Updated Forum Community Guidelines, Disclaimer and Privacy Policy

[Sheila]

Hi--Note that yesterday our webmaster posted two pinned articles at the top of this page.

 

Disclaimer and Privacy Policy: http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=7461

Forum Community Guidelines : http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=7462

 

Please read them, as they affect your use of these forums.

 

Now that the forums have grown in size, we are adapting standard procedure for moderating them. These guidelines are used by other community forums as well. Just because a forum is free of charge, this does not mean it is a free for all, with users posting whatever they please. We will be working to stay focused on our mission of providing support and education. In a nutshell: Our forums provide support for people dealing with neurological and related issues. Everyone joining this community should find it a safe haven where they are treated with respect, civility, and understanding.

 

This forum is moderated by our webmaster, by Chemar, and by myself. We can't possibly read every post, and we invite you to alert us by private message if you feel there is inappropriate material. Please see in the policy that as a user: You agree that the webmaster, administrator, and moderators of this forum have the right to remove, edit, move, or close any topic at any time should they see fit. This what moderating a forum is all about; this is standard practice. We don't anticipate having to intervene often, but we will when we need to. We will not be giving public explanations everytime we have to address an issue on the forum.

 

Please also note this new guideline, among others:

 

Announcements, media requests, and research requests

These need administrative approval. Please send to an administrator before posting.

 

We have not needed to address this in the past, but now with 4000 members, we request you run announcements, media requests, and research requests by an administrator, webmaster or Chemar (she will forward it on) for approval before posting. Once again, this is standard practice for a forum of our size and nature.

 

Thank you in advance for your cooperation with these changes. Feel free to request clarification on any topics in the articles. Thank you! Sheila

[thereishope]

May I ask what the definition of an "announcement" is?

[Sheila]

That's a good question, Vickie--and this is the change that will probably take the most patience to adapt to.

 

Announcements include any notification of upcoming outside events, fundraisers, media requests, new organizations, etc.

 

The purpose is to avoid spammers and scammers from making announcements, and also to prevent misunderstandings in case there is a conflict regarding the nonprofit/nonprofessional status of ACN.

 

It also allows a chance to make sure that the event, broadcast, etc announcement is legit and accurate.

 

We also want to prevent researchers from announcing their participant solicitation without it being checked out first. Same goes for media solicitation annoucements. We've had cases where producers want to "use" our families yet don't offer good protection for them, or their message is not in keeping with our mission.

 

Further, we want to be sure that a single source or organization doesn't "over announce" frequent events or simply use us as an easy advertising source. Also, some individual's announcements are designed for self-promotion only, and these need to be avoided.

 

If current users could please send announcements (for a DAN! or AutismOne conference, for example) they will receive an approval to post it right away. But to be fair in getting this started, we'd like that initial message sent for approval first. I know this is an extra step for those of you who post responsibly (and that is most of you!); hopefully it won't be too cumbersome. We wish these types of interventions weren't necessary, but they are.

 

Let's see how it goes, OK? We are open to ideas to make sure it goes smoothly.

 

Thanks, Vickie.--Sheila