UCS CODE OF CONDUCT
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Welcome to United Communities of Spirit (UCS). Our members represent a wide range of religious and spiritual orientations, traditions and life experiences - all are welcome.
While participating in UCS Forum discussions, you may notice that many of our members have beliefs that vary significantly from your own. In the spirit of Interfaith dialogue this can be an exercise that will show up time and again as we learn to approach these encounters in a spirit of interest and genuine inquisitiveness, in order that we may extend the rights of others to follow freely their own religious or spiritual beliefs. It is with a genuine belief that Interfaith dialogue can take place among all faith groups and spiritual orientations in an Interfaith Forum Model that we strive to provide the UCS Forum as a service to our United Communities of Spirit Interfaith partners.
UCS is committed to protecting and maintaining a high level of safety for our members when they are speaking publicly about beliefs and spiritual understandings and experiences. Freedom of expression is assured by maintaining safety standards on the Forum, in order to make UCS inviting for all members. The UCS Forum is intended to provide a place of sharing and caring rather than a place for explicitly proselytizing one's religion. Though in some religions proselytizing is a matter of course, in an Interfaith Dialogue Model such proselytizing is considered inappropriate behavior and can cause stress and hardship to the group/s and individual/s who practice their own faith. Censorship may therefore be exercised within the limits of the Rules of Conduct on the Forum. We will take action against any behavior that disrupts conversations, the safety standards of UCS, of members, the community and United Communities of Spirit in whole or in part. United Communities of Spirit has the right, but not the obligation, to remove or move any member-generated content for any reason, without notice. These Rules of Conduct reflect the standards of behavior our members find acceptable. By registering a member account with United Communities of Spirit, you agree to the following:
Rules of Conduct
1. Courtesy and Respect: You agree that you will be courteous to every UCS member, even those whose beliefs you think are false or misguided. When debating, express your opinion about a person's ideas, not about them personally. You agree not to make negative personal remarks about other UCS members, including negative remarks about their age, disability, gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, intelligence, character, appearance, health, mental health, education or any other personal characteristic. You agree not to create posts and discussions intended to criticize or ridicule other members personally. You agree not to engage in derogatory name-calling, including calling anyone evil, a liar, Satanic, demonic, antichrist, a Nazi, or other inflammatory comparisons.
2. Hate Speech: Even if religiously motivated, you agree not to engage in hate speech on UCS. You agree not to allege that groups or individuals deserve violence, or attempt to dehumanize or degrade them on the basis of age, disability, gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation. More information about hate speech Statements sent to the forum or to UCS management or members that reflect a threatening nature will not be tolerated. Any use of UCS to send threatening statements is just cause for immediate termination of account. Statements made in a threatening nature will not be debated. It is within the right of UCS management to make final decision as to the nature of any statements made on the forum or in private communication.
3. Violence: You agree not to advocate illegal violence against or harassment of groups or individuals, even if religiously motivated.
4. Proselytizing: You agree not to make aggressive, repeated, or unwanted attempts to convert another member's religious beliefs. Please respect the rights of others to follow their own religious beliefs, even if you think those beliefs are false.
5. Disruptive behavior: You agree not to disrupt or interfere with discussions, forums, or other community functions. Disruptive behavior may include creating a disproportionate number of posts or discussions; creating off-topic posts; making statements that are deliberately inflammatory; manipulating topic lists to disrupt conversation; posting in a language other than English without providing an accurate English translation; expanding a disagreement from one discussion to another; or any behavior that interferes with conversations or inhibits the ability of others to use and enjoy this website for its intended purposes.
6. Local guidelines: You agree to observe the rules and guidelines posted for specific message boards. Controversial and provocative comments are invited in specific message boards; to express criticism of a belief, please do so only in the message board that has been set-aside for that purpose. Please respect these boundaries.
7. Solicitation: You agree not to use the UCS forum to advertise or solicit on behalf of commercial, religious, charitable or other organizations or causes. Exceptions: (1) members may recommend officially registered charities in appropriate posts on the Global Network Community boards; (2) if you are an author you may announce your own books in your profile and in no more than one post. To advertise on UCS, click here.
8. Spam: You agree not to repeat substantially the same text in more than one location on UCS.
9. URLS: You may share the URL of a web resource other members may find useful, but you agree not to post URLs repeatedly or for the purpose of promoting a website or service (see "Solicitation" above). You agree not to post a hyperlink to or URL of a site that violates these Rules of Conduct. You will not reproduce chain letters, pyramid schemes, mail fraud schemes, or any other unauthorized advertising.
10. Copying posts: You agree not to post or forward transcripts of e-mail or other personal communication without the author's express permission. You agree not to reproduce material from UCS (including member posts) without express written permission from UCS. You agree not to copy or link to UCS member posts with less than friendly intent. You agree not to expand disagreements from one board to another. 11. Privacy: You will not collect or use information about users of the Site without their express permission. You agree not to reveal personal information about someone else. UCS will remove any post containing a personal telephone number, real name, address, or any information that might reveal someone's geographical location without their permission. You will not send e-mail to UCS members that would violate these Rules of Conduct. Cautionary Note: Because UCS message boards are public, we advise members against revealing any personal information about themselves. If you choose to display your e-mail address to other members, please be aware that UCS has no control over who uses your e-mail address or for what purpose. If you believe you are the target of a cyber-stalker, please refer to http://www.wiredpatrol.org/stalking for more information.
12. Vulgarity: You agree not to display words, information, or images that are vulgar, obscene, graphically violent, graphically sexual, harm minors in any way, exploit images of children, or are otherwise objectionable. You agree not to post URLs of sites where such words, images or information is displayed. Permission for exceptions to this rule must be obtained from UCS management.
13. Images, Text and HTML: You agree to refrain from using visually disruptive or excessively large font sizes and/or images. We suggest that images be no larger than 300 pixels in width or height, and that you not use font sizes larger than 18 points (size 5). You agree to use HTML and styles only for text effects (such as bold and italics), to post images, or to create normal hyperlinks. You agree not to upload to UCS or link to any other code, tags, scripts, audio, animations, file or program. You will not upload, post, link to, e-mail or otherwise transmit any harmful component to UCS, or deface any portion of the site.
14. Minors: You agree that you will not invite a minor on UCS to contact you for any reason.
15. Surveys: Researchers who wish to post a survey or ask for information from UCS members must obtain UCS's permission before doing so. To obtain permission, send a description of your project, along with full name and contact information for your school and supervising professor, to admin@origin.org
16. Copyright: United Community of Spirit Forum discussions are primarily intended for interactive conversation. You agree not to create posts that consist substantially of material copied from another source. You agree to respect intellectual property rights when posting on UCS. You agree not to post copyrighted or trademarked images on UCS. You agree not to post articles or other text from another publication (copyright or not) except as follows: you may quote a small sample of it, credit the source, post a hyperlink to the author's original, and include your own comments in your own words. You may quote sacred texts in the context of discussing them, but include your own comments in your own words. Permission for exceptions to this rule must be obtained from UCS management. You agree that you will not modify, adapt, sublicense, translate, sell, lease, reverse engineer, decompile, frame, mirror or disassemble any portion of this Site, or offer to do so.
17. Illegal activities: You will not solicit or promote the use of an illegal substance, promote illegal activity, or discuss illegal activities with the intent to commit them.
18. Impersonation: You agree not to impersonate or spoof UCS members, employees, management, hosts or volunteers. You agree to create and use no more than one UCS username, without explicit approval from UCS management. You agree not to use the name of a revered religious figure or well-known public figure as your UCS username. You agree not to express or imply that any content or materials you make, submit or post are endorsed by UCS or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.
19. Contact information: You agree to provide a valid e-mail address in your UCS registration. You may choose to conceal your e-mail address from other members, and you may manage your mail preferences. However UCS management must be able to contact you by e-mail if necessary to discuss your account. If the e-mail address in your profile is not valid, your posting privileges may be suspended; should this happen to you, please e-mail us for assistance. UCS management will keep your e-mail address confidential. Please refer to UCS's privacy policy for more information. To update your e-mail address, click "My Email" at the top of any logged-in page or UCS message.
20. Complaints: If there are problems on UCS, we want to know about them so that we can attempt to fix them. You agree to report community-related complaints and problems appropriately: to report a violation of these Rules of Conduct, or to complain about another member or the action, click here to e-mail your complaint to UCS staff, who will review your complaint and take appropriate action. You agree not to post problem reports and complaints publicly on the site, or to comment publicly on host or staff actions. You agree you will not harass management of UCS or UCS staff. You will not engage in behavior that requires UCS staff and/or volunteer to expend excessive time and/or resources.
In addition:
* These Rules of Conduct apply to anything you upload to or create on UCS, including posts, screen names, member profiles, discussion titles, or any other text or images.
* We have the right to suspend or terminate your membership for violation of the above rules.
* We have the right to reprint from UCS discussions any post or portion of a post (along with the username of the UCS member who posted it) somewhere else on the site or in any other medium (such as in a UCS book, in a UCS television commercial, etc.).
* We neither endorse nor are responsible for any opinion, advice, information or statement made or displayed in these forums by third parties, nor are we responsible for any errors or omissions in such postings, or for hyperlinks embedded in messages. Under no circumstances will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information obtained in these forums. The opinions expressed in these forums are solely the opinions of the participants, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of United Communities of Spirit.
Please check these guidelines periodically as they may be revised for the protection of our valued members.
If you come across any violations to this covenant, do not hesitate to let us know at admin@origin.org. We'll be happy to address your concerns.
