Tiffany
08-05-2007, 03:21 PM
Important Community Guidelines Updates
After a lot of input from the staff and regular AllDoulas members, I have made several updates to our Community Guidelines. I must urge our entire membership to read this post and take note of our updated guidelines.
Yes, this place does have a lot of rules, but the majority of you end up making the rules for me. Most people enjoy how tightly-knit we are, which is an effort to create some sort of safety (despite being on the internet), and a supportive environment where you aren't scared to post. Remember, the Community Guidelines (CGs) are always in a link on the left side (navigation bar) to refer back to at any time, if you are unsure a post is appropriate or not.
Some of the new changes to point out:
Re-write of the AllDoulas.com Mission Statement
Mission Statement
AllDoulas.com – The Doula Megasite strives to be a high-quality information and support website for women who provide pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum support. It is a business resource and support community for women with a similar passion. AllDoulas encompasses everyone from aspiring and experienced doulas to doula trainers, and is focused on bridging the gaps between doula training and certifying organizations. Since we are always the one giving the support as a doula, AllDoulas provides a networking venue to get support from each other, and is about connecting rather than competing.
The addition of this line:
Those who do not agree with the following guidelines should NOT complete a membership registration or take part in our website.
The addition of this section:
Our Right to Refuse Service
AllDoulas.com is a privately owned website and reserves the right to refuse membership registration and participation to anyone at any time for any reason.
Some changes have been made to this section:
Client Confidentiality and Medical/Legal Advice
Always keep your clients’ confidentiality in mind when posting in our community. Keep details limited and change names unless you have specific permission from your client. Confidentiality is a responsibility of a Doula, even on the internet.
This community is NOT for giving or seeking medical or legal advice. Only those whose scope involves it MAY give appropriate advice and for information or educational purposes ONLY. AllDoulas.com is NOT responsible for problems caused by taking medical or legal advice that may be received here, nor do we endorse any advice. Never replace the advice of your caregiver with information received here.
VERY IMPORTANT The addition of this section:
PLEASE NOTE any existing posts that may be considered defamatory by the rule below WILL be removed, even if they have 100 replies and views. If you come across a post that fits the below guideline, please click the post report icon (looks like a yield sign) so our staff can take care of it. We simple cannot go through thousands of posts looking for this stuff, so we need your help. Also, post authors may not be notified if their post is removed:
Negative and Defamatory Posts About Other Doulas
Since AllDoulas.com is about doulas supporting other doulas, talking negatively and defamatory of other doulas (even if you aren't naming them) is completely out of the scope of our website and is no longer allowed. AllDoulas is not a place to sort out personal disputes, even through our PM or email features. If you need advice on what to do about another doula in your area that you are having an issue with, please contact their certifying organization, or consult a legal expert. AllDoulas staff will remove parts of posts or entire posts if they contain negative, slanderous, or defamatory remarks about other doulas, identified or not.
Totally revamped marketplace rules:
Marketplace (Classifieds) Rules
The Marketplace is a free classifieds service to registered members of AllDoulas. When you use the AllDoulas Marketplace, you agree to the following terms and will abide by these rules:
You understand that AllDoulas does not endorse any ad posted, and does not take responsibility for the transactions that are initiated through our site or their outcomes.
Ad postings must contain items or products directly related to the category they are posted in. Staff may move ads to appropriate categories if they are incorrectly posted.
You may only post a Marketplace ad for your online store or link to EBay (or other) auctions in the Business Directory category. A small fee applies to listings in this category which can be made via PayPal.
Inappropriate ads will be immediately removed by AllDoulas Staff and the poster may not be notified. You may receive a Warning or an Infraction for posting an inappropriate ad. This is at the discretion of the Staff. Repeated inappropriate ads or spam will not be tolerated and may result in the loss of your AllDoulas account.
After you purchase or sell something through the Marketplace, we ask that you leave feedback for the other user in the Marketplace's profiles system. Feedback comments are moderated by Staff and normal posting rules apply (meaning you may describe a bad transaction but without vulgarity or an attacking demeanor). Our Staff reserves the right to remove or censor any feedback.
Make sure you know who you are buying from or selling to and remember that you are using the Marketplace at your own risk.New Groups Rules section:
AllDoulas Groups Rules
Groups is a section of our site that houses member-created focused discussion groups of other AllDoulas members. You must abide by the following guidelines to use our Groups feature.
All registered members have the ability to join existing Groups, but only AllDoulas Club members can create and lead Groups. Groups are not as heavily moderated as our forums but please note that the above Community Guidelines do apply for this area of the site. It is the responsibility of the Group leader to police their group, maintain it and keep it active, and only seek AllDoulas staff assistance when necessary. Groups that have not had at least one post in 30 days will be considered inactive and will be deleted from the AllDoulas Groups section.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please click on one of the "Leave a Message" support icons located in staff members signatures, or on the left sidebar of the site. Do not directly PM any staff member. Thank you.
After a lot of input from the staff and regular AllDoulas members, I have made several updates to our Community Guidelines. I must urge our entire membership to read this post and take note of our updated guidelines.
Yes, this place does have a lot of rules, but the majority of you end up making the rules for me. Most people enjoy how tightly-knit we are, which is an effort to create some sort of safety (despite being on the internet), and a supportive environment where you aren't scared to post. Remember, the Community Guidelines (CGs) are always in a link on the left side (navigation bar) to refer back to at any time, if you are unsure a post is appropriate or not.
Some of the new changes to point out:
Re-write of the AllDoulas.com Mission Statement
Mission Statement
AllDoulas.com – The Doula Megasite strives to be a high-quality information and support website for women who provide pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum support. It is a business resource and support community for women with a similar passion. AllDoulas encompasses everyone from aspiring and experienced doulas to doula trainers, and is focused on bridging the gaps between doula training and certifying organizations. Since we are always the one giving the support as a doula, AllDoulas provides a networking venue to get support from each other, and is about connecting rather than competing.
The addition of this line:
Those who do not agree with the following guidelines should NOT complete a membership registration or take part in our website.
The addition of this section:
Our Right to Refuse Service
AllDoulas.com is a privately owned website and reserves the right to refuse membership registration and participation to anyone at any time for any reason.
Some changes have been made to this section:
Client Confidentiality and Medical/Legal Advice
Always keep your clients’ confidentiality in mind when posting in our community. Keep details limited and change names unless you have specific permission from your client. Confidentiality is a responsibility of a Doula, even on the internet.
This community is NOT for giving or seeking medical or legal advice. Only those whose scope involves it MAY give appropriate advice and for information or educational purposes ONLY. AllDoulas.com is NOT responsible for problems caused by taking medical or legal advice that may be received here, nor do we endorse any advice. Never replace the advice of your caregiver with information received here.
VERY IMPORTANT The addition of this section:
PLEASE NOTE any existing posts that may be considered defamatory by the rule below WILL be removed, even if they have 100 replies and views. If you come across a post that fits the below guideline, please click the post report icon (looks like a yield sign) so our staff can take care of it. We simple cannot go through thousands of posts looking for this stuff, so we need your help. Also, post authors may not be notified if their post is removed:
Negative and Defamatory Posts About Other Doulas
Since AllDoulas.com is about doulas supporting other doulas, talking negatively and defamatory of other doulas (even if you aren't naming them) is completely out of the scope of our website and is no longer allowed. AllDoulas is not a place to sort out personal disputes, even through our PM or email features. If you need advice on what to do about another doula in your area that you are having an issue with, please contact their certifying organization, or consult a legal expert. AllDoulas staff will remove parts of posts or entire posts if they contain negative, slanderous, or defamatory remarks about other doulas, identified or not.
Totally revamped marketplace rules:
Marketplace (Classifieds) Rules
The Marketplace is a free classifieds service to registered members of AllDoulas. When you use the AllDoulas Marketplace, you agree to the following terms and will abide by these rules:
You understand that AllDoulas does not endorse any ad posted, and does not take responsibility for the transactions that are initiated through our site or their outcomes.
Ad postings must contain items or products directly related to the category they are posted in. Staff may move ads to appropriate categories if they are incorrectly posted.
You may only post a Marketplace ad for your online store or link to EBay (or other) auctions in the Business Directory category. A small fee applies to listings in this category which can be made via PayPal.
Inappropriate ads will be immediately removed by AllDoulas Staff and the poster may not be notified. You may receive a Warning or an Infraction for posting an inappropriate ad. This is at the discretion of the Staff. Repeated inappropriate ads or spam will not be tolerated and may result in the loss of your AllDoulas account.
After you purchase or sell something through the Marketplace, we ask that you leave feedback for the other user in the Marketplace's profiles system. Feedback comments are moderated by Staff and normal posting rules apply (meaning you may describe a bad transaction but without vulgarity or an attacking demeanor). Our Staff reserves the right to remove or censor any feedback.
Make sure you know who you are buying from or selling to and remember that you are using the Marketplace at your own risk.New Groups Rules section:
AllDoulas Groups Rules
Groups is a section of our site that houses member-created focused discussion groups of other AllDoulas members. You must abide by the following guidelines to use our Groups feature.
All registered members have the ability to join existing Groups, but only AllDoulas Club members can create and lead Groups. Groups are not as heavily moderated as our forums but please note that the above Community Guidelines do apply for this area of the site. It is the responsibility of the Group leader to police their group, maintain it and keep it active, and only seek AllDoulas staff assistance when necessary. Groups that have not had at least one post in 30 days will be considered inactive and will be deleted from the AllDoulas Groups section.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please click on one of the "Leave a Message" support icons located in staff members signatures, or on the left sidebar of the site. Do not directly PM any staff member. Thank you.
