CNN iReport is an invitation to help shape what CNN covers and how. Every day, people across the world share stories of the events happening near them and personal opinions about issues in the headlines. And every day, the CNN iReport community helps to tell CNN which of those iReports should become part of global news coverage on CNN.

For this to work, we all need to operate under a few guiding principles:

Who's invited?
You must be at least 13 years old to participate.

What kind of content is welcome here?
CNN iReport is a place to post your news: great stories of events near you, or your own take on issues making headlines. News comes in all shapes and sizes, and the idea here at iReport is that the community will shape what counts as news, but there are a few things every iReport should have in common:

• It's yours. Your iReports should be made up of your own words and images, or those that you have the rights to use.
• It's true. iReports should be about real events, or real opinions on events. It's not news if you make it up.
• It's new and interesting. The best iReports teach us something new or start a fresh discussion. (Check the iReport toolkit for more storytelling tips.)

What if my story is difficult to stomach?
Sometimes a story that has news value can be hard to stomach. If you're posting material you think may be difficult for sensitive audiences, mark the "discretion advised" checkbox and the CNN iReport tools will add a warning to its page. Please also note what is not welcome.

What isn't welcome?

• Content that infringes someone's copyright.
• Content that you know to be untrue.
• Spam, or repeated uploads that flood the site with duplicate versions of the same or similar content.
• Pornography/sexually explicit content.
• Obscene/lewd content.
• Content that advocates violent behavior.
• Content that contains violent images of killing or physical abuse that appear to have been captured solely, or principally, for exploitive, prurient or gratuitous purposes.
• Content that advocates dangerous, illegal or predatory acts or poses a reasonable threat to personal or public safety.
• Hate Speech/Racially or ethnically offensive content.

(Read more on this topic in the CNN iReport terms of service.)

What if you see something on the site that violates the Community Guidelines?
Click on the "this is inappropriate" button at the bottom of the story and our moderators will check it out.

What happens if you post something that violates the Community Guidelines?
Moderators will review it and take it down from the site. If you post more than three pieces of material that need to be removed from the site, your account will be disabled.