed in articles, for example in relation to bullying, but never celebrated for entertainment purposes or encouraged.

• Sex and Sexual Orientation

  The topic of sex may be discussed, usually for educational purposes. LGBTQ+ related topics and experiences may also be discussed. We will however try to ensure that this material is not discussed in an explicit or offensive way.

• Mental Health

  We will always try and approach the topic of mental health with great sensitivity, usually discussing it for educational purposes or to provide advice/ support to those who may be suffering. We will encourage people to reach out to qualified experts and get help where appropriate.

• Language

  Different words cause different degrees of offence in different communities, so we try to keep expletives to a minimum and avoid particularly offensive terms all together e.g.

  • Terms of racist or ethnic abuse
  • Sexual or sexist swearwords
  • Negative terms relating to sexuality, race, faith, illness or disability
  • Derogatory use of holy names or religious words, especially in combination with other strong language.

If you have an questions or queries about any of our articles or guidelines, please get in touch with us at editor@youthsight.com