Online Community Rules & Etiquette

To ensure the best possible experience for all community members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation.

By using our community, you agree that you have read and will follow the guidelines. You also agree to reserve community discussions for topics best suited to the medium. This is a fantastic way to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation.

If you have any questions, please contact support@cite.org or membership@cite.org.


Rules and Etiquette

  • Always treat others with respect and civility, even if you disagree. The discussions on the communities are meant to stimulate conversation, not to create contention. Never use derogatory comments, ridicule, excessive sarcasm, or innuendo. If you disagree, do so with civility, and let others have their say, just as you have yours.
  • All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials or
    language are prohibited.
  • Your Message is Visible: Use caution when discussing items. Information posted on the communities is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel and slander laws.
    • Do not post anything in a community message that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.
    • Please note carefully all items listed in the disclaimer and legal rules below, particularly regarding the copyright ownership of information posted to the communities.
    • Remember that CITE and other e-mail list participants have the right to reproduce postings to these communities.
    • Vendor members do have access to the CITE_EDU community and can see all messages. Vendor members are not allowed on the other communities.
  • Keep it Commercial-Free: Do not post commercial messages on any community. Contact people directly with product and service information if you believe it would help them.
    • Do not distribute any spam, solicitation, jokes, chain letters, petitions for signatures or letters relating to pyramid schemes, missing persons, or once-in-a-lifetime deals.
    • Do not use the community to invite the entire community to join your social network (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.). You may invite individuals to join your network but may not invite the entire community.
    • Vendors are prohibited from posting messages without written permission from the Executive Director or CITE Board President.
    • When posting learning opportunity events, consider the following prior to posting:
      • Has the host vendor(s) signed the CA-NDPA available through site?
      • If not, has your organization completed a waiver with the vendor(s)?
      • Are their other privacy or other concerns with the vendor(s)?
  • Keep it Focused: State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
    • Only send a message to the entire community when it contains information that benefits everyone.
    • Send your message only to the most appropriate communities. Do not send the same message to several communities.
    • Include only the relevant portions of the original message in your reply. Delete any header information and put your response before the original posting.
  • Private Messaging & Chat: Please respectfully consider colleagues when sending private and chat messages.
    • Harassment of others through private messaging or chat will not be tolerated. If a community member harasses other community members, they risk having their membership revoked and account deactivated.
    • Please contact support@cite.org if a member violates private messaging or chat regulations
  • Do not forward messages from CITE's Online Communities to other message boards or groups.
  • Include a signature tag on all messages. Include your name, affiliation, location, and e-mail address.
  • Do not send administrative messages, such as "remove me from the list", through the community. If you need assistance, contact staff directly or email support@cite.org.