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The first step towards creating successful association forums is to establish a set of rules. Here are some simple guidelines that can help create a vibrant and stimulating – yet safe – environment for your members.
Forum Rules
We do not permit:
Sexual language or content
There are lots of websites that permit and encourage the use of sexual content. issociate isn’t one of them. There are lots of dating sites. issociate isn’t one of those either. issociate is a site where professionals can make connections with fellow professionals. Therefore, sexual language, innuendo, blue jokes and flirting have no place in these forums.
Offensive language or content
Since we’re all professionals and we’re all well educated, we should be capable of communicating our point of view without offensive language. While the use of symbols (eg d#$&) can allow you to evade the censors in your email program or server, this won’t be tolerated here. No swearing. Not ever.
Personal attacks
We know you won’t agree with everything you read here and we expect you to voice your contrary opinion. But we won’t tolerate personal attacks. You must play the ball, not the man (or woman), eg calling someone “stupid” or saying something is a “stupid idea” is not acceptable – and not especially articulate. You can do better. What is it about the idea that you don’t like? Feel free to apply these same principles in your real world communications
Bullying
Some people enjoy belittling others. They like nothing better than to highlight another’s lack of knowledge or experience. And these superior types often lurk in online forums, waiting to pounce on poor, unsuspecting “newbies”. But intellectual bullies won’t find a home here. If you’re fortunate enough to know more than others, please find a way to communicate it that demonstrates not just your genius but your sublime humanity and generosity of spirit.
Blatant self-promotion
Let’s be honest. A lot of networking is about self-promotion. You want to make contacts and raise your profile to advance your career. We understand that and you have our complete support. But we also know that there are some people who use forums purely to blow their own trumpets. We’ll be on the lookout for people who seem less interested in contributing to the discussion – and more concerned with just getting their name up in lights. Again.
Advertising
Sometimes professionals will want to talk about products or services. What are people using? Who’s good? What’s the service like? That’s all perfectly acceptable. However, if you’re contributing on these topics, you need to be disinterested. It would be completely inappropriate for you to promote your own products and services – and diminish the value of the forum as a source of reliable information. Want to advertise? Talk to Yellow Pages.
That’s it. Pretty simple, really. Be decent. Be nice. Check your ego at the login page. And we’ll get along fine.
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