Guidelines

Please read the following rules and guidelines very carefully. By proceeding to post, chat or blog you agree to these guidelines and must obey them at all times. Refusal to obey these guidelines will result in the appropriate responsive actions.


GENERAL


OUR POLICIES:

Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy | Advertising Policy| Medical Disclaimer


MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: By viewing the StrokeNet message board you recognize and agree that The Stroke Network, Inc. is not responsible for information or content posted or transmitted in our forums, chat and blogs. Furthermore, the StrokeNet message board does not provide, and is not a substitute for, professional medical evaluation, advice, diagnosis or treatment. You concur that you will not rely on any information obtained from our forums, chat and blogs for diagnosis or treatment.

Consult your doctor or other health-care professional for diagnosis and treatment.

If you have questions or concerns, you may contact The Stroke Network.

  • Advice, opinions, and/or suggestions given by staff and/or members of this website, or in articles posted by our membership, do not reflect the opinion of The Stroke Network.

 

  • For specific medical advice, please consult your own professional, in-person resources.

 

  • Please also remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted.

 

  • We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message.


OUR MESSAGE BOARD:
 

  • Display Name: You will not be allowed to use your e-mail address as your display name on this website.
    • This is done for your protection against spam and other abuses of personal information.
      • If you have already registered using your e-mail address as your display name, please click on the Live Help or Contact links at the top of the screen and submit a request to have a display name change.

 

  • If you post or blog your e-mail address or phone number publicly on this site, it will be removed.

 

  • Avatar size - members can choose avatars from the board gallery. They must contact and obtain approval from the CEO if they want to upload an avatar of their choosing. In no case can member avatars exceed 64 x 64 pixels. Avatars that exceed the size limitations will be resized, accordingly.

 

  • Before you begin using our forums, blogs and chat rooms, please check the Help link.
    • This, in most cases, will solve all your general questions and frequently occurring problems with navigating this website.

 

  • If your problem cannot be resolved using these documentations, then please click on the Contact link and submit a request for assistance.

 

  • Please remember that all our staff members are volunteer workers.
    • Abusive or outstanding behavior reaching or exceeding an unacceptable degree to a staff member will not be tolerated, please remain as calm as possible while we help you through your problem.


AUTHORIZED ADVERTISERS:
 

  • In all cases, the approved advertiser must abide by the Board Guidelines.
    • Failure to do so could result in removal of posts.
    • Advertisers are not allowed to initiate contact of members, as this is considered spam.
    • Spamming members is not acceptable!


OUR FORUMS

  • We have implemented the following guide for using our community forums.
    • This guide is designed to strike a balance between the main goal of our forums, providing support, and keeping the relaxed and welcoming atmosphere of our community which has made our services so popular.

 

  • We require all posts to be positive, constructive, and on topic.

 

  • We may delete individual posts that could ruin a good topic thread.

 

  • We reserve the right to remove any topics we deem inappropriate or disruptive to our community. Please note that, from time to time, topics may be removed for being inappropriate even though your individual post in that topic may have been perfectly fine. Please do not feel this reflects badly on you.

 

  • Having fun is good, we like fun. There are several general forums for non-stroke related topics. Please keep it positive and polite.

 

  • We do not censor opinions or ideas on our forums but we do take action against posts and/or topics that could cause unrest in the community beyond a civil and polite disagreement.

 

  • You may not make personal attacks on other users or staff members either in public forums, blogs or private messages.

 

  • You may not use profanity. It is unprofessional and offensive and will not be tolerated. We have word filters in place for the most vulgar terms. Circumventing those word filters will result in punitive action.

 

  • You may not advertise or promote other companies or their programs which may compete with The Stroke Network, Inc.

 

  • We reserve the right to ban any member who violates our guidelines or disrupts our community. We will be fair and provide a warning in most cases.

 

  • If you have an issue concerning our services, policies or staff, please use a personal contact method such as a private message or e-mail to a staff member. All moderators, administrators, and support staff are highlighted in the active members list. We take serious complaints to heart and will do our best to address them.


Suicide threats are taken seriously and may result in notification of your local authorities! nono.gif



RULES OF CONDUCT

Breaking one or more of these Rules of Conduct can result in disciplinary actions that could consist of one the following: receiving a warning letter asking you to comply with our guidelines, moderation of your posts before they can go through to the message board, temporarily or permanently expelling you from the chat room, disabling your blog, and/or being temporarily or permanently banned from this website.

1) There will be no excessive use of profanity. Please keep foul language to a minimum, any excessive uncalled for language will be removed and you will receive a final warning.

2) There will be no racial, ethnic, gender based insults or any other personal discrimination.

3) There will be no posts meant to offend or hurt any other member, in a manner which is offensive or inflammatory.

4) Spamming is not permitted; please keep all your posts as constructive and on topic as possible. Duplicate posts in more than one forum are also not permitted.

5) Pornography, warez, or any other illegal transactions may NOT be linked in any shape or form.

6) All posts are the responsibility of the poster.

  • The Stroke Network is not responsible for what a member posts.
     
     
  • The Stroke Network has the right to request alteration or deletion of any offensive post.
     
     
  • Posts may be deleted for any reasons the Message Board Administrators deems reasonable.



7) Site users may not argue with the Message Board Administrator's decision publicly. In private, disagreements must be kept civil.

8) Any and all complaints directed at a staff member must first address the person in question via PM.
 

  • If the problem can not be resolved, then the staff member and member must send their positions to the Stroke Support Coordinator.
     
     
  • The Coordinator will make or change any and/or all final decisions.


9) Pictures in the Gallery or on your profile page may be posted as long as they are not offensive or sexually explicit. The maximum photo size for your profile page is set to 300px by 300px or 150 kb.

10) Signatures may not exceed the maximum of 3 lines.
 

  • Links are not allowed in signatures.
     
     
  • Photographs are not allowed in signatures.
     
     
  • If your signature is deemed unacceptable by staff, you will be requested by a moderator to change it. Failure to comply with the moderator's request will result in removal of your signature.



11) Advertising (unless approved) of commercial-related products are forbidden.

12) No soliciting of funds, donations or pledges is allowed for any reason what so ever.

13) The source of all imported material (articles, poetry, etc.) must be properly credited.

14) Remember to post in the correct forum.
 

  • Take your time to look at other topics and see where your topic should go.
     
     
  • If your topic is placed in the wrong forum, it will be moved to the correct forum by an administrator.



15) If a topic is recognized as being posted in the wrong forum, or if the post is a violation of our guidelines then please contact a moderator via PM; please do not respond publicly to the member - a member of staff will do what is required upon contact.
 

  • Any person/s who attempts to present themselves as a Moderator by posting negatively to a member's topic (which has been posted in error and requires locking or moving to another forum) will be sent a PM warning and placed into moderation queue upon further actions.



16) Any impersonation of a user from these forums, in any mode of communication, is strictly prohibited and will result in a banning.

17) Linked and locked topics are pruned regularly to reduce page clutter.
 

  • If you have a question about where your topic went, please PM an Administrator before starting a new topic asking where it went, or posting a duplicate of the original topic.
     
     
  • We will be happy to provide you with a link to the new location, or a reason why it was locked and/or removed.



18) If you are linking to external content, you should link directly to that content.

19) Photos are allowed on the message board only if the photo is needed to make your post make sense. All photos are welcome in our gallery.


Violation of any of these rules will result in consequences determined on a case-by-case basis.


Thank you for choosing The Stroke Network and we hope you enjoy your stay.

The Management Team