To ensure that all community members have a positive experience on this website, you are required to comply with this website's terms of use. 

These guidelines below summarise your obligations under this website's terms of use and provide further guidance on how you should participate in the community section of this website.

We welcome your opinion

Express your opinion and support it with evidence and facts, where possible.  You can express a strong opinion but please do not go over the top.

Be yourself

Use your real and full name when creating a profile and posting comments. Never impersonate another person. If you have a personal connection to a story or topic, you should disclose your connection.

Socialize

Comment on blog posts, start a conversation in the forums, fill out your profile, and invite your colleagues.

Remember this is a public forum 

Once your comment is online, everyone with Internet access may be able to read it. Don't forget that you are legally responsible for what you submit. Please consider how your comment could be received by others. Please make your comment clear to ensure that it is not misunderstood. Many different types of people of different ages may view your comment.

Cite your sources

Attribute quotes and paraphrased comments to their proper sources. Link to other resources where possible.

Stay focused on the topic

Please keep within the bounds of a topic as initiated. Do not sway the discussion towards your own pet topic or set off on a tangent. Be succinct.

Contribute new information to the discussion

Add a unique perspective, a constructive argument, a thoughtful question or new information. Read the comments in a discussion thread before posting your own so you don't repeat what's already been said. If you find factual errors, politely point them out and explain why you believe they are wrong.

Complete your profile

The more detail you add to your profile, the more people will want to engage with you and the more connected you'll be to the network.

No libel or other abuse

You must not make or encourage comments which are:

• inflammatory,
• xenophobic, racist, abusive, harassing or hateful;
• false, defamatory, inaccurate, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy or constitutes personal abuse directed at others; or
• obscene, sexually explicit or pornographic.

Report inappropriate comments

We support maintaining high standards of participation. If you consider that a comment does not comply with these Guidelines or our terms of use, please use the relevant Report Comment facility, located next to the comment in issue. This facility should only be used for serious complaints, not simply because you disagree with something said.

Watch your language

Please be polite. Do not use swear words, profane, crude or sexual language. Don't engage in emotional flame wars.

Declare any conflicts of interest. Don't sell or promote stuff.

If you are expressing an opinion around matter in which you have a financial interest, you should either declare your interest while commenting, or ensure that your profile information clearly states your association with that interest.

Do not engage in this community for the purpose of selling or promoting products or services.

Don't infringe copyright

If you want to upload a copy of an image, text or any other content, make sure you have the right to reproduce them on the Global CCS Institute website. Posting copyright material without permission may be unlawful. If you want to discuss a paper or news story, summarize it in your own words.

Don't post inappropriate links

You can only post links to another website if the content on that other site abides with these Guidelines.

Don't violate someone else's privacy

You can post personal and contact information about yourself if you really want (but do remember this is a public forum), but don't post anyone else's personal details or contact information.

Removing inappropriate content

Reader comments that violate the spirit of these Guidelines or the website terms of use may be removed (or, if moderated in advance, may not be published in the first place). If we do remove something, we will generally remove whole posts, or where necessary, whole threads (not parts). This means that even if only one sentence is objectionable, the whole comment will usually be removed (or not published). Sometimes, a comment may be removed because it is connected to another comment which is being removed.

If your content has been removed, we may email you to let you know or to inform you if you have been suspended or banned from submitting further comments to the site.

If you are aware that content has been removed, you must not deliberately resubmit the same content.