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APM Community rules

The rules below outline the expected behaviour of participants on APM's website, i.e. 'The Community', including the APM blog and news feeds.

These House Rules are in addition to APM's Rules and Regulations and the Code of Conduct for members.


Introduction

A community has a common purpose, interest or background which is maintained by the enthusiasm of the many and the dedication of the few. In this sense, online communities are no different to their face-to-face counterparts.

The best reason to be part of a community is the opportunity to benefit from others by sharing information and experiences.


The main communal areas of the site

APM's website activity is intended to encourage a range of enquiries, thoughts and discussions. Each area is characterised by its content, style of exchange and its management.


Social Media

When using our social media channels please ensure you read our Social Media Guidelines first


Your rights and responsibilities

APM's community is distinguished by three guiding principles, which define your rights and responsibilities:

  1. You are who you say you are

    By declaring your real identity there is commitment, greater likelihood that people will be truthful with each other and a stronger chance that the relationships you form online will turn into long-lasting "real life" relationships. Therefore, we ask that you do not use aliases or pseudonyms. Although usernames are permitted, no anonymous users will be allowed on the site.

  2. You own your own details

    You can add or remove your personal details at any time and therefore control who sees what. It is not possible for any member to ever view or access your email address from the APM website. APM has no rights to the content of your details. Your details can only be used in the context of communicating with you and as part of aggregated data used for research. For a full explanation of APM's policy regarding personal information, refer to the Privacy policy.

  3. You own your own words

    You retain ownership of the copyright and retain the moral rights in what you create and publish. However, in posting you accept the principle of fair use, which means that you grant to APM a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to reproduce whatever you publish in any medium for commercial or non-commercial purposes as long as attribution is given. Equally other members can quote your material with an accompanying attribution. Should you not want a particular item to be reproduced you must indicate this explicitly. You are directly responsible for everything you choose to publish, whether you have created it yourself or have sourced it from a third party. If you publish anything that someone else considers defamatory or if APM receives a notification that you have published material without the consent of the copyright owner, APM will remove your posting immediately. APM will inform you and the complainant of the action in person.


Why have House Rules?

All communities retain its cohesion through a set of accepted behaviours. These may be viewed as common sense, but with online communities many normal visual and auditory clues are missing. As such we need to be more aware of how our written words might be understood by others.

Our House Rules are here to support us and remind us of the most appropriate ways to engage with our fellow members. The aim is to protect anyone who reads or contributes to the community and to help everyone have a rewarding experience.

These are APM's rules which any one of us can contribute to and enhance. When you engage with the community you are implicitly accepting these House Rules, and any on-going amendments, as part of APM's website Terms of Use.


The Rules

Please read this to understand what defines acceptable behaviour within the community. Monitoring behaviour can be carried out by any member, as well as the APM Community Manager and representatives.

Responding appropriately to a member who transgresses is carried out by the APM Community Manager and/or representatives. As a member of The Community and user of its discussions you agree to:


Style

  1. Not shout at other members by posting in all capital letters.
  2. Take care with humour that might work verbally, but seems censorious and mean when translated to words on a screen.
  3. Present opinions and positions in a tactful and moderate fashion.
  4. Consider your use-of-language for those whose first language is not English.


Manners

  1. Exchange ideas in a civil and measured manner and to avoid 'flames' (angry, mean-spirited posts).
  2. Assume goodwill and hold fire on the assumption that most misunderstandings arise from the limitations of the media rather than from negative intent on the part of others.
  3. Practice good posting manners and refrain from dominating conversations with endless sequential posts and self-gratifying boasting.
  4. Learn to listen to written words and the person behind those words.


Content

  1. Do not post anything that could be interpreted as self-publicity (including spamming, i.e. posting the same or similar message in many discussions), advertising (including pyramid selling and chain letters), selling or soliciting.
  2. Do not post anything unlawful for example, sending or posting material that is indecent, racist or defamatory, or harassing and threatening.
  3. Do not post anything intended to disrupt or vandalise the service.
  4. Do not post any personal details of others, known both in and outside the community.
  5. Do not post any material that infringes any third party legal rights for example, copyright or other proprietary rights.
  6. Do not post any third party material without permission.
  7. Do not post private email anywhere in the community.
  8. Find out who else is commenting on the topic and cite them - be generous.


Responsibility

  1. Accept responsibility for all material that you publish in the community.
  2. Accept responsibility for a discussion you have started to keep it on topic and to freeze it when it has run its course.
  3. Always acknowledge the name of the source of any third-party material legitimately quoted or referred to.
  4. Do not quote any member who specifically requests not to be quoted.
  5. Do not intentionally misquote another member or a representative of The Community.
  6. Do not falsely misrepresent yourself.
  7. Do not abuse the facility to send an individual member a personal message.
  8. Use the log-out button, especially on a public machine, to minimise intruder access.


Monitoring

  1. Report any transgressions to the APM Community Manager.
  2. Report any misuse of the personal messaging facility to the APM Community Manager.
  3. Do not misuse the channels for complaint. Persistence may result in action by representatives of The Community against your account.
  4. Representatives of The Community reserve the right to delete any contribution, or take action against any account, at any time, for any reason.


Further information

To contribute to or comment on these House Rules do email the APM Community Manager. For a full explanation of the APM website's policy regarding the personal information collected about you, refer to the Privacy policy.