General:
While established normative ethical standards are still undergoing discusion and development among online media outlets such as Dane101, we work to achieve factual accuracy and transparency.

Dane101 is a group publication. Posts made on Dane101 by its contributing writers are the work the author of the post, and do not reflect the position of perspective of Dane101 or any other organization.

Writers:
Contributing writers are encouraged to develop their own voice. Alongside this, Dane101 editors have a responsibility to maintain stylistic consistency, both between posts and across beats, through feedback to contributing writers.

Web sites that utilize blogging software are inherently meant to incorporate the ideas of others into their own content to develop ideas. While standard linking is the most effective way to reference a source's content, Dane101 contributors, where at all possible, will cite their source for the content they are creating. Synthesizing content from elsewhere is an appropriate function on Dane101, but it must be appropriately cited.

Anonymous sources are not to be sourced without secondary verification as a means of fact checking. In the case of an inaccuracy, a correction will be noted in the original posting. Dane101 may also use strike-through text or other methods to point out the correction.

Dane101 contributing writers cannot promise coverage to friends, colleagues and/or other acquaintances, nor can they accept financial renumeration or gifts in exchange for coverage. These and all other manner of quid pro quo relationships are strictly forbidden. Questions about conflicts of interest are to be settled on a case-by-case basis.

If contributing writers to Dane101 write about their professional life directly (e.g., writing about their employer, client, or business partner), they are obligated to disclose their relationship in the interest of transparency.

Contributing writers may not use the Dane101 name to gain entrance to an event or gather research for a posting, and then give or sell that post to another media outlet, unless they are explicity reporting for multiple media outlets. This policy does not apply to personal blogs.

Corrections:
All dane101 users will be held accountable for corrections. Unlike newspapers we will make the correction within the article instead of in a separate buried post and note where the correction is made. If the correction is substantial we will post "correction" in the headline. If the correction is made on the same day the article is posted the post will be moved to the top of the page for at least half an hour.

User accounts and comments:
User accounts are structured in a format similar to the letters to the editor page of a newspaper, in which users are asked for their name and hometown when signing up for an account. This is in part to preclude the use of multiple user accounts (i.e., sock puppets). Submitted account sign-ups are subsequently queued for approval.

We strive to maintain an atmosphere of free and open conversation, but inevitably, some comments on the site will be significantly off topic or disrespectful. Off-topic comments, comments that contain hotlinking to other sites' graphics or audio/video files, commercial spam, lengthy cut and paste content, and/or comments that contain excessive profanity, threats, or personal invective are subject to removal.

We reserve the right to close posts to comments. All posts will be closed to comments after a period of two weeks to prevent automated spam. If a Web site user repeatedly abuses their privilege to comment, we reserve the right to close their account. This management of comments and user names does not indicate that other content is endorsed by Dane101.

Dane101 appreciates its readership and their feedback. However, this is a private Web site, and we reserve the right to manage comments and user accounts. Readers have every right and opportunity to publish their own blog elsewhere, and are encouraged to do so.

Graphics:
Dane101 respects the rights of photographers and other original rights holders. If you feel that an image (or other content) has been used without appropriate permission, please contact us, and it will be removed. In your email, please include the URL of the page in question. If possible, please include a copy of the copyright registration or other evidence that you are the original rights holder.

For purposes of fair use, Dane101 may excerpt content or use reduced-size versions of images or Web site screen shots for the purposes of comment, criticism, or parody. In these cases, we provide a link back to the original content that is the subject of the graphic. We evaluate all fair use situations on a case-by-case basis. We will not appropriate full-size images or images without proper source identification. Dane101 may use public domain images, such as those provided by many government sites, Creative Commons licensed photoblogs and photo sites, and GPL photo stock sites.

Dane101 is also interested in publishing photos of Madison and Dane County regional locals and events. Photographers and graphic artists retain the rights to their work that appears on Dane101. If you are interested in publishing your work on this site, please contact us.

Advertising:
All advertising on Dane101 is clearly marked as such. Dane101 may run promotional contests or enter into other collaborative relationships with our advertisers, but these relationships will always be clearly disclosed. Editorial content will not be influenced by any advertiser relationship.

Summary:
This statement of practices is a work in progress and will likely be edited in the future. Please let us know if there is something you think should be added or changed.

Note: Significant portions of these guidelines have been adapted from the Gothamist policies list.