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The
Administrative Team (AdminTeam) may update this
policy at any time.
Member Rights
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Members have the
right to choose to stay, leave, gather additional
information, vent and/or explore alternatives within
the restraints of board rules. The rules exist to
protect the rights of the membership at large, and
the board's ability to function effectively.
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Members have the right to considerate, respectful
treatment from other members. There is zero tolerance
for provocative / inflammatory / demanding posts, or
discriminatory posts of any kind (e.g., racial,
sexual, etc.).
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Members have the
right to privacy and to their own content. What is
said here, stays here. Material posted on
this site is not to be copied/posted/used elsewhere -
except by the original poster. Posted material
becomes the property of this site for the protection
of the members and for the effective functioning of
the board. In other words, if you write a book, you
own the copyright to that book. When you give a copy
of that book to the forum, you relinquish the right
to have it returned to you. The CatBox will
relinquish its copy of your book or
render it unidentifiable only if there is threat
to your personal safety.
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The CatBox has the
right to retain, invisible, delete, or edit posts
that oppose forum policy.
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The CatBox has no
responsibility to retain or delete posts that have
been made to its forums. Similarly, we are under no
obligation to delete your account in the absence of
personal safety issues. If safety issues exist, we
retain the right to delete or modify your posts so
that they are unidentifiable.
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Members have a
right to a new Username if they
feel their privacy is compromised. Contact Admin.
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Members have the
right to a fair process for resolving differences
amongst themselves. This should be done privately via
PMs to individual members and/or to Admins. Public
flaming, contentious, or disruptive posting is not
tolerated.
Personal
Responsibility
Members are encouraged to embrace
taking responsibility for their thoughts, feelings,
and
actions
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including
their emotional and
mental health. Our central value is the fostering of personal responsibility and
autonomy. We encourage:
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Introspection instead
of blame
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Respectful posting in
general.
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Respectful posting of differences in
opinion/individuality
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Privacy: what is said in this forum *stays* in
this forum
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Posting that supports each other
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Celebration of the diversity of each member
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Good natured levity can disarm the most heated debate.
Try it!
Member Responsibilities
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Libel - No slamming another
person (calling names,
personal attacks, false accusation with the intent to
destroy reputation, etc.). It is okay to disagree with a
person, but it is not okay to personally attack, use
words out of context, etc. Any
person placing offensive, obscene, abusive or
derogatory posts on the board or sending them to
board members in PM form will be automatically
banned.
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Dr. Irene and drirene.com reserve the right to pursue
libelous accusations against Dr. Irene and
drirene.com to the fullest extent of the law.
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If you see rude, libelous posts, report them ASAP to
administration. When you use the "Report this post"
option, it is sent to the AdminTeam.
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Thread
altercations - Differences of opinion will
occur from time to time and this is understood.
Threads that generate into fights between posters
will be locked and/or deleted.
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Targeting
other message boards - Please do not post
your anger at other message boards by naming them.
Admin will delete these posts with no warning. We
have links to websites featuring boards which may be
helpful to some. Take what you need and leave the
rest.
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Linking
to other boards - Contact an Admin to clear where
you want to link to first.
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Public
Admin challenges: When an admin steps
makes a decision, it is after thought and
discussion amongst the Admin team. If a member
disagrees with a ruling and wants to add new
information, they may privately contact Admin. Any
reasonable, brief input will be considered.
However, public posts concerning admin decisions will
be deleted, as will posts questioning the integrity
of admin.
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Profanity - is strictly prohibited.
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Editing
/ deleting posts - If we think a poster has
overstepped a boundary, admin may request the poster
to reword the post, or Admin may edit/delete post(s)
without explanation.
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Reposting
deleted posts - Reposting Admin-deleted posts
serves no other purpose than to cause trouble and
will not be tolerated.
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Multiple
personas - As this website deals with abuse
and its residual effects, trust among the members is
paramount. It is prohibited to create more than one
persona. However, you may change your Username. Please notify
Admin to request the change,
and advise whether or not you want the
name change made public.
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Passwords -
are not to be shared with anybody for any reason. This protocol addresses the
issue of safety - both physical and emotional for our
posters. You may change your password at any time in
your Control Panel.
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Copyright - Give credit to the authors of
original material you post.
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Unless you wrote the material, it is a copyright
infringement to take posts to other boards/places.
Taking another person's material is prohibited.
Linking to posts however is permitted.
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Age - You
must be 18 and over to participate.
Banning and Restrictions
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We reserve the right to ban any member who violates
our policy or disrupts our community in any way. Free
speech is not an excuse for irresponsible posting
or for posting that undermines the forum.
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If you get a pm from admin, take
it seriously. Failure to heed a pm will result in
an official warning. You will be warned by
PM, email, or in-board post.
Failure to
comply
will
result
in a
ban or
suspension
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Official warnings
expire
after
six
months.
-
Suspensions
range
from
one
month
to
permanent
banning.
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Banned users who create new names
/ personalities will be banned and WILL
be reported to their ISP provider and/or employer. This
measure is reserved for those who do not respect
being banned.
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Additional measures, such as
PM
monitoring, may be taken by
the owner without warning to prevent behavior that
may undermine the integrity of the board.
Immediate, automatic bans may be
incurred by:
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Offensive, obscene, abusive or derogatory comments on
the board, in PM, or
email
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Racial, ethnic, gender based insults or other
bias posts
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Spamming
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Posting or linking to pornography, warez, any other
illegal or illicit content
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Advertising, commercial-related or competing products
are all forbidden in any relation to your account.
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You will not advertise or link to other forums,
products, or materials without the express permission
of the admin team
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Posting
deemed
to
create
disruption
("drama")
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Impersonation is prohibited
Good Communications Tips
If you need to send a tough message - Write it,
sit on it a while, then read it carefully. Look at the content, watch
for particularly emotional words that may trigger. Get someone else to read it as well.
Respond in he same manner. If you're on the
receiving end of what you consider an
offensive or triggering post, be careful about any
immediate reaction that will only inflame matters.
Carefully compose a response to
avoid impulsively posting a reply. Give it 24 hours;
look over what you wrote. Is what you're saying
useful, or is it an angry rant that may violate policy?
To paraphrase Soren Kierkegaard: "People
demand freedom of speech as compensation for the
freedom of thought which they should have used in the
first place."
Consider not
responding. Just
because you got a nasty message doesn't mean you must
respond in kind. If you feel comfortable, privately
contact the poster in PM. Or, report it
to admin. Let us handle it. Disengaging is a
wonderful tool; learn how; choose when and how to use
it, on a message board or
in every day life.
If you have knowingly
or unknowingly irritated someone, say you're sorry.
As well-intentioned as we are, we're Human and
mistakes come with the territory. Apologize! We hate hurtful posts, but even the best of
us will send them out from time to time.
General
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Posts and threads
will be regularly pruned to reduce size and clutter
without warning.
You are
responsible to regularly download material you
wish to keep.
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Help Files - Before
you contact a moderator,
check the
Help files and the
information found in your "My Controls" section near the
top of each CatBox page. In most cases your questions
will be addressed.
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If you are linking to permissible external content, link directly
to that content. It is unacceptable to use link-thru
systems to mask the originating URL.
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"Oh no! I'm Locked Out and Can't Log In!"
If you find yourself locked out, please do not
assume you are banned. The board can do funny things
at times. Email Administration if you are locked out
and unsure as to why.
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"Eeek,
where's
my
post?"
We may
have
made it
invisible
or
deleted
it.
Email
Admin
to
discuss
a
particular
post.
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Pictures may be posted as long as they are not
explicit or offensive. If you plan to post more than
one image, or the topic is based on graphics, please
link the images rather than screening.
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Signatures
may
contain
images,
but may
not be
larger
than
300x100;
468x60
banners
are
also
permitted
(within
reason).
If your
signature
is
larger
than
the
allotted
size,
you
will be
asked
to
resize/
change
your
image. Failing to comply with a moderator's request
will result in the removal of your signature.
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We
will consider circumstance in
an individual case. The decisions of Dr Irene and
the AdminTeam are final. If you feel you have been
unfairly treated, please contact the Admins and Dr
Irene at
CatBox@Drirene.com.
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