Code of Conduct/Rules of CONNECTED

NOTICE: **KIDS UNDER 16 - NO LAST NAMES, NO PROFILE PHOTOS OF YOURSELF.**

Any child under 16 years old shall not post his or her last name or picture of him or herself. Your account will be immediately and permanently banned. See below for more details.**

Applicability and Scope

This code of conduct applies to all of this community's spaces, including public channels, private channels and direct messages, both online and off. Anyone who violates this code of conduct may be sanctioned or expelled from these spaces at the discretion of the administrators.

Toward a Welcoming and Safe Environment

We hope to create an environment in which diverse individuals can collaborate and interact in a positive and affirming way. Examples of behavior that contributes to creating this sort of environment include:

• Using welcoming and inclusive language

• Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences

• Gracefully accepting constructive criticism

• Focusing on what is best for the overall community

• Showing empathy towards other community members

Anti-Harassment Statement

This community will not tolerate harassment of any kind. Examples of harassment include:

• Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, pregnancy status, veteran status, political affiliation, marital status, body size, age, race, national origin, ethnic origin, nationality, immigration status, language, religion or lack thereof, or other identity marker. This includes anti-Indigenous/Nativeness and anti-Blackness.

• Unwelcome comments regarding a person's lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, relationships, drugs, and employment.

• Deliberate misgendering, using inappropriate pronouns, or use of "dead" or rejected names.

• Gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behavior in spaces where they're not appropriate.

• Physical contact and simulated physical contact (eg, textual descriptions like "hug" or "backrub") without consent or after a request to stop.

• Threats of violence.

• Incitement of violence towards any individual or group, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm.

• Deliberate intimidation.

• Stalking or following - online or in the physical world.

• Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes.

• Sustained disruption of discussion.

• Unwelcome sexual attention.

• Patterns of inappropriate social contact, such as requesting/assuming inappropriate levels of intimacy with others.

• Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease.

• Deliberate "outing" of any aspect of a person's identity without their consent except as necessary to protect vulnerable people from intentional abuse.

• Publication of non-harassing private communication.

• Jokes that resemble the above, such as "hipster racism", still count as harassment even if meant satirically or ironically.

If you have questions or concerns about these issues please feel free to message an admin (@Stages of Freedom) or ask for an opportunity to explore the issue with a moderator and volunteers.

1. KIDS UNDER 16 - NO LAST NAMES, NO PROFILE PHOTOS OF YOURSELF.

Any child under 16 years old shall not post his or her last name or picture of him or herself. Your account will be immediately and permanently banned.

This is to protect child privacy.

2. No Swearing

You don't need to be told what constitutes a swear. If you are unsure, simply don't post it.

3. No Racism/Sexism/Other Types of Discrimination

Discrimination, in any sort or amount, will not be tolerated. Your account will be banned permanently and your posts will be deleted.

4. No Spam / Advertising / Self-promote in the forums

These forums define spam as unsolicited advertisement for goods, services and/or other web sites, or posts with little, or completely unrelated content. Do not spam the forums with links to your site or product, or try to self-promote your website, business or forums etc. Spamming also includes sending private messages to a large number of different users.

DO NOT ASK for email addresses or phone numbers

Your account will be banned permanently and your posts will be deleted.

5. Do not post copyright-infringing material

Providing or asking for information on how to illegally obtain copyrighted materials is forbidden.

6. Do not post “offensive” posts, links or images

Any material which constitutes defamation, harassment, or abuse is strictly prohibited. Material that is sexually or otherwise obscene, racist, or otherwise discriminatory is not permitted on these forums. This includes user pictures. Use common sense while posting.

7. Do not cross post questions

Please refrain from posting the same question in several forums. There is normally one forum which is most suitable in which to post your question.

8. Do not PM users asking for help

Do not send private messages to any users asking for help. If you need help, make a new thread in the appropriate forum then the whole community can help and benefit.

9. Remain respectful of other members at all times

All posts should be professional and courteous. You have every right to disagree with your fellow community members and explain your perspective. However, you are not free to attack, degrade, insult, or otherwise belittle them or the quality of this community. It does not matter what title or power you hold in these forums, you are expected to obey this rule.

General Posting Guidelines

We figured this was necessary because a lot of people come in and post threads without thinking, and without realizing that there is no possible way they could get help because of the way they posted the question. Here are some general guidelines.

1. Please use SEARCH first!

There is a pretty good chance that unless you have some really odd or unique problem that it has been addressed on our forum before, please use the forum’s search feature first to see if there are already some good threads on the subject. It’s easy to search – just click the “Search” button at the top right of the page.

2. Be DESCRIPTIVE and Don’t use “stupid” topic names

PLEASE post a descriptive topic name! Give a short summary of your problem IN THE SUBJECT.  (Don’t use attention getting subjects, they don’t get attention and only annoy people).

Here’s a great list of topic subjects YOU SHOULD NOT POST :

Generally ANYTHING similar to those is unacceptable. Just post your problem.

Here is a good example of a way to post a question

Remember when people help you, they are doing YOU a favor

Be patient, help people out by posting good descriptions of what you need help with, and not snapping at people with garbage such as “if you aren’t going to help don’t waste my time replying”.

General Forum Questions

Am I allowed more than one account?

No, there is no reason why you should have more than one CONNECTED account. If you are banned from the forums, please do not create a new account. If you continue to create new accounts after you have been banned, your IP address will be blocked from the forums.

What happens if I break a rule?

If you break a rule, then you will either be warned or banned. A ban of your user account may either be temporary or permanent.

The administrators and moderators also have the right to edit, delete, move or close any thread or post as they see necessary, without prior warning.

What happens if I see a thread/post which has broken a rule?

Please report the thread/post to the moderators or Site Administrator @Stages of Freedom

Where can I find out who is in charge?

The Forum Moderators are displayed in every Forum. If none are present, contact the Site Administrator @Stages of Freedom