Views expressed by participants on the Kucinich forum do not necessarily reflect the views of the Kucinich Campaign.
Welcome!
The following policies are enforced to protect the work of this forum and to assist in making the communications here as valuable as possible for the greatest number of people. We appreciate your taking the time to read through them and your assistance in complying with the policies to the greatest extent possible.
The best on-line communities are "self-policing" and focused on the common good of the community. We welcome your contributions, support and suggestions.
The following General Policies are subject to change as experience and community demands require.
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NOTE: Individuals who appear to be signing up simply to promote questionable websites or businesses will be blocked from posting to the site and their posts deleted.
All users must log in at least once every 60 days to maintain an active account. Inactive accounts are routinely deleted.
Each user is allowed only ONE (1) username/email registration on this forum. You may NOT register under different identities at the same email address.
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Mission Statement: We come together on this forum to support the work of Congressman Dennis Kucinich and the issues he supports.
This forum is set up to help us support each other, share ideas and strategies that work, and maintain networks so we may all continue promoting progressive issues and agendas.
We request that all users of this forum read and understand the following Forum Policies in order to make the forum serve the purposes of the greatest number of users.
This is not an “Open General Discussion Forum,” like the Democratic Underground or the DailyKos blog, although our General Discussion board does welcome general chat.
Messages must be on-topic to the forum in which they are posted. If users are unable to find information when they need it, then the forums are less useful.
I. The purpose of this forum is to:
a) Maintain a library of information relevant to certain issues, as well as Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s position on them, to be accessible for writers and others who would like to have information organized in one place;
b) Provide an opportunity to discuss the pros and cons about various issues policies so we can communicate information to others knowledgeably;
c) Assist supporters and progressive organizers to stay in contact;
d) Stay current on what Congressman Dennis Kucinich is doing now; and
e) Share what you are doing to promote progressive issues, share successes, and teach each other good organizing skills and strategies.
II. Participation
a) We welcome participants of all political persuasions. Participation, however, is a privilege, not a right. Moderators may limit or exclude the participation of individuals who violate the terms of the policies stated here.
b) Visitors are welcome to peruse the forum, but only registered members may publish comments. Registration requires providing a minimum of a username, password, and a working email address. This information is not shared with anyone or any organization.
c) Remember that the general public, including members of the press, can view public information in your profile as well as all posted messages. If you are a Kucinich supporter, please double-check that your message will reflect favorably on Congressman Kucinich before posting. Nothing you post will be privileged or confidential.
d) Discussions on the forum may be intense, but must remain civil and on point. All messages posted on this forum should be respectful to the other forum participants, even if you don't agree with their viewpoint or thoughts. Flaming, insults, name-calling, and foul language or images are not acceptable. Posters who engage in this behavior will be blocked from further posting.
Any message (including links) that, within our judgment, is harassing, defaming, offensive, abusive, or indecent will not be allowed, and will result in the post being edited or deleted by our moderators without warning.
If appropriate, we will retain copies of these types of posts for legal and liability purposes. Continuing such behavior will result in banning from this forum.
e) Abusive or harassing messages posted on the forum, sent via Private Messaging (PM) or email to any of our forum participants, will result in immediate and permanent expulsion from the forum.
f) This forum discourages the use of obviously hostile, obscene, offensive or defamatory usernames. Registered users with such names will be banned on discovery by an Administrator or Moderator. The user may rejoin with another, appropriate username.
III. Posting Specifics
a) Use of copyrighted material from other sources. Please do not post entire copyrighted articles. If you wish to reference an article, provide excerpts from the most important sections. A link back to the original source is always required.
Generally, excerpts should not exceed three or four paragraphs. Longer articles may justify the use of more excerpts so long as they are highlighting key points.
We will have to edit or delete posts that include the full text of articles not posted with the publication's permission.
For those interested, reasons for this policy can be found by reviewing the information at these sites:
• 10 Big Myths about copyright explained. An attempt to answer common myths about copyright seen on the net and cover issues related to copyright and USENET/Internet publication.
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html
• Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom, on the Internet, and the World Wide Web
http://med.fsu.edu/library/pdf/CopyrightGuidelines.pdf
• Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials
http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/intellectualProperty/copypol2.htm
• NYT vs. FreeRepublic Case
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E7D6153DF936A25752C1A...
b) Where to post. Select the most appropriate category and forum in which to post your message. Try to make sure someone else has not already started a discussion on the same subject before you post. Make sure that your subject line is clear and will help others understand what your topic is about, without having to open and read it.
If you are posting excerpts from an article, please make sure you use the original article's title for your subject line. That helps keep down the number of people posting the same thing.
c) Watch for forum-specific announcements and stickies. If special rules apply to a particular forum, they will be posted in an announcement or sticky at the top of that forum. You are responsible for looking for, reading, and abiding by those notices.
d) Don't start new topics on existing discussions. If someone has already started a discussion or topic on a particular subject or article, please post your information in a reply instead of starting a new topic.
e) Keep discussions on topic. Don't hijack a topic. Keep to the subject matter of the original post.
f) Crossposting. Posting the same message across multiple forums (crossposting) as a complete duplicate is prohibited and will result in duplicate messages being deleted without notice.
g) Subject lines. Subject lines should clearly state what the subject matter is. Use subject lines that are meaningful to the information in your message, so that users know if your message has information they are seeking. If posting articles, use the article title for your subject line, so other forum participants can see that it has already been posted. Administrators and Moderators have the right to edit message subject lines without notice to the author.
h) Punctuation and format. To help make your message easier for members to read and respond to, use standard punctuation. Do not post in ALL CAPS.
More specific information about the features on this forum and how to use them can be found here: http://forum.kucinich.us/index.php?action=help
i) Graphics. When uploading images, make sure to preview your message before submitting, to make sure the image fits the page and displays as you expect.
j) Adding links. To put a live link in your message, copy the URL from your browser's address bar and paste it into the message.
k) Advertising. This forum does not permit the posting of business advertisements. Informing other participants of organizations that provide good tools or information related to the purpose of this forum and its members is allowed.
l Fundraising for Candidates. We do not post information on fundraisers on this forum because of election law complications.
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