WEBSITE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE
Site Purpose
Safe Communities America, Inc. ("SCA") maintains this website ("site") for its sole benefit. The primary purpose of this site is to communicate information about the Safe Communities program and about SCA to the general public, to the news media, and to community representatives and safety advocates who may be interested in having their community apply for Safe Communities accreditation. This web site is also maintained to support communication and collaboration between SCA board members, staff, and representatives of accredited Safe Communities, as well as communities applying for accreditation. This site is not operated as an online social community, nor is it intended to provide online services to any person not affiliated with SCA.
Because this site is intended primarily for the use of individuals affiliated with SCA or one of our accredited Safe Communities, registration is limited to individuals who are members of SCA or a designated (or applicant) Safe Community, and to those in official positions who have a professional need for site access. Registration requests may be submitted by any individual who meets these criteria. Registration is not required to access those sections of the site intended for the general public. Registration for purposes other than those related to SCA operations, such as social or commercial purposes, is prohibited and such requests will be denied. Any user who is found to have registered in violation of these terms will have his or her account deleted.
This is a public health and safety web site. Any posts should be directly related to public health and safety topics. Other topics, regardless of their overall social importance, are not appropriate for this site. In particular, this site does not provide a forum for the general discussion of social, economic, political or philosophical issues not directly related to SCA or Safe Communities accreditation.
Agreement
By attempting to register as a user of this web site, and/or by attempting to submit or post any content to this web site, you agree to be legally bound by the rules, limitations, terms and conditions set forth in this document. Please read it carefully. If you do not wish to be bound by the rules, limitations, terms and conditions listed below, do not attempt to register as a user of this web site and/or submit or post any content to this web site.
This site is a place where SCA members can share information, submit documents and reports, and coordinate activities with other members of the Safe Communities Network. The ability to post information to this site is a privilege, not a right. This privilege is reserved to members of SCA and to approved representatives of such affiliated and partnering other organizations as may be approved by the SCA website administrators.
General Principles for Site Users
The general principles which should guide all postings, interactions, and comments on this web site are:
All users are required to use the site in a professional manner. Users must recognize that any and all content that they post to the site will reflect upon them as individuals and upon the organizations that they represent. Users must keep their posts clear, concise, on topic, free of abusive or derogatory language, and appropriate for a professional environment.
Users must respect one another, and others. Users shall not engage in heated arguments, personal attacks, or other behavior unworthy of responsible adults. Users must recognize that written communication does not include the body language, voice tone, and other nuances that help people to differentiate between potential meanings in spoken communication. Thus, users are expected and required interpret others' comments and posts charitably and not to assume hostility or ill will where none may have been intended. Likewise, users must write carefully, lest what they intend as humor or as an uncritical statement of fact be taken as a personal attack or the assignment of blame. When appropriate, users should use emoticons to indicate the intent of ambiguous statements.
Definitions
"Advertising" means any communication used to encourage, persuade, drive or induce an audience to take or continue some action concerning a commercial offering. It includes communication intended to change or reinforce consumer behavior or offer assurances to consumers. Advertising often involves repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate certain qualities with the image or name. Advertising does not always involve the direct sale of a good or service. For example, public service announcements are a form of advertising.
"Content" and "material" mean any text, image, document, audio, video, message, calendar entry, or other data in machine readable or human readable format.
"Emoticons," which are sometimes called 'smilies,' are graphic images or groups of text characters used to convey emotion or attitude in written conversation. For example, the following emoticon indicates a smiling face: :-)
"Malware" means any computer code or exploit designed or intended to grant unauthorized access to, or privileges on, any computer system or online service, or that is designed or intended to cause any computer system to behave in a way that is damaging to the computer system, software, or data stored on that system, or which limits or impedes the use of that computer system by legitimately authorized users.
"Post," when used as a noun, refers to any content uploaded or added to the web site. When used as a verb, "post" means to upload or add content of any type to the web site.
Rules for Site Users
Your use (or attempted use) of this web site or its associated calendar, discussion forum, or other resources must comply with the following rules. Deliberate or reckless failure to comply with these rules, or to attempt to circumvent them, may result in the loss of access to this site, limitations on your access to this site, or even to criminal charges where appropriate.
Rule 1: You may not attempt to alter or interfere with this site or with any other user's access to this site. Hacking this website, attempting to gain unauthorized access to the site or to any member's personal information or posts, creating false or misleading registrations, interfering with another user's ability to access this site, or editing another user's posts or work without permission are all violations of this rule (and of Kentucky and United States law). Actions by an authorized site administrator or moderator to ban or restrict a member, or to edit, delete, or move inappropriate or improperly classified posts, are not violations of this rule.
Rule 2: No content or materials containing any of the following, or links to any of the following, may be posted on this site at any time:
- Pornography, nudity, or sexually explicit material;
- Profanity or unprofessionally crude language;
- Copyrighted material (unless you own the copyright or have authorization from the copyright holder to post the material);
- Derogatory remarks toward any person or group of people based upon their race, ethnicity, sex or expressed gender, religious faith (or lack thereof), political stance or affiliation, or legal sexual preference; or
- Discussions of religion, faith, or politics, except for discussions directly related to injury prevention and safety policies. (For example, discussions related to the political aspects of adopting a new public safety law, or methods for bringing safety information to members of a particular faith, are related to the purposes of this site. Discussions of the general characteristics of a political candidate or party, or a religion or faith, or any aspect of such not related to safety and injury prevention, should be avoided.)
Rule 3: This is a non-commercial site. The advertising (as defined above) of any paid product or service, or any post made primarily to sell a product or service or to promote (directly or through a web link) any paid product or service, is inappropriate and is a violation of these Terms of Service. Brief announcements of the availability of a new paid product or service directly related to safety or injury prevention, and brief reviews of such products or services by individuals who are personally familiar with them, are acceptable provided that such announcements or reviews are posted by members who do not have a financial interest in the product or service.
Rule 4: This website constitutes a professional - and very public - forum. All posts should display the same level of professionalism, good taste, and respect for others that you would display in a public meeting. Posts primarily intended to provoke quarrels, escalate contention, or which are deemed by the moderators to be hostile, insulting, or intended as attacks on any person or group, are prohibited. Prohibited posts may be edited or removed without prior warning. Egregious or repetitive violations of this rule may result in a user being suspended or banned from this site.
Rule 5: All posts, including calendar entries, should be directly related to Safe Communities America or contain information that is directly applicable to Safe Communities representatives. Off-topic posts may be edited or deleted. Posts should be placed in the most appropriate section of the site. Posts that a moderator determines to be inappropriately placed may be moved to the correct site location or forum section.
Rule 6: All individuals are worthy of privacy and respect. Content (including photos, videos,etc.) that invades any person's privacy is prohibited and subject to removal. Posts or photos which defame, demean, mock, or ridicule any person are subject to removal. Egregious or repeated postings of such material may lead to loss of site access.
Rule 7: All members must regard the user list of this website, and the information contained in user lists, rosters, and member profiles, as strictly confidential. No person except an authorized representative of SCA may use the user list of this website, or any information gathered from a user list or individual member profiles, as the basis for a mailing list or to contact users (other than those who may specifically request such contacts) for any purpose not directly related to SCA operations. No person except authorized SCA personnel and administrators of this website may utilize the user list of this web site for mass e-mailing, or provide a copy of the user list to any other person or organization. Site administrators and authorized SCA personnel may only send mass e-mails when needed to carry out legitimate SCA purposes and/or to notify site users of issues with the site. This rule does not prohibit or limit the distribution of SCA newsletters and related messages to those users who sign up to receive a newsletter.
Rule 8: This website includes a Personal Message (PM) function. The PM function exists for the purpose of allowing members to transmit relatively private messages to other members. The PM function is more private than posting such information in an open forum, but we cannot guarantee that it is truly private. All PM messages must comply with the same rules as postings with regard to acceptable uses and content. Using the PM function to recklessly or deliberately send offensive messages may result in the loss of access to the site.
Rule 9: Please do not post anything to this web site that you - or your employer or family - would not wish to see on the front page of a major newspaper tomorrow. The forum and "members only" sections of this web site are not readily accessible by the public, but that does not mean that content posted to such areas is guaranteed to be secure or private.
Rule 10: Do not repost, download, copy, or share any content posted to the forum or other "members only" sections of this web site without the permission of the person who posted the content. If permission is clearly indicated in the original post (for example, through the use of a post title such as "A handy form you can download" or by adding any content to a "Resources for Download" area), you do not have to seek specific additional permission from the poster. When in doubt, seek permission from the original poster before copying or reusing any content. Making a screen shot or photo image of content from this site is considered to be copying that content.
Rule 11: The use of this web site for the seeking or solicitation of funds, donations or organizational membership for organizations other than SCA, to seek or offer goods, services or assistance in a personal (as opposed to professional) capacity, or for purely social purposes is inappropriate. Brief announcements of social activities directly related to SCA, the Safe Communities Network, and/or public health or safety are acceptable, but this site is not a social networking site.
Rule 12: It is acceptable to post brief paid or volunteer position announcements, including links to online applications or additional information, for positions with SCA or with designated Safe Communities or their constituent organizations. It is not acceptable to use this web site as a general recruiting and/or job solicitation web site.
Rule 13: The deliberate or reckless posting of malware, or any material including malware, or any link to a web site which will attempt to install malware on any computer, is absolutely prohibited and is a violation of Kentucky and United States law.
Rule 14: All individuals must provide their real name, and a valid e-mail address, telephone number, and mailing address when registering for site membership. The provision of a false name or other registration information is a violation of this agreement and constitutes unauthorized access to a computer system, which is a violation of Kentucky law.
Use of Data and Documents from this Site
SCA and/or other organizations may make certain reports, publications, slide shows or presentations, images and other documents, and/or computerized data, available for viewing through this web site. By accessing any such document or data, you agree to comply with the following requirements.
- You may not claim any ownership, copyright or other rights to any material that you did not create or help to create;
- You may not utilize any copyrighted material for the production of a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner or his/her authorized agent;
- If you create any derivative work, including academic or professional publications, based on or including information from any document or data accessed through this web site, you must properly cite the author(s), if listed, and/or organization(s) who created the document or provided the data used in your work; and
- You may not report any data or information, or share any images, that would personally identify any living individual without the consent of that individual.
Moderation of this Site
To keep this website and our user posts on topic and free from inappropriate content, we rely on a report driven moderation policy.
Moderators are authorized to oversee posts to this site but they cannot review ever post on a 'real time' basis. The site software includes a feature that allows members to report inappropriate posts. This flags such posts for attention by our moderators. For concerns about other content, you can e-mail the web site administrators. We rely on users to be professionals who govern themselves. In the event that an unauthorized person gains access to the website, or a member posts inappropriate content, we depend upon other members to submit a report of any post, content, personal message (PM), or site-related e-mail that they feel needs to be brought to the attention of the moderators and site administrators.
It is possible for individuals to legitimately disagree as to whether particular content is appropriate or is in violation of the rules established above. In cases where a moderator or site administrator finds that reported content is questionable but not blatantly in violation of the rules, the moderator or administrator will evaluate the total circumstances surrounding the post. Issues that will be considered will include the apparent intent of the posting member (to the extent that it can be determined from the post), the nature of the questionable content, and the number and nature of reports or comments received from other members. If this is not sufficient to clearly determine whether or not the content is acceptable, the moderator or administrator will make reasonable attempts to contact the posting member to discuss the content in question. Once a moderator has made a determination, only the senior site administrator may review that decision. The decision of the senior site administrator is final.
Waiver of Potential Rights and Claims Related to European Union Directive 95/46/EC
This website is maintained in the United States of America for use by individuals residing within the USA; it is not intended for use by individuals located within or under the jurisdiction of the European Union or any member nation thereof. This website, which does collect personally identifiable information about registered users, is operated by personnel who are not professional information technology specialists. We make reasonable efforts to protect the privacy of our users but we do not guarantee full compliance with the European Union's General Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC). Applicants for site registration and registered users of the site acknowledge and voluntarily accept this stipulation. If you do not agree to waive all potential rights and claims that you might have due to any failure of this website to comply with the requirements of EU Directive 95/46/EC, do not apply for user registration on this website. User registration is strictly voluntary and is not required for access to the public portions of this website.