The Cuckoo is no longer publishing but you can continue to enjoy our old articles.

Comment Policy

The Penicuik Cuckoo encourage you to post your views on our online articles however this is a privilege and is only available to those who are willing to agree to the following:

  1. You must be registered. We operate a Disqus comment system which moderates users. For multiple reasons we do not allow anonymous users to comment on our articles. You may log in using a Disqus id or through numerous social networking site.
  2. You must provide us with a real identity. We will not approve comments which come from a user with an invalid email address. We ask that you use your real name as well.
  3. You may participate in a discussion. We love it when users discuss our articles and their subject matter but we want you to do this in polite and respectful manner. Feel free to ask us questions through comments, we see all comments as we receive them and will respond quickly.
  4. You may disagree with us. Our articles can sometimes be more controversial, especially the Oopinion articles. You can therefore disagree with what our journalists write but we ask that you are respectful. We are a voluntary organisation and choose to write articles. We don’t wish to be badgered. If your comment is not suitable for public publication, please contact us via email and we can discuss the matter.
  5. We may delete your comments. It is our website and we have no obligation to provide a comment system however we want you to participate actively with our content. Every comment submitted by you is strictly moderated. It is at this point that we choose whether to publish or not. If your comment is (a) off-topic; (b) libelous, defamatory, abusive, harassing, threatening, profane, pornographic, offensive, false, misleading, or which otherwise violates or encourages others to violate my sense of decorum and civility or any law, including intellectual property laws; or (c) “spam,” it will not be published.
  6. You must respect criminal suspects’ privacy. We will not allow comments which involve the identity of a person who is involved in a Police Scotland investigation. You will not comment names of individuals who you believe to be involved. This is a decision to be made by the Police and the individual/their family. Your IP address will be blacklisted if you participate in such an act and you will be forbidden from commenting on our site again.
  7. You must respect a victim’s privacy. If we haven’t published a name of a victim, it is likely because the Police haven’t released it yet and some affected family members may not yet know that the victim has been involved in an event. We ask you therefore do not publish a name of who you believe to be the victim.
  8. You own your comments. What you publish is your choice and as long as you abide by (5) we will publish it however by publishing it we do not own the comment itself. This is your sole property and you will be liable for any events that follow your commenting.
  9. We may be use your comments. By commenting you agree to us distributing your comments either through social media or our printed newspaper. We will attribute you and will not edit your comment, unless it includes profanities. We may wish to discuss your comment with you further and may contact you.

We want everyone to enjoy reading the news and everything else we have on our website but we want people to comment in a polite, respectful and caring manner. If you agree to the nine terms above we look forward to reading your comments!

Happy commenting!