NCFR Discussion Groups
Rules and Guidelines

This website is provided as a service of the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR).

As part of this website, NCFR provides online discussion groups as open forums for NCFR members and Certified Family Life Educators to share their knowledge and questions. All members are welcome to participate. Thank you for being part of our community!

To ensure the best possible experience for all participants, we have established basic rules and guidelines for participation, including special terms for recruiting research participants and posting job openings.

By joining and using these online discussion groups, you agree that you have read and will follow the rules and guidelines. Contact NCFR with questions.

Please take a moment to review the rules and guidelines. To preserve an environment that encourages civil and productive dialogue, NCFR reserves the right to terminate access to any participant who does not abide by these rules and guidelines.

Rules

• Respect others. Healthy and challenging debate is core to Family Science. However, the discussions in these groups are meant to stimulate conversation, not create contention. Let others have their say, just as you may, without fear of attack.
  
  
• Respect the purpose of the community. Use the community to share questions, opportunities, successes, challenges, and constructive feedback. Keep posts related to the group topic, or to NCFR announcements or events.
  • Don't post commercial messages or fundraising appeals, which are prohibited. Contact individuals directly with product and service information if you believe it would be of interest to them. However do not contact any individual after the individual has requested that you stop sending commercial messages or fundraising appeals.
    
    
• Do not post defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials or statements, as these materials and statements are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.
  • Use caution when discussing products. Information posted to the discussion groups and in the libraries are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
    
    
• Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or that you have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.
  • When posting, please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. It’s also advisable to contact the owner of any material if you would like to reuse it.
    
    
• Be aware of NCFR's legal status. NCFR is a nonpartisan, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization under the United States Internal Revenue Code. NCFR may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates. To violate these regulations may place NCFR’s tax-exempt status in jeopardy and therefore is prohibited.
  

• Job openings: Know whether you’re permitted to post. Discussion group participants may not post announcements about job openings, unless the job opening has already been added to NCFR’s online Jobs Center. Discussion group posts recruiting for job openings that have not been added to the NCFR Jobs Center will be deleted.
  
  Find information for employers on the NCFR website that explains how to get your job included in the NCFR Jobs Center and publicized through NCFR’s weekly email newsletter.
  
  
• Follow rules for recruiting research participants. NCFR allows members to recruit research participants by posting to discussion groups. (Please note that research-participant requests will not be posted to the NCFR all-member discussion group, the Managing Your Research Online group, the Teaching Online in an Academic Setting group, or the Online Family Life Education group.) 
  
  Recruiters are held to the highest ethics in science, including obtaining Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval to safeguard the well-being of human subjects.
  
  When using NCFR discussion groups to recruit research participants, please include the following information in the body of your post and in any additional communication to potential participants: 

• IRB approval information, including IRB approval number
• The name of the institution that granted IRB approval
• An invitation for potential research participants to contact the principal investigator and/or the IRB office with questions, including contact information
  
  For additional information, please see the NCFR Ethical Principles and Guidelines for Family Scientists.
  
  Only NCFR members and CFLEs may use discussion groups for research purposes. You may not post requests for research participants on behalf of non-members.
  
  

Discussion Post Etiquette Guidelines

• In the post subject line, state concisely and clearly the topic of your post. This allows members to know what your post will address and makes it easier to search the group archives by subject.
  
  
• Include a signature on all messages. Include your name, affiliation, location, and email address.
  
  
• Post a message to the entire list only when it contains information from which everyone could benefit. Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals rather than to the entire group.
  
  
• Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the group,” to the group. Instead, use the groups web interface to change your settings or remove yourself from a group.
  
  
• When replying to a personal response, do not forward or post the personal response to the entire group without first obtaining the sender’s permission.
  
  

Legal Information

NCFR is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. NCFR does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information on the website.. We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by NCFR or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall NCFR be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site. You agree to indemnify, hold harmless and defend NCFR and any affiliated entity or individual from any cause, claim, damage or liability, including reasonable costs and attorneys’ fees, asserted by any person, arising out of or relating to your breach of this Agreement or unauthorized use of this website.

Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials or statements. You may not make use of this website for any unlawful purpose. Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants NCFR and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.

Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.

NCFR does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of NCFR, NCFR reserves the right to take any and all actions deemed appropriate, in NCFR’s sole discretion, including, but not limited to, removal of content, suspension of access, or termination of accounts.

NCFR reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these rules and guidelines.

These rules and guidelines may be revised, retracted, or restated, in whole or in part, by NCFR at any time.

Privacy Policy

Please see NCFR’s Privacy Policy.

While we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us, and you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information.

In addition, please note that a third party's privacy policy and security practices may differ from NCFR standards. NCFR assumes no responsibility nor does it control, endorse, or guarantee any aspect of your use of a third-party site you visit via a link posted on an NCFR website. We recommend that you check the applicable privacy policy of such party before providing personally identifiable information to it, as its privacy policy may differ from NCFR's.

For additional information, please contact NCFR.