FORUM POLICIES: Perhaps boring, but necessary. They were written by my mom, Luise Volta, because this is her Forum but I will publish them for her here. I monitor technical questions and she oversees her site as the Global Moderator. Content is monitored by five Board Moderators who manage the various categories.
WISE WOMEN UNITE, hereafter referred to as WWU or the Forum, exists for thoughtful, respectful discussion. Please check the bad attitude at the door. It is reviewed and moderated throughout the day to insure compliance with Forum policies. Moderators have the right to edit or remove any postings at any time. The determination of what is construed as unkind, indecent, vulgar, spam, etc. is up to the Moderators not the members. Anyone not complying will be permanently deleted from the Forum.
YOUR SAFETY: WWU is a non-professional Website. None of our Moderators have professional training. We are not qualified to operate as a crisis forum and will immediately delete any and all posts that attempt to bring up the subject of contemplated suicide or that contain any other references to acute illnesses that may require contacting 911 or emergency treatment. Again, we are not professionally or legally prepared to respond to such posts or to make any recommendations.
NAMES AND CONFIDENTIALITY: Please do not use specific names in your posts, real or fictitious, for reasons of privacy and legality. We often use abbreviations for the people we interact with in our lives. For instance: DH is dear husband. To become familiar with the other commonly used abbreviations used on WWU, scroll down the home page to Helpful Resources. To insure confidentiality, please refrain from copying and pasting emails or other communications to your posts. And because of copyright laws, anything from another website, story or outside source must also be paraphrased or you may place a link to it. Copying and pasting from WWU to other Websites will bring immediate termination.
INAPPROPRIATE LANGUAGE: WWU is a family oriented community where several generations interact. The use of language deemed inappropriate by the Moderators is not permitted and will be classified as "flaming." This includes, but is not limited to, any language content that is sexually oriented, suggestive, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, profane, hateful, threatening, illegal or that contains racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable material. Please note that this also includes the posting of taunts on our Forum solely for the purpose of deriding topics under discussion and/or members. Simply put, you must be respectful and considerate to other members when posting your messages. Our Forum uses a profanity filter. Attempting to circumvent the filter by using cleverly placed letters/symbols or misspelling/abbreviating the word will have consequences. In short, if we can figure out the word, it's a violation.
MUTUAL RESPECT: "Shouting" is prohibited and defined as using capital letters, bold type, and non-letter characters (i.e. #&%^) in sentences to create an excessively forceful comment that doesn't reflect respect for another person's viewpoint. Mutual respect also requires that we honor the fact that we gather here from across the world and come from many races and cultures. Politics are not discussed here under any circumstances. Many different religions are also reflected in our membership, as well as those who have chosen not to follow a religious path. Therefore, references to religious beliefs will be deleted. Please do not choose User Names that reflect your position in these personal areas of your lives. There are other Websites available for political and religious discussions.
BAITING: This is an attempt to elicit an inappropriate or heated response from another member. These posts present content that is specifically intended to irritate or humiliate someone else. Such posts lead to arguments, arguments lead to community disruptions, disruptions lead to unhappy members, and unhappy members mean the Forum is failing in its core goal of mutual support and understanding. Simply put, members are to act and post respectfully. There may be situations where you feel a member is being abusive or hostile to you or has addressed a particular topic of discussion inappropriately. This does not give you permission to respond in a similarly inappropriate way. If you stand up for yourself in a calm, respectful manner, you'll find yourself quickly earning kudos from the membership and Moderators. The Moderators are given sole discretion in determining whether a comment is baiting and will respond accordingly. They will also remove posts they deem inappropriate for this site for any reason.
ADVERTISEMENTS, LINKS TO PRODUCTS, ETC.: There may one day be Ads by Google on this Forum to help defray expenses. However, this is meant to be a Forum of ideas. A member may answer another member's question about occupations or business, but blatant advertising or solicitation is allowed only in the "Commercial Stuff" category. Members may not distribute unsolicited advertisements via posts, links, or signature. Please respectfully refrain from promoting political, religious, or spiritual beliefs, as well.
TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP: When members join our Forum, they agree to abide by this Agreement. Registering implies that they have read it and agree to abide by it. If you no longer want to post, just stop posting. There is no need to state that you are leaving or to have your account deleted. Then in the event that you want to return, you aren't banned from the site. Deleting a membership permanently disables it and the user cannot return. A site lock on a subject means members will no longer be able to make further comments. We wish these extreme measures were not needed, but they remain an unfortunate last resort. Obviously we don't want to have to do any of the above, so please just follow the rules. OK?
OUR VISION STATEMENT: Let's unite from the heart. Let's share and care, support and understand, enlighten and listen. Let's acknowledge and expand. If we do, the sky's the limit.
