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User Guidelines

Welcome!

The Drug Policy Alliance discussion board is a place for reformers to benefit from the exchange of information and advice. This community is a cooperative effort which depends on all of you to make it work well. If you post questions, please try to take the time to answer other members' questions as well. The Drug Policy Alliance has adopted a series of guidelines to help make this discussion board easier to use and better for everyone.

Messages posted in the DPA discussion board must conform to our community guidelines found on this page. Posts that violate these guidelines will be removed from the board without notice. Repeat violators will lose their posting privileges. We will automatically remove any subsequent inappropriate postings without warning. Please use good judgment in posting any message.

These are moderated message boards about drugs and drug policy. Please stay on topic within a forum. Off topic posts that do not violate our Community Guidelines will be placed under the appropriate topic or moved to our Chit Chat forum.

It is recommended that if you post a new topic, you think of it as "your topic." If you ask a question, please read the answers and acknowledge that members have taken the time to reply to you. This will result in a much more robust forum for everone. For this reason, it is considered a breach of "netiquette" to start a topic or question in which you presumably have an interest, then ignore the subsequent discussion.

Our mission is to provide a resource for those who are interested in drug policy reform. Help make this a great source of information for you and your fellow reformers by sharing your experiences and knowledge in a respectful and engaging manner. If you have any questions or comments regarding our posting guidelines or any content found on our discussion board please be sure and let us know. We'll be happy to discuss them with you.

Special Note Regarding Removal Of Posts

Posts will, from time to time, be removed from our forums at the sole discretion of DPA without notification to the author or discussion participants. We may also MOVE a post to our Chit Chat Lounge that has veered off the original topic.

You are permitted a maximum of one account, active or inactive. If you choose to ignore this important restriction with the intention of deceiving our members, all your accounts will be disabled. If you require a temporary user name for any reason, or if you require a user name change, please contact us. If you have forgotten your log in details and are unable to retrieve them via the system, do not create a new account, please send an e-mail to webmaster@drugpolicy.org.

Please note that the discussion of our management policies and procedures -- including post deletions -- should be posted in our "Feedback, Ideas, Compliments and Complaints" forum under "Community." If you have a question about the removal of any posting please contact us at webmaster@drugpolicy.org.

Happy posting!

Jeanette Irwin
Megan Farrington
Amanda King
Stephanie Meredith

Disclaimer

Messages posted in the Drug Policy Alliance discussion board are solely the opinion and responsibility of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily reflect the position(s) of the Drug Policy Alliance. DPA reserves the right to remove any message or message thread for any reason, including (but not limited to) any threat(s), incitation(s) to violence, violation(s) of privacy, libelous speech, breach(es) of computer security, or any other illegal and/or inappropriate act(s).

Admin Members

You will see some people designated as administrators posting in the forums. These people are the official hosts of our community. Their primary purpose is to keep our board running smoothly, with politeness and good humor. They perform a variety of tasks, especially answering your questions and explaining how to navigate our board.

Many of these admins contribute to the various discussions. They are free to contribute, or not contribute, as they see fit. Their opinions are their own. Drug Policy Alliance does not monitor what the staff posts in the forums.

Prohibited Post Topics

Drug Policy Alliance has strict guidelines prohibiting blatant advertising, commercial sales and solicitation posts on all of our message boards. We will consider product reviews by uninterested parties, but will remove any posts that are simply product advertisements. The same policy holds for links to outside websites and links to non drug policy-related will be reviewed and removed if determined they violate our guidelines.

It is suggested members not use their real names when creating their profiles, and DPA will respect the privacy of all who post here. However, because these forums are open to the public, members should use extreme caution when posting about illegal activities. Please use your best judgement. For example, posts about where or how to buy drugs will be taken down immediately.

In addition, please try to post topics in one forum only. Duplicate posts will be reviewed and taken down if necessary.

Members of the Media, Law Firms and Other Organizations

Members of the media, employees of law firms, and other companies who desire to obtain information from our members *must* obtain permission from the Community Manager (webmaster@drugpolicy.org) before posting on any of the forums within DPA's discussion forum. There are no exceptions to this policy. Posting/inquiries not approved by the Community Manager are removed without notice.

Harassment, Flaming, Disruption and Trolls

The harassment of our members is not allowed.

Drug Policy Alliance is committed to providing an online environment that is free from these types of harassing postings. Please, don't attack another poster or group of posters. Do not harass, threaten, embarrass, or do anything else to another member that is unwanted. This means: don't say bad things about them, don't keep sending them unwanted Instant Message notes, don't attack their race, heritage, or their sexual orientation, etc. If you disagree with someone, respond to the subject, not the person. Postings of this nature will be removed from the boards.

Do not post details or private information about any other person. Do not attempt to impersonate another person, either real or virtual.

Postings that have been placed on the boards to disrupt the flow of conversation or otherwise disrupt Drug Policy Alliance discussion board members' enjoyment of the Community, will be removed and you run the risk of losing your posting privileges. This would include the posting of essentially the same message over and over in response to different threads on the forums.

Multiple occurrences of harassment/flaming/stalking will result in your loss of posting privileges without any notice.

Posts in Foreign Languages

Our forums are accessible from around the world. We welcome the participation of everyone. All we ask is that if you POST in your native language, that you simulaneously post your questions/comments in English -- in the same post. These are moderated message boards, and each and every posting is read by a volunteer moderator. They must be able to understand your posting to allow it to remain. Additionally, you will receive a far greater response to your question if you consider that the majority of our community converses in English. Thank you for your cooperation.

Use of Content

You hereby grant Drug Policy Alliance the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display any message posted in the Drug Policy Alliance message boards (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.

Spelling and Grammar Errors

It is important to remember that everyone makes mistakes at one time or another, and that there are many users who use English as a second language. There are also a number of people who suffer from learning disabilities and who have difficulty noticing their spelling mistakes. Do not make comments on the spelling and grammar of other users. It is simply not a productive expenditure of energies.

Please Browse BEFORE You Post

Browse a topic first to see if your question has already been asked or answered by someone else. Also, we are developing FAQs (Frequently Asked Question) for our more popular forums, so give those a try first. Browsing is your #1 best resource! Please post your messages in an appropriate topic so that you'll receive the best possible response. It is very time consuming to move misplaced messages that are in the wrong topics.

Posts Appear Immediately

We do not review messages before they are posted and you cannot delete your own messages once they are posted. As much as we'd like to, our volunteer staff is too busy to delete messages for you, extend spell-check services or rescue you from a momentary lapse in good judgment! ;) If you don't see your message after posting it, close your browser or click your "refresh" to see your posting. You'll see it -- and so will everyone else!

Answer Postings on the Boards, Not in E-mail

Please try to answer message board posts on the boards instead of E-mail when appropriate. There is a lot of great information that we're all missing because it is passing through private E-mail. There are of course times when private E-mail is more appropriate but if you have information that would be helpful to many people, please try to come back to the boards and post it rather than replying to a posting through E-mail.

ALL CAPS

Typing in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS is considering shouting by many, so please double check your caps lock key before posting.

Board Manipulation, Rich Text, Graphic Images

The creation of additional user names by members with the intention to deceive Drug Policy Alliance discussion board members, or to inflate their opinions by manipulating a discussion will not be allowed. These users will be banned from posting on the boards, user names blocked as well as all resulting IP addresses associated with said user names.

The use of these features on our message boards can greatly enhance your online Cruise Board experiences. However, postings that are difficult to read, too BIG or too small, too light in color, etc., will be returned to you so that you may repost. Please do not manipulate postings on the boards by "bumping" topics to the top of the forum. Members will assume something of value has been posted, only to find that the newest posting is nothing more than a "bump post". This only wastes everyone's time.

Private Addresses and Phone Numbers

It is best not to post your real name, address or phone number publicly on the boards. We will remove this posts automatically. Also, think carefully before posting too much other personal data on any public message board forum.

Please note that the Drug Policy Alliance will, from time to time, make changes to these Community Guidelines without notice to reflect current climates within the Community. Additionally, every single issue that might possibly arise would be impossible to address within these guidelines. Therefore, just because a certain issue isn't raised here, doesn't mean it will be allowed, or disallowed, for that matter) within the Community.