Guidelines

Code of Conduct

Version 1.2 Last updated 29 August 09

Preamble

Use of the DiscoverSharePoint user group constitutes acceptance and agreement to our User Group Code of Conduct and user Agreement. If you violate the Code of Conduct or User Agreement, we reserve the right to terminate your user group account belonging to you without prior notice. We prefer to advise users of inappropriate behavior, however, flagrant and repeated violations of our CoC will result in an immediate ban. Our failure to enforce this policy, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of our right to do so at any time.

Principle Guidelines

We created the Code of Conduct to provide a basic understanding of what's allowed and not allowed in our user group. The following are the principle guidelines for the establishment and enforcement of our CoC:

·        Ensure a friendly atmosphere to our visitors and user group members

·        Ensure the privacy of our members and that of others

·        Comply with existing laws

·        Encourage responsible use of our user group, its forums and discourage activities which disrupt our community and reduce the value of our community to its members and our visitors

·        Encourage the freedom of expression and exchange of information in a mature and responsible manner

What about free-speech?

While we are committed to the principles of free speech, certain activities may be damaging to the resources to DiscoverSharePoint community and cannot be permitted under the guise of free speech. The resources of DiscoverSharePoint are limited, and abuse of these resources by one user has a negative impact on the entire community.

As a member of our vast community, you must participate responsibly.  If you have any questions regarding our CoC, please contact any of our Board members via email.

Violations of the Code of Conduct

It is extremely important for you to understand that this section of our Code of Conduct isn’t designed to cover everything. We may take action — issue a warning, ban your account(s) and/or IP addresses, lower your post count, delete/edit your post(s)/thread(s), etc. — if your conduct at DiscoverSharePoint is counterproductive to the Code of Conduct’s principle guidelines.

Unauthorized access / user group Security

The following actions are strictly prohibited:

·        Accessing, or attempting to access, the accounts of other users

·        Exploiting, or attempting to exploit, bugs, vulnerabilities, or loopholes; whether they are disclosed or undisclosed

·        Penetrating, or attempting to penetrate, security measures of DiscoverSharePoint, software or hardware, or electronics.

All intrusions will subject all your accounts to immediate termination, regardless of whether or not the intrusion results in the corruption, loss, or theft of data.

Users are responsible for the security of their DiscoverSharePoint accounts. Users may not share their passwords or transfer – via any means – their accounts to others without the express permission of the DiscoverSharePoint Board Team. In addition, users are responsible for all activity made by him/her or anyone the user allows to use his/her account.

Usernames

Usernames must not be in violation of this Code of Conduct. We reserve the right to terminate accounts whose associated usernames are in violation of this Code of Conduct, or are otherwise deemed inappropriate and/or potentially offensive. Users may be invited to register under a new name at our discretion.

Ad Hominem

Ad Hominem comments/personal attacks towards anyone - staff, community member, or a visitor who is likely to view it on the user group - is subject to the message being deleted and action taken against the user, regardless of how pertinent or thoughtful the rest of the message might be.

Spamming

Unless a thread or group is designated as an area ok for spamming, you may not spam. Spam includes, but is not limited to, the following:

·        Excessive off-topic threads

·        Posting nonsensical messages

·        “Flooding” the thread or group with similar meaning messages

·        Post-Count farming

·        Inciting a community or group war or riot

·        Outwar-style links

·        Blatant advertising

·        Messages without content

·        Fraudulent activity (Pyramid schemes, chain letters, etc.)

·        Free-____ links (i.e. Free iPods, Free PSP, etc. etc.)

Advertising

We want to avoid spam generated by promotion teams, public-relations campaigns or any other high volume traffic. So please note that our user group aren’t the place to advertise your own sites, products or content unless it adds value to the overall purpose of DiscoverSharePoint. You are welcome to link your sites in your blogs or group postings.

If you are part of other user groups or forums and you want to link it as a relevant part of a discussion you can include it as a part of a discussion or blog posting.  If you are not sure, please contact a board member.  If you wish to advertise at DiscoverSharePoint, please contact a board member. 

Any user group member who seems to have created their account solely to promote another site will be permanently banned.

Pirated Materials, Cracks, Multiplayer Hacks, Keys, and Key-Generators

“Piracy” is the illegal copying and/or distribution of copyrighted content including, but not limited to, software, games, music, movies, pictures, ROMs, abandon-ware, and leaked software. “Cracks” are programs that disable copy-protection technology; a “Key” is a combination of numbers and letters that is required for software installation and sometimes used to validate users of software and games; and “Key-Generators” are programs that generate valid Keys.

You may not encourage, post in support of, link to, or discuss activities, methods, and/or techniques involving piracy, cracks, multiplayer hacks, keys and key-generators. In addition, the following are grounds for board members or moderators action on your post and/or account:

·        Seeking help to create cracks, multiplayer hacks and key-generators

·        Seeking missing files that are supplied with installation CD(s)

·        Admitting to possess pirated materials, cracks, multiplayer hacks and key-generators

·        Admitting to distribute pirated materials, cracks, multiplayer hacks, keys and key-generators

·        Admitting to the use of cracks, multiplayer hacks and key-generators

·        Uploading any such files to DiscoverSharePoint sites or community

Generally breaking this rule will result in an instant permanent ban. However you may be given a warning for a first offence if, in our opinion, you are a new member who doesn’t understand why this is such a strict rule – this will be explained to you; any subsequent offences will result in a permanent ban.

Forgery or impersonation

Attempting to impersonate any person, including board members, using forged emails, signatures, instant messenger names, similar usernames in an effort to deceive or mislead is prohibited.

Profanities

You may not use profanity or bypass the software-based censor. In addition to words included in the censor list, sexual remarks and slang may be considered profane when used in certain contexts.

A word about what is considered to be bypassing the software-based censor: Anything done to avoid the default *'s provided by the censor is considered to be a bypass of the censor.

Harassment

You may not use terms or audio/visual materials referring to ethnic/national origin, ideological/religious beliefs, gender, or sexual preference in a demeaning context.

We have no tolerance for discrimination. You are in violation of this rule if the nature of your post discriminates, promotes hate, promotes violence or advocates hatred or discrimination against individuals, groups, races, cultures or organizations because of their ethnic/national origin, skin color or culture.

DEROGATORY TERMS

If you use any terms in an offensive context against a person, race, culture, group or organization, as determined by our board members or moderators, you are in violation of this rule.

Please note that words carry different meanings in different cultures, and that while a word may be acceptable use in one part of the world, it may not be in another. In addition, any one, can invent their own derogatory terms, unfortunately. Because of those factors, we will evaluate the context in which the term was used to determine whether a violation has occurred.

Porn/Sexually Offensive Materials

You may not post or link to pornography or sexually offensive materials. If you are unsure whether what you wish to post may be in violation of this rule, please consult a moderator first before posting.

Offensive Images / Shock Sites

You may not post or link to shock sites, or any such excessively obscene material. If you are unsure whether what you wish to post may be in violation of this rule, please consult a board member or moderator first before posting. Blatant violations of this rule will result in a permanent ban on your account.

Illegal Use

You may not use our user group or forums for illegal purposes, in support of illegal activities, or encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, as determined by the laws of the United States of America and the State of Georgia. Such activities will guarantee a ban. We reserve the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured third parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or civil wrongdoing.

Non-Disclosure Agreements

We will delete posts containing materials in breach of active Non-Disclosure Agreements. We reserve the right to cooperate with the companies in the investigation of any NDA breach.

Privacy

·        You may not post any form of real life information of a user unless the user or organization has first permitted it by express consent. Examples of real life information include name, address, IP addresses, and phone numbers.

·        You may not distribute any form of real life information, email address, private/email Messages, and Instant Messenger messages (“Chatlogs”) with intent to harass or in any demeaning manner as determined by a board member or moderator, regardless of consent.

·        You may not disclose a user's unpublicized email address unless the user has first permitted it, either by actual consent or previously releasing said information.

·        You may not post any form of real life information if you are 13 or under.

Signatures

Signatures, whether facilitated by the user group software or by the user, may not exceed the following restrictions:

·        The signature may not contain more than 6 lines including blank lines

·        Signature images may not be larger than 300 pixels wide by 75 pixels high

·        Signature images may not be larger than 7 kilobytes

·        The signature must not violate any part of this CoC

Official Language

English is the official language of our user group because it is the common language between our board members and moderators. At this time, we cannot moderate conversations in a foreign language; you may not hold a conversation in the groups or forums in language other than English.  As our community grows, we will implement policies that support other languages.
Foreign languages are allowed in blogs, groups or forum signatures as long as
a.) It is not in violation of the Code of Conduct,
b.) not in a different character set, i.e. áíúúíá éáéä,
c.) a correct translation is either included in the signature (which should not take the signature beyond the current 6 line limit) or is in the 'About Me' box of the user's profile.

Email Addresses

·        You may not harvest email addresses from our user group for any purpose

·        You are required to keep your user group account's email address up-to-date. If a warning sent to the email address on record bounces, your account will be banned and you will have to request to have your account unbanned

Moderation & Bans

·        You may not evade a ban. Doing so will drastically lengthen your ban. If you believe your actions were not in violation of this Code of Conduct, you can appeal your ban by contacting a board member.

·        You may not publicly complain about or demand a reason for another user's ban, the deletion of a message, or the deletion/closure of a thread. Any discussion about warnings, bans, message deletion, thread deletion and thread closure should be done over private email between the person concerned and the board members or moderators.

·        You may not re-edit a message that has been edited by a moderator

·        You may not post a message on behalf of a banned user.

Miscellaneous

·        Do not post negative posts and discussions that are repeated over and over and over with no other purpose than to disrupt conversation. If you feel the need to say something, say it once and then move on. Do not disrupt multiple threads in order to get your view out.

·        You may not bait/troll users. Bait / Trolling is defined as posting with a clear intent to provoke anger, incendiary posts, and behavior that results in other users violating the CoC.

·        You may not bait, insult, flame, or otherwise abuse a staff member. Staff members have to follow the same rules, and should you have a problem with a certain moderator, please contact a board member.

·        You may not abuse your ability to post in HTML in HTML-enabled blogs, groups or forums

·        You may not post graphically-disturbing images as inline images (such that the images are displayed when users view your post). However, you can link to the images with a warning stating that the images are graphically disturbing

·        You may not post in a manner that is harmful to DiscoverSharePoint. For example, “UDS group suck. Go here!” or posting confidential documents from companies. If you do, the post will be deleted and you will be banned.

·        You may not register multiple accounts with intent to violate any part of this CoC.

·        You may not link to the user group logout page, disguised or not.