Frequently Asked Questions

It’s quick and easy to register.

1. Just click this Sign in/Register link and click the ‘Register’ tab. Fill out the boxes and click the ‘Register’ button. You’ll be sent a confirmation email with a link to activate your account – click on the link in your email and you’re all done.

2. When you add a comment to any conversation you’ll be asked if you’d like to register. Since you’ve given us a name an email address when adding your comment all you have to do is give us a password. As above, click on the link in the confirmation email to activate your account.

Registering with your social media account couldn’t be easier. Just click this Sign in/Register link, then click on the logo of your desired social network. We currently support Facebook and Twitter.

If this is your first time doing this you’ll be taken to your chosen social network where you’ll be asked for your permission to let us sign you in with your account. We will only collect your name, email address and profile photo in order to use this for your Which? Conversation account.

Click the button to give your permission and you’re in. From then on you can just click on the same social network logo to sign in with the same account.

After you have registered, you can change your photo and display name in your member profile.

Not necessarily – anyone can post comments without registering an account on the site. You will need to provide your name and contact email address each time you post.

Some features, such as voting on comments and on the Your Ideas page, are not available without registering a user account.

Registering an account will give you access to your own user profile where you can see all of your comments and be notified of any replies to your comments, as well as to enjoy the full functionality of the site. Registration is free and open to all, and you do not have to be a Which? Member to register.

To sign in simply click this sign in link, enter your username and password and click ‘Sign in’.

If you’re not logged in when you’ve added a comment, we’ll recognise you and just ask for your password after you’ve submitted your comment.

If you’ve forgotten your password, click this sign in link’

Click the ‘Forgotten your password?’ link, then enter your username or email address to be sent a link to create a new password.

You can change your password by signing in with your current password and visiting the ‘Settings’ section of your profile page (hover over your name in the top right corner of the site and select ‘Settings’).

Enter your new password in the box next to ‘Change password’ then press the ‘Save settings’ button.

No you can’t. To sign into Which? Conversation you’ll either need to set up a Which? Conversation account or sign in with your social media account.

We’re looking into allowing Which? members to sign in with their existing details and hope to release this update in the future.

You can do this by hovering over your username in the top right corner of the website and selecting ‘Profile’. Then click ‘Change profile photo’ – once there click ‘select your file’ and pick your desired image file.

Please make sure the file is no more than 1,000KB and that it is one of the following file types:

• gif,
• jpg,
• bmp
• png

You can resize and move the box to crop your photo, with a preview of your circular avatar to the right of your image. When you’re happy click ‘crop image’. All done!

If you’d like delete your current profile photo but not upload a new one, visit the Profile section of your profile page (select it by hovering over your name at the top of the website after logging in).

Click ‘Change profile photo’, then ‘Delete’ and then the ‘Delete my profile photo’ button.

Choose something that you feel suits your personality.

Please do not use any images that are

• vulgar, pornographic, or otherwise possibly considered offensive,
• contain personal contact details,
• advertise a business or product, or
• appear to impersonate someone else.

If you’re looking for a starting point, feel free to make use of these options put together by community member @alfa.

There are several ways to something you’re interested in:

1. We’ve designed Which? Convo around a number of key topics – Technology, Home & Energy, Motoring, Food & Drink, Parenting, Money, Shopping, Travel & Leisure and Health. Have a look in these to find the content you’re after.

2. You’ll find a search box on our homepage as well as on topic pages – you can use this to search for the subject you’re looking for, and hone it down by filtering by individual topics.

3. We add tags to all our conversations – tags represent the issues our discussions relate to. Click on these to find other articles on similar themes.

4. If you’re looking for older content our topic archives splits our content into months – you can find it at the bottom of each topic page.

5. At the bottom of every conversation we provide four suggested similar conversations.

Once you’ve found a Conversation you’re interested in, make your way down to the comments section (you can click on the comment bubble for a short cut). Then click on the ‘Add a comment’ button – type your comment in the box, put in your chosen display name and your email address then press ‘Post comment’. Your comment has now gone through.

If you’ve already registered, we’ll ask for your password to sign in so we can assign that comment to your account.

If you haven’t registered yet, we’ll ask for a password to set up your account.

To reply to another user’s comment, just click on the ‘reply’ button on the in the bottom right corner of their comment. You’ll see a comment box appear beneath their comment, the comment box jump up to be underneath their comment. Post your comment as normal.

We wouldn’t want to call them rules, but you do need to be over the age of 18 and follow the community guidelines. These allow us to have a positive community atmosphere where everyone is welcome. There are also certain terms and conditions that you must agree to before you comment on the site.

Your comment should go up straight away. However, this doesn’t always happen.

If your comment includes a link to a website or an email address, we may automatically hold it back from publication until one of our moderators has manually checked it. This is to ensure that all links are relevant and appropriate for other readers to click on. This moderation may take longer on weekends.

Which? Conversation also has an automatic spam filter that checks every comment before it goes live. We get hundreds of spam comments every day, and we hope you’ll never see them! If you think our spam filter has wrongly blocked your comment, please contact us and we’ll look into it.

Although we prefer to leave all comments published, if your comment breaks one or more of our community guidelines or terms and conditions, our moderators may choose to remove your comment from the website. If this is the case, we will always try and make it clear when and why it has been removed.

If you don’t think that your comment broke our rules and you’d like to see it published, please contact us and we’ll look into it.

You must stick to our community guidelines and terms and conditions on Which? Conversation. If you break any of these rules our moderators may decide to edit part(s) of your comment so that we can retain the rest of it.

If you’re unsure, please contact us and we’ll be happy to explain why we’ve edited your comment.

If someone replies to you with a red outline around their profile photo and a red line down the right-hand side of their comment, they’re a Which? employee.

Which? Conversation has an automatic spam filter that checks every comment before it goes live. We get hundreds of spam comments every day, and we hope you’ll never see them!

If you’re a legitimate commenter, there shouldn’t be any problem. But if you think our spam filter has wrongly blocked your comment, please contact us and we’ll get onto it.

Yes! If you’re registered on Which? Conversation, sign in with your details then head on over to your profile page. You’ll see a list of all your comments under your Activity tab, as well as any ideas you’ve shared.

Yes, you can. If there’s been a reply to one of your comments, you’ll be notified of it when you sign in. Look out for a number next to your name in the top right-hand corner of the site. You can click on ‘replies’ to go and see what replies you’ve had. Or visit your profile page and click the ‘Replies’ tab. Click on the replies to see them in full on their related Conversations.

People can also mention you in comments by using @yourusername in their comment. You can see these under the ‘mentions’ filter.

Another commenter will be alerted to any reply you make to their comment. If you’re not replying to one of their comment, you can alert them by mentioning them in your comment. You can do this by using an @ followed by their username eg. @patrick.

Yes, you’ll spot some thumbs on the bottom left corner of each comment. Click the up thumb if you agree with them, or the down thumb if you disagree. We’ll add these up to create one score.

You can share a comment on social media or by email – just click the ‘Share’ button on the bottom right of a comment. Then click on Facebook, or Twitter.

You can also get a link to an individual comment by clicking on the time-stamp on the top right corner of the comment. This will send people directly to that comment.

Choose the answer you agree with most then click ‘vote’. If you’ve already voted in the poll or if we’ve closed the poll you won’t get the option to vote – instead the results will be displayed.

Yes you can. Just type the following commands around your text:

• <b>Bold</b> for Bold,
• <i>Italics</i> for Italics,
• <u>Underline</u> for Underline
• <strike>Strikethrough</strike> for Strikethrough
• <blockquote> Blockquote </blockquote> for a block quote

We use an automatic content filter on Which? Conversation to remove words and phrases which do not meet the Community Guidelines. The list of words which get filtered is reviewed frequently based on spam messages and other vulgar or obscene comments we receive.

Unfortunately, this may catch out some words that can be used in other contexts. This happens infrequently, so please do accept our apologies if you are caught out by it.

If you’d like to change what you say and have signed up for a Which? Conversation account, you have a short time after posting to edit your comment.

Yes, to be emailed when new comments are added to a conversation you’ve commented on, click ‘Follow this conversation by email’ beneath your comment and then select ‘Email me when new comments are added to this conversation’, then post your comment. You’ll be sent an email asking you to confirm that you’d like to subscribe to that conversation – select ‘Confirm your subscription’ to do this.

Yes, you can be emailed when new replies have made to the comments you’ve made on a particular conversation you’ve commented on. Click ‘Follow this conversation by email’ beneath your comment then select ‘Email me when someone replies to my comments on this conversation’ before posting your comment.

You’ll then get an email whenever someone replies to any of your comments on that conversation. You can also only be emailed when new replies are made on an individual comment you’ve made, in this case select ‘Email me when someone replies to only this comment’ instead. As above, you’ll be emailed with a link to confirm your subscription. Do this and we’ll start sending you the emails with new replies.

Yes, there are three ways to unsubscribe from comment emails:

1. There’s an ‘Unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of every email you’re sent.

2. There’s an ‘Unsubscribe’ link beneath the comment box of a conversation you’re subscribed to – click ‘Follow this conversation by email’ and change your selection to ‘Please don’t email me’.

3. You can manage all of your comment subscriptions by visiting the ‘Settings’ page in your profile (look under ‘Subscriptions’). Untick the conversations you’d like to unsubscribe from and click ‘save changes’.

Yes, you can. Go to the ‘Settings’ page of your profile and enter your new email address in ‘Account email’, then click ‘Save changes’. This will also change the email address for your account.

In the email you’ve been sent, click on the link included. This will take you directly to the right comment which you can then reply to on the site. Please do not reply to the email alert within your email account as your comment will be lost and no-one will be able to see it!

Emails from Which? Conversation are automatically generated, and will be sent from conversation.comments@which.co.uk.

Depending on what type it is, other emails from Which? will be sent by one of the following.

info@mail.which.co.uk
info@act.which.co.uk
info@mail.which.co.uk
no-reply@which.co.uk
noreply@which.co.uk
info@which.co.uk
which.campaigns@which.co.uk

It may also have been mailed by one of the following services (indicated in the “mailed-by” field), again depending on the type of email: 

bounce.mail.which.co.uk
marketingautomation.e-activist.com
autoresponse.e-activist.com
*.e-activist.com 

“Which?” will always feature prominently in the name of the sender, for example “Which?”, “Which? Money Compare”, or “Which? Campaigns”.

If you’ve received an email claiming to be from Which?, but strikes you as suspicious for any reason, please contact us.

We’ve paused sending out any email updates from Which? Conversation while we migrate to a new email system within the platform. Service level emails, including comments you’ve subscribed to, will continue to be sent.

The links you see in emails are automatically generated by the software Which? uses to send emails, and will redirect you automatically to the relevant content on Which.co.uk.

Using these links allows us to understand whether we are sending people information they find to be relevant and useful based on whether they are opening and viewing the content.

Most of the content you receive in Which? emails is also available on the Which? website, so if you are uncomfortable clicking on the links for any reason, you can find the same content on the website directly. For example, the information you find in Scam Alert emails is also availble under ‘Latest Updates’ at https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/scams.

Yes. You can stay up to date with the latest discussions by following Which? on its social media channels. Search for WhichUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

You’ll see social media icons at the top and bottom of every conversation – click on these to share on Facebook, Twitter, or Reddit. We’ve written a bit of tweet text for you, but feel free to write your own! You can also share your comments, or anyone else’s comment for that matter, by clicking on the ‘Share’ button and then your chosen social network.

We’ll be holding a series of Q&A events with experts from across the scope of what Which? covers between July and October 2021. Each of these will feature a different topic area – from scams to cars to supermarkets and beyond.

We’ll advertise these the week before, giving you a chance to get your questions in to the expert panel early.

The experts will be answering your questions in the comments on Which? Conversation. Post a question in the comments, and we’ll endeavour to answer as many possible in the time we have.

We’ll be answering the questions in the comments at the bottom of each thread, and will be later summarizing the answers at the top of each post.

You can, however they may not be answered as quickly as during the event. We’ll endeavour to follow up with as many questions as possible after the fact.

Having these events in the comments allows for more people to take part, and allow for experts to answer more questions in the time they are able to share with us.

We’ll be considering using a video call or webinar for certain events. When this is the case, you’ll find details on how to register and join the call at the top of the discussion post.

Yes please! Leave your ideas on the Your Ideas page, or get in touch if you’d like to submit your ideas via email.

Follow this link to see all of the events we’ve run so far.