Forum participation guide and rules

Participants in International Alert’s web-based Conflict Ideas Forum are responsible for reading and understanding these rules. By participating in the Forum you agree to these rules. These rules are in addition to the site-wide legal statement, which can be read here.

The eForum
This eForum has been set up to facilitate discussion around the Conflict Ideas Forum, both pre and post events. The topics for the focus of this discussion are shown here, and in the thread in the eForum. To make this discussion as free flowing as possible, International Alert have set up some house rules which are shown below. The eForum will be monitored by moderators whose job it is to make sure these rules and standards are maintained.

Language
The primary language of the eForum is English.

Your profile
Your profile has space to upload an image, a short biography and a link to your website. These will be accessible to other users, so feel free to give as much information about yourself as you feel comfortable with.

Use your real name
If the moderator, after careful consideration, believes a participant's actual identity is in question or that their account has been compromised in any way, their account will be suspended until proof of identity is provided. If it appears that fraud, forgery, identity theft or computer crime laws have been violated, International Alert will notify the appropriate legal authorities.

Keep to the topic and topics within the eForum purpose
All the forums are categorised by topics. Please post your questions or messages in the appropriate forum. If you want to discuss other topics relevant to the eForum, then click on the “New Topic” button and create a new topic thread.

Be civil
This is a public forum. Please respect people with differing views. Personal one-on-one arguments, disagreements or personality conflicts are not appropriate on a public discussion forum. If content is illegal, it will be removed. Personal attacks or public threats against the safety or security of participants are not allowed. If you receive private communication from another participant that causes you serious concern, please contact the moderator. However, no action will be taken by the moderator to intervene in private disputes among individuals. If you feel you have privately received an illegal threat via email, you should contact the appropriate legal authorities. International Alert is not responsible for any private behaviour.

Privacy
Private stays private. Don't forward private replies without permission of the original author. Remember, any posts made in the forum are public and can be viewed by anyone visiting that page. 

No rumours
Avoid false rumours. Rumours of a personal nature are not allowed. Asking for clarification of what you've heard in the community can be appropriate if issues-based. You alone are responsible for what you post.

Right to post and reply
Sharing your knowledge and opinions with your fellow citizens is a democratic right. Only those who are registered eForum members may post. Any person or organisation that is publicly mentioned in an eForum post has a right to reply. In order to post a reply, the individual (or an individual representing the organisation) must become a registered member of the eForum.

Items not allowed in forums
The following items are prohibited from the eForum:
• Commercial advertising and chain letters
• Any copyrighted material for which the poster does not have the rights to use
• Any form of personal discrimination, including links to other sites that contain them
• Public event promotions and links to commercial, media or non-profit online content, unless directly related to the scope of the eForum
• Any posts deemed offensive, illegal or otherwise unsuitable by the eForum moderators

International Alert may acknowledge eForum sponsors in messages or on the website.

International Alert’s eForum is moderated by Alert staff. Moderators reserve the right to remove postings that infringe any of the above. If you, as a user, read a post that you feel could be any of the above, please contact the moderator. You may receive informal or official warnings from the moderator if your postings violate the eForum rules or may have your access revoked. Technical maintenance, full e-mail inboxes or excessive bounced messages may cause a member to be temporarily or technically removed from the eForum or result in a delayed distribution of their posts. 
If you are in doubt, please contact the eForum moderator for advice.

Public content and use
You are sharing your content, but in doing so you retain your copyright. By posting an original message, the author agrees to allow International Alert to distribute the message via email and the internet and to include it in a publicly accessible online archive in perpetuity. While original message authors retain their personal copyright, they grant others the right to publicly quote portions of their message in any medium. Further, the full text of messages may be forwarded via email to others as long as the author's name and the eForum's name and web address are cited or linked. With copyrighted material like newspaper articles, you may post quotations from articles or websites with the source URL. "Fair use" of excerpts (not the full text) is encouraged.

Moderator responsibilities
Moderators shall behave in a manner that models good participation skills to other participants. The moderator may propose message changes by email to a registered member to conform to the participation guide and rules or may delete any postings that they consider inappropriate, irrelevant or which receive reasonable complaints. The moderator will respect your privacy. Any personal information given to International Alert for your subscription to the eForum will be used only for the purpose for which it was intended. Should these rules be amended, the moderator will announce the changes in the eForum.

International Alert
The content of this forum does not reflect the official opinion of International Alert, nor of its donors. Responsibility for the information and views expressed in the forum lies entirely with the participants and contributors.

To contact the moderator, click here.

Click here to return to the Conflict Ideas Forum.