Forums Rules & Etiquette

Thank you for being a part of our online community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic participation rules and guidelines.

By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best suited to the subject matter. This is a great medium with which to solicit the opinions and knowledge of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation. Questions about the community can be directed to the Brooks Institute via the Contact Us link on this site.

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important rules and etiquette guidelines. If you have questions, please contact us. In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate participation in this community for anyone who violates these rules and guidelines.

The Rules

1. Respect others; do not disrespectfully challenge or attack them. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer users and members; there’s no such thing as a stupid question. 
   
   
2. Respect the purpose of the community and do not send off-topic messages to it. Use the community to share successes, challenges, and goals, to solicit constructive feedback, and to ask questions. If you’ve found a product or service helpful, feel free to share your experience with the group in a respectful way (but see Rule 3).
   
   
3. Use caution when discussing products. Information posted in discussion communities and document libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws. Commercial messages, including but not limited to, advertising and promotion of products and services is prohibited. Subject to the cautionary note above as well as other rules and guidelines herein, these prohibitions do not preclude you from describing or referencing your personal experiences with products or services when germane to a community discussion.
   
   
4. Messages offering or soliciting any kind of business relationship (including employment), or contributions, memberships, or subscription services is prohibited.
   
   
5. Unless germane to the community discussion, and subject to other rules and guidelines herein, posting press releases and commercial materials generated by entities is prohibited.
   
   
6. Messages that are, in whole or in part, defamatory, libelous, abusive, profane, threatening, inflammatory, harassing, obscene, offensive, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, or otherwise injurious to third parties are strictly prohibited.
   
   
7. Messages that would constitute or encourage a criminal offense, create any liability, or violate any local, state, or national law or regulation are prohibited.
   
   
8. Messages that discuss any opinion or information that might be construed as a boycott, an illegal restriction of free trade, or any other antitrust violation are prohibited.
   
   
9. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you. Participants in community discussions may be held individually liable for any communications they post in the community.
   
   
10. Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.
    
    
11. When posting items in our collaborative environment, please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. It’s also advisable to contact the owner of any material if you would like to reuse it.
    
    
12. Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate forum. This helps ensure all messages receive the best responses by eliminating “noise.”
    
    
13. Users who violate these rules, as may be amended from time to time, are subject to removal from the community at the sole discretion of the Brooks Institute.

Discussion Group Etiquette

• 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
  
  
• Send messages such as “thanks for the information” or “me, too” to individuals, not to the entire list. Do this by using the “Reply to Sender” link in community messages.
  
  
• Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the community,” to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a community. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the community and rejoin under your new email address. Simply change your settings.

Privacy Policy

Any personal information you provide to us including and similar to your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address will not be released, sold, or rented to any entities or individuals outside of our organization, except as may be accessed by the service provider for our forum technology.

We are not responsible for the content of external internet sites. You are advised to read the privacy policy of external sites before disclosing any personal information.

While we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us and you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information. In addition other Internet sites or services that may be accessible through our site have separate data and privacy practices independent of us, and therefore we disclaim any responsibility or liability for their policies or actions. Please contact those vendors and others directly if you have any questions about their privacy policies. For any other information please contact us using the Contact Us page.

Views Expressed Disclaimer

The Brooks Institute is advancing animal welfare (inclusive of dignity, well-being, protection and other rights of consideration) through the collaboration of many, diverse, interdisciplinary, and intersectional subject matter experts. Other than a passion for advancing non-human animal welfare and a willingness to collaborate with mutual respect and congeniality, it is not expected for our collaborators to share the same or common world views, philosophies, theologies, or ethics. While all our studies are conducted through gold standard methodologies, they very well may have majority, minority, and even conflicting views in the search for better and best intelligence. Therefore, individual views and opinions expressed by the Brooks Institute, its employees, Scholars, Fellows, Advisors, and other collaborators must be viewed as being independent of one another and not as a reflection on another.

Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Statement

The Brooks Institute is committed in policy, principle, and practice to maintaining an environment which prohibits discriminatory behavior and provides equal opportunity for all persons. The Brooks Institute is committed to providing a welcoming and respectful work and collaborative environment in which all individuals may benefit from each other’s experiences and foster mutual respect and appreciation of divergent views.

The Brooks Institute’s inclusive culture extends to valuing the diversity of thought, backgrounds, experiences, and culture. We recognize the power of harnessing collective similarities and differences that help equip our organization and its collaborators to deliver on the Brooks Institute mission in a manner that is both sensitive and culturally competent.

The Brooks Institute prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, mental or physical disability, political belief or affiliation, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination under state or federal law.
Furthermore, Brooks Institute policy includes prohibitions of harassment of employees and its collaborators (scholars, fellows, advisors, delegates, participants, invitees, etc.), i.e. racial harassment, sexual harassment, and retaliation for filing complaints of discrimination.

The Legal Stuff

Brooks Institute discussion communities are provided as a service for the select collaborators of the Brooks Institute. The Brooks Institute is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. The Brooks Institute disclaims any and all warranties, including implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, with regard to opinions and information posted on this site, whether posted by the Brooks Institute or any third party. In no event shall the Brooks Institute be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any opinion or information posted in a community.

Users must comply with all state and federal copyright, trademark, and patent laws and regulations. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants the Brooks Institute and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material. If you see posted information or material in which you claim a copyright that you believe is being infringed, please provide the required notification under Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(e) to the Brooks Institute’s Designated Agent: Timothy Midura, 1755 S. Naperville Rd., Suite 101, Wheaton, Illinois 60189-5844, TMidura@theBrooksInstitute.org.

The Brooks Institute does not actively moderate discussion communities nor does it undertake editorial control of postings. The Brooks Institute may, but does not assume any obligation to, monitor discussions taking place through the discussion communities. However, the discussion communities are self-regulated by users and users may “flag” posts which are believed to violate the discussion community rules and guidelines. If a post has been “flagged” it is automatically removed from the discussion. The poster will be automatically notified of the “flag” and, at the discretion of the poster, be given an opportunity to address the post with the Brooks Institute discussion community administrator. If the poster believes the “flag” was unwarranted, the Brooks Institute discussion community administrator will review it and determine whether the “flagged” post violates the discussion community rules and guidelines. If the “flagged” post does not violate the rules and guidelines, it will be reposted. If the “flagged” post violates the rules and guidelines it will not be reposted. In addition, given the severity of the violation or whether the violation is part of a pattern of violations, the poster may be prohibited from further use of discussion communities. Removing a member from further access to discussion communities, either permanently or temporarily, is in the sole discretion of the Brooks Institute.

The Brooks Institute reserves the right to terminate access for any user who does not abide by these rules and guidelines.

From time to time, the Brooks Institute discussion communities may include attachments from users, third parties, or hyperlinks to other websites or materials. Because the Brooks Institute has no control over this non-Brooks Institute content, you acknowledge and agree that the Brooks Institute is not responsible for its availability and that the Brooks Institute does not endorse or warrant the accuracy of any non-Brooks Institute content. You further acknowledge and agree that the Brooks Institute shall in no way be liable or responsible for such non-Brooks Institute content, including any advertising, products or materials on or available from it. You further acknowledge and agree that the Brooks Institute shall not be responsible or liable in any way for any damages you incur or allege to have incurred, either directly or indirectly, as a result of your use or reliance upon any non-Brooks Institute content, including any advertising, products or materials on or available from such content.