Forum Rules
Welcome to the Alternative Technology Association (ATA) forum.
ATA is a not-for-profit, member-based organisation that has promoted the use of renewable energy, water conservation and sustainable building since 1980. ATA reaches a broader audience through its magazines ReNew: technology for a sustainable future and Sanctuary: beautiful, sustainable homes.
ATA’s knowledge is based on our members' practical experience on sustainable technologies and practices. The forum is an opportunity for ATA members and nonmembers to share their knowledge to make it easier for more people to live sustainably. The forum, like the ATA, is about sharing practical, constructive information on sustainable living. We ask participants to be respectful of each other and their ideas.
{lease be aware of 'Netiquette' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netiquette) and treat people as reasonable people would like to be treated in real life (IRL). The ATA forum is managed by staff at the ATA. Any queries on the forum can be sent toforums@ata.org.au
By posting on the ATA forums, you hereby agree to abide by these rules. These rules apply to threads, posts, usernames and membership information. Please note that ATA reserves the right to close, delete, move or edit any post, thread and membership info. We reserve the right, at our discretion, to suspend or delete a membership and associated ghost accounts.
At ATA we feel strongly about making our forums a pleasant place for our members to communicate so when you see a post that is offensive or breaks the rules please contact ATA moderators on forums@ata.org.au
Rules summary
- Keep comments practical, constructive and on topic
- No abuse, insults or personal attacks
- No foul language or swearing
- No trolling
- No illegal, inappropriate or offensive postings
- No business advertising
- No flooding, spamming or cross-posting on the forums
- No defamatory comments
- No false or misleading statements
- No complaints about moderation (email us instead at forums@ata.org.au)
Rules
No business advertising
You must not post material for commercial purposes - including promotional material or advertising. You may not promote any self-owned business, businesses of friends or any home-based business that may or may not result in your own financial or material gain. Please do not excessively promote a certain product you use, to the point it appears advertising.
Journalists, Media, Authors
All journalists, authors and media personnel must contact the site moderators before posting for story subjects. Please email: forums@ata.org.au
Personal Attacks, Offensive & Aggressive Behaviour, Inflammatory Remarks
- Do not antagonise, abuse, denigrate, attack or harass any other member.
- If you must disagree with someone, criticise the idea not the person. Personal attacks and inflammatory remarks will not be tolerated. It is possible to have a healthy discussion without making personal comments. Do not start threads with the aim of attacking, criticizing or offending another member.
- Offensive behaviour will not be tolerated; saying things in an aggressive or hurtful manner can result in your post being censored by moderators.
- Do not post links to other threads in the ATA forum with the intention of inciting arguments, attacks or inflammatory remarks.
- Do not dredge up old threads or posts for the purpose of denigrating another member. If you disagree with someone's comments, please refrain from making it personal in any way.
- Making intentionally inflammatory remarks to incite conflict, offense, controversy or annoyance is considered 'trolling' and will not be tolerated. If people are abusing this rule - simply report them - and ignore them. Trolls aim is to get attention, disrupt threads and cause trouble, so do not give them what they want!
Third Party Rights
You must not make any comments or post any content that infringes any third party rights, including copyright or trade marks.
Privacy and Copyright
Refrain from posting the following as you may be violating copyright laws (among others):
- Private emails
- Personal letters/mail
- Messages from other forums
- Any part of a private message (PM)
- Any part of an instant chat (i.e. MSN)
- Articles without permission to be reproduced (i.e. News stories)
- Information from other websites
Contempt of court
You must not knowingly discuss any events which are the subject of legal proceedings where there is any likelihood that a party or witness in those proceedings is a participant in the forum.
Defamation
The ATA has a legal obligation to remove any posts that may be defamatory. This basically means that if you say anything that might lower or damage an identifiable person's reputation, it will be removed (regardless of whether or not it is true). Even if you do not name the individual other information may achieve the same result. We also ask that negative comments about a business that may directly or indirectly affect their business not to be posted on the forums. If you post any type of defamatory comment on the site this could result in legal action. Fair comment is allowed but the Moderators may edit or delete posts and threads when they become a legal concern. Please understand we have laws to abide by and our decision is final.
Discrimination and Harassment
You must not discriminate or vilify any other person, including based on their race, ethnicity, religion or sexual preference. This includes jokes.
Personal Information
Under no circumstances should you post personal information (yours or others) on the forums such as contact numbers, emails etc. Printing personal information can bring unwanted danger to you and others, so please be aware as we care about your safety and we take this issue very seriously. It is not acceptable to publish company contact details that are not available publicly. If these details have been previously published by the employee or the company, then it's probably okay. But if the details were provided to you as a customer because you have an unusual or critical issue, it's inappropriate to post it in the forums.
Deleting Posts, threads or forum members upon request
ATA will not delete the post and/or thread history of any member or Moderator upon request. If you want to edit your posts to remove content you can do so. If you want your membership deleted you can request this from the ATA Administrators but your threads and posts will remain on the site at the discretion of ATA. Any posts that are a legal or security concern need to be brought to our attention individually. We remind you to adhere to the rules. Although ATA can delete posts at our discretion we cannot control sites such as Google and Yahoo that "cache" information.
Closed Threads
If a thread has been closed by ATA Administrators do not start another thread relating to the same, or similar, topic, or it will also be closed and/or removed. Please do not start a new thread asking why a thread was moved, deleted or closed, or why a post was hidden. If you want to know why, please contact ATA admin on forums@ata.org.au, but please do not ask the community. We simply do not have time to enter into (often long and heated) discussions explaining our actions. Please be advised we are unable to discuss any member's status so do not start threads or post enquiring as to why a member is on.
Moderators/Admin Decisions
Please respect that the ATA is a small, not-for-profit organisation with limited resources. Reading and assessing high volumes of posts is not an easy task. ATA’s decision is final. We will not tolerate arguments or attacks on the Moderators who are providing a valuable service to all forum users. From time to time when you do not agree with a decision, take a break, come back to the forums and if it remains an unmitigated concern contact the ATA at forums@ata.org.au
Censorship & Freedom of Speech
In Australia the only protected form of speech is that of a political nature. Private entities cannot, by definition, be guilty of censorship. To better understand Freedom of Speech within Australia please click here. To help improve the quality of discussion, and in the interest of fairness and balance, there is a team of moderators who have the ability to remove posts and threads from the public eye.
Legalities
ATA has no obligation to monitor any user's use of ATA websites, however ATA retains the right at all times to monitor, retain and disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request. You will indemnify ATA if ATA or its related bodies corporate suffer any loss or damage or incur any costs in connection with any breach of these conditions or any other legal obligation by you or your use of or conduct on ATA forum and websites.
Unfortunately, it is possible that other members of the ATA forum may use the site in violation of these rules. For example, it is possible that another member may post or transmit content that is obscene, defamatory, offensive or otherwise illegal or unacceptable, or use the ATA forum to harass you or others. You acknowledge that this is a risk inherent in the activity of participating in an online forum, and you release and hold harmless ATA from any and all liability in connection with such conduct.