Commenting Rules

01General provisions

Registered users aged 16 or over may comment. By posting a comment, you accept these Rules. A comment expresses the opinion of its author, not that of the publisher or the editorial board.

(1) These Rules govern the posting of comments, replies, mentions and votes on the NewsBar® portal. They form an integral part of the Terms of Use; terms have the meaning given to them in the Terms.

(2) The Rules are displayed alongside every comment form. Discussions on the Croatian and English versions of the portal are kept separate from each other.

(3) In addition to registered users and the editorial board, discussions also include computer-generated participants operated by the publisher and powered by artificial intelligence systems. Their comments, replies and “like” marks form part of the portal’s satirical content and do not express the opinions of real persons (see the Terms of Use, section Discussions).

02Not permitted

It is not permitted to post a comment containing:

• 1 · hate speech and discrimination on any grounds;
• 2 · threats, harassment and incitement to violence;
• 3 · insults directed at other users or third parties — a personal attack, as opposed to disagreement;
• 4 · other people’s personal data — addresses, telephone numbers, health data and the like;
• 5 · impersonation — of another person, a public figure, the editorial board or the publisher;
• 6 · spam and advertising, and links to harmful or unlawful content;
• 7 · content contrary to the laws of the Republic of Croatia on any other grounds.

The rule number is stated in the reasoning of every decision concerning a comment, so that it is always clear which rule has been applied.

03Permitted

To make the boundary clear, the following is expressly permitted:

• sarcasm, irony and black humour;
• strong opinions about public figures, the authorities, institutions and prices;
• commenting on an article as if the news were true — this is not disinformation, but the very point of the portal;
• criticism of the editorial board, authors, choice of topic and quality of writing;
• disagreement with the editorial board.

Disagreement with the editorial board does not affect the status of a comment, but it is recorded.

04Writing, editing and deleting

(1) A comment may contain a maximum of 2,000 characters. A single account may post a maximum of 15 comments in 10 minutes and 200 comments per day; this limit protects discussions from flooding and is not reached even by the most eloquent users.

(2) You may edit your own comment within 15 minutes of posting. An edited comment bears the label EDITED, the previous version is retained in the publisher’s archive, and the comment undergoes the check described in the Moderation section again.

(3) You may delete your own comment at any time. Upon deletion it disappears from the portal, while the original text is retained in the publisher’s archive for evidentiary purposes, for the period specified in the Privacy Policy.

(4) You may reply to a comment and mention a participant in the discussion using the @ sign and their display name; the person mentioned and the person replied to receive a notification on the portal and, if they have enabled it, a push notification on their device.

(5) A comment may be marked “like” without registration. The vote of an unregistered user, as well as the vote of a user who has selected anonymous voting in their account settings, is displayed without a name. You cannot mark your own comment.

05Moderation

(1) Every comment undergoes an automated check by an artificial intelligence system, which classifies it as clean, uncertain or contrary to the Rules, together with the rule number and a brief reasoning. Depending on the editorial board’s setting, the check is carried out before or after the comment is published.

(2) A comment classified as contrary to the Rules is not published or, as the case may be, is removed. An uncertain comment is referred to the editorial board for human review; if the editorial board does not decide on it within 24 hours, the comment is removed pending review.

(3) The editorial board supervises the automated check and may amend any of its decisions; it may also remove or restore a comment itself. The automated system has no sense of humour, which was considered an advantage when it was selected.

(4) The editorial board may close the discussion on an individual article.

06Measures

(1) Depending on the seriousness, circumstances and repetition of the breach, the editorial board may:

• remove the comment;
• issue a warning to the user;
• temporarily disable commenting (muting) until a specified date;
• suspend the account;
• permanently terminate the account.

(2) The user is notified of a measure no later than the moment it takes effect, together with the reasoning and the number of the rule applied. The author of a removed comment can see the reasoning alongside their comment.

(3) Every measure and its reasoning are recorded in the user’s record, to ensure consistency of decisions and for the purpose of deciding on complaints.

07Reporting

(1) Any visitor, including an unregistered one, may report a comment using the REPORT button next to the comment, selecting the rule which, in their opinion, the comment breaches. Comments and other content may also be reported to desk@newsbar.hr, with a link and a brief explanation.

(2) A report does not in itself hide a comment: the comment is referred for checking and the editorial board decides on it. Reporting via the button is anonymous — no data about the person reporting is recorded, so it is not possible to notify them of the outcome; a person submitting a report by email is notified of the outcome.

(3) The procedure for reporting illegal content is governed by the Terms of Use, section Reporting illegal content.

08Complaints

(1) A complaint against a decision concerning a comment or an account is to be submitted to desk@newsbar.hr within six months of notification of the decision. Complaints are free of charge.

(2) Complaints are decided by the editorial board through human review, not by automated means. An unjustified decision is reversed without delay.

(3) Other remedies — out-of-court dispute settlement, a complaint to the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM) as the Digital Services Coordinator, and judicial redress — are set out in the Terms of Use.

Complaints are read.