Opinion Flag Guidelines

An opinion flag should be used when your story conveys ideas and thoughts towards something which cannot be proven or disproven. Opinions are not facts - they are based on beliefs. If you are writing a story about a personal experience, or publishing content that represents your own viewpoint or perspective, then your story requires an opinion flag.

The opinion flag is also used on NowPublic to identify stories which represent your personal opinion, regardless of whether it is based on some factual elements. As a general rule, if you are injecting your own assessment of a situation (or using the work of another to support your point of view via Highlight) without appropriately representing all sides of the issue, then an opinion flag is likely warranted.

If a Staff Editor assesses your story and decides it requires an opinion flag, you will be contacted via private message and asked to add the flag within 30 minutes, after which we will complete this task for you.

Please keep in mind that a request to add an opinion flag should not be interpreted as any form of judgment on the veracity or integrity of your story or point of view.

Upon the incidence of a disagreement over whether an opinion flag is appropriate for a particular story, a Staff Editor will determine the final outcome on a case by case basis. The NowPublic staff asks that members respect the subjective nature of what constitutes an opinion, and that any suggestions or requests for clarification be addressed privately or within the forum.

Hi Terri!

That's more or less how I understood it, and thanks very much..

My question is though, do opinion writers have to "justify" what they write with links and sources etc? It seems to me that if opinion has to be backed up by all that stuff it's no longer "opinion"....and is no different from "news" (as if a "source" were true moreover...).

I write in good faith and do not appreciate people asking me to prove what I write, particularly given that most of those who ask only do so because they do not agree with my point of view. This has happened to me on several occasions.

Shouldn't they be obliged to put up contrary info in their comment if they feel that I (and others) am/are wrong?

An Opinion Post may or may not generate a debate and comments in wish the writer may or may not engage in.

As with all debates the question may or may not arise of how one came to that opinion and on what information or event that opinion is based on asking for more information such as links, authors or events.

If those are available I do not see the harm in charring them nor making them available to others, since they may want more information in order to be able to make up their own opinion that may agree or disagree with the writer of the post.

As with every debate one will always be asked how one has come to that Opinion or conclusion. And what are the bases or sources of that conclusion or Opinion.

If the Opinion is based solely on an personal view or observation with out facts or sources one can simply say so and claim full ownership of the posted Opinion.

Debates are healthy and example or facts and sources are part of that process. Only Science and with in Science only Mathematics are be on debatable and even there is much room for yet another debate since nothing is absolute.

Some people posting an Opinion post do even change their own mind after a debate has taken place and new or other facts have come into light that they may not have seen or heard of prior to their Posting and then revise their own Opinion and in few cases even write a follow up Opinion based on the new and revised though process they undertook over the course of the debate.

It is Socrates Philosophy of debating and finding the truth by questioning one self and others and looking at any given subject from all points of view in order to find the truth and subsequently wisdom.

There is nothing wrong with asking questions nor with asking for sources or the bases on with the Opinion is build on. I think it is even a healthy and democratic as well as intellectual way of expanding once horizon. If done objectively and honestly that is.

I agree Paschen. What I meant I suppose was asking to 'prove' unprovable stuff or being asked to furnish supplentary info in ways that obviously seem destined as flaming...Debate is great! Sorry if a gave any other impression, I didn't mean to..... [...] go to original post

If there is a source that someone's opinion is based on then it would be a good idea to provide it, just so others can see where you are coming from. However, some opinions won't have a source - they come from life experience and certain views on the world, and even though they may not be the same as others, it's ok because it is the author's opinion.

If someone doesn't agree with the opinion presented, it is much healthier and much more interesting to discuss the subject of that opinion in the comment section with perhaps some thoughts to the contrary, rather than just attack the person due to their personal beliefs.

Opinion pieces can have some of the best discussions I think.

Hi Terri!

That's more or less how I understood it, and thanks very much..

[...] go to original post

Yes I would agree with that Amy. All of what you say is true. I know my first comment here wasn't very clear, but in fact it was only meant to concern aggressive and accusatory "prove it" type demands. [...] go to original post

I have seen a lot of debate about opinion versus factual reporting lately and even though it seems clear in certain cases that there is an opinion being expressed without factual backup, and it is designated as such by an editor, the author refuses to apply the opinion flag. Are there exceptions to the rule?

No - if there is continuous resistance from the author to apply the opinion flag then further action will have to be taken, and what that would be would determine on the nature of the post.