FORUM TERMS OF USE

OVERVIEW

The My Child discussion forums are intended to offer parents and parents-to-be the opportunity to find and offer real support and friendship, and to exchange personal experiences. It is therefore our duty to keep this community a safe and welcoming place for all our members.

As part of our commitment to ensure that My Child’s discussion forums are pleasant and secure areas in which our members can chat with confidence, here are some basic forum rules for you to follow. We request you stick to these to ensure that using the discussion forums remains a friendly, fun and supportive environment for everyone.

FORUM RULES

My Child can edit or delete messages at our discretion. This is for your benefit and is designed to ensure that the forums stay friendly, fun and supportive. My Child’s decision is final. If you feel unable to accept this rule, then we politely request that you abstain from posting.

Posting to our forums will be taken as acceptance of these rules. You should ensure that you are aware of your legal responsibilities when using our forums. Please note that contravention of these rules will lead to the removal of your message. Should you come across any messages breaking these rules, please let us know.

CONDITIONS OF USE

1. Stay on topic. Please post only messages that are relevant to the subject of the online forum.
2. Choose a descriptive title for your posts. Try to summarise the topic briefly in the subject and elaborate in the message itself. This will help subsequent visitors to the forum successfully identify your topic. Vague subjects such as “Help!” or “Urgent question!” are often passed over by experienced members as they provide no indication as to what your issue may be. Do not use all caps and do not add false information just to get attention (for example, READ THIS OR YOU WILL REGRET IT). A descriptive subject might be, “When to start solids?"
3. Before posting messages, please familiarise yourself with the forum, and use the forum search feature to locate any prior threads that may have already answered your question.
4. Don’t duplicate threads. Post your comment/question in the most appropriate place. If you are unsure of which forum a thread should go under, state that in your post, and a moderator will move the thread to the correct forum.
5. Do not cross-post the same question to multiple places. Posting a message to more than one forum (ie, “cross-posting”) is unnecessary and creates extra traffic for you and others to read through. If you’ve already posted a question, please don’t repeat your posts in order to get more attention. This makes it very difficult for others to see if and/or where your question was answered.
6. Any posts deemed to be in the wrong forum will be moved.
7. Don’t “bump” post. If you haven’t gotten a response to your question, please do not post a blank, or “bump” message to move it to the top of the listings. These messages only add unnecessary noise to the threads and create extra clutter for those browsing our forum with newsreaders. Wait a few days, and then repost your original message if no-one responded to your first posting.
8. Make sure you have read the parent article/post completely before posting a reply.
9. Use your own words. If you wish to use the words of somebody else, quote them, citing the source. Plagiarism is unethical and is illegal in many countries.
10. Do not inflame or personally insult another member. Please do not use the forum to harass, threaten or attack anyone, or behave in any way that would cause annoyance or distress to other members.
11. We encourage a healthy exchange of opinions, and disagreements are allowed! By all means challenge an opinion – but please do it respectfully. Name calling, swearing, prejudice and slander will not be tolerated. Inappropriate or offensive posts will be removed.
12. Always display a positive, friendly attitude. Be respectful of others’ opinions and allow your fellow members to voice their opinions. Please be tactful when posting where extra sensitivity is required, for example, in the Losing a Child forum.
13. Do not discuss illegal activities in your posts.
14. Please do not type in CAPITAL LETTERS or use excessively large font sizes in your postings. This means that you are shouting and will not be well received. Moderators have the right to appropriately edit the posts.
15. Don’t get too personal. Remember, all messages are public and will be viewed by many others. Posting personal information such as email addresses and/or contact information may result in unwanted contact and/or email, so be selective.
16. Don’t quote previous messages. Only quote when absolutely necessary.
17. Don’t perpetuate off-topic threads. If someone makes an inappropriate or “spam” post, please don’t add more noise by replying to the forum. My Child will delete spam postings from the forums – see our spam policy.
18. Do not behave in any way that disrupts the flow of an ongoing discussion or that spoils the atmosphere within the forum.
19. You may not insult or defame My Child, including any of its employees, moderators or freelancers. You may not post the contents (in part or whole) of any email that you may receive from any My Child employee or moderator without our prior permission. We will always listen if you have any feedback. Please email your comments to the website manager.
20. This is an Australian site. Please make your postings in English so they are understood by other members and our moderators. We apologise but we can’t allow members to post in a language other than English.
21. Do not impersonate another person.
22. Do not collect or distribute personal data concerning other My Child members without first obtaining the consent of My Child and the members concerned.
23. Do not use the forums to make complaints about My Child. If you are unsatisfied about something, please consider other forum members, and email us directly.
24. Do not recruit our members to join another website forum or chat group, whether personal or otherwise. Adding a link to a specific personal website that is completely relevant to both your posting and the forum topic is permitted on infrequent occasions.
25. If you have a suggestion for a new forum, please contact our administration moderator. If you are approached to join another group/site as a result of your My Child membership/posts on our forums, please advise us.
26. We encourage the exchange of information on the forum and adding an appropriate link in your posts is invited. However, obvious promotion of, or inappropriate links to, other known commercial parenting websites, or any forum or chat groups are not permitted and will be removed. If you are unsure whether a link or posting is allowed, please ask by emailing the administration moderator.
27. If someone makes an inappropriate or spam post, please don’t add more noise by replying to the forum. My Child will delete spam postings from the forums.
28. Do not link to any site that contains adult content, sexually oriented material or might otherwise be considered offensive. Any post containing an inappropriate link will be deleted and the member will receive a warning. This also includes sites promoting activities such as drug abuse, gambling and links to sites containing such content.
29. We consider an “appropriate link” as one that is completely relevant to both the posting and the forum topic.
30. We consider a “commercial” site to be one that is funded or supported in any way by a profit-making business.
31. My Child aims to bring the best of our community to a larger audience. We may do this by quoting your discussion board messages in newsletters, throughout My Child, in books, newspaper columns, radio and TV programs. When using your comments, we will identify you only by your My Child member name. We promise to be sensitive in this effort. We will not republish anything that we think could be deemed personally endangering, inflammatory or embarrassing to you without your consent.
32. If you feel a post violates any of these rules, or you need to bring it to the attention of a moderator, please email the appropriate moderator.
33. The use of offensive nicknames and usernames is not permitted. My Child reserves the right to temporarily or permanently suspend your access until an appropriate username has been selected. Members will be notified if usernames are deemed inappropriate.
34. Please do not create multiple accounts on the website. On rare occasions when a second account is needed, please consult us first. If a member is found to have multiple accounts, we shall ask that member to select their main account and the other one(s) will be deactivated. If you feel there is a genuine need to have more than one account, please contact the website manager.
35. We reserve the right to change these rules at any time and the amendments will be updated on the website.
36. Failure to abide by these rules may result in an editing, appropriate moderation or deletion of your post. We reserve the right to ban abusers from the site. We will suspend or ban any member who, in our reasoned opinion, repeatedly disrupts discussion threads, insults other members or who calls the integrity of the website or its administration into question. Open and free discussion is encouraged, but abrasive, rude and insulting posts are not.

FORUM ABUSE POLICY

FIRST OFFENSE A polite private message from a moderator will be emailed, pointing out the forum rules, in addition to the editing or deletion of the post.

SECOND OFFENSE The administration moderator will send a polite private message, pointing out the forum rules, in addition to deleting the post and banning the user from the My Child forum.

Depending on the situation, My Child may bypass any and all of these steps and take whatever action is deemed appropriate.

OUR SPAM POLICY

1. Do not use the My Child community for the purpose of “spam” or excessive advertisements. This includes forum posts, private messages, or emails to other My Child members
2. Commercial messages from businesses or organisations are not permitted. These forums and chat rooms are for use by parents and parents-to-be. They are not to be used as a medium for marketing or selling to our users.
3. Journalists, media researchers and general researchers must not post requests for participants on My Child’s forums. For permission to post your request, please email our administration moderator.
4. Do not use the forums to buy or sell your baby goods.
5. Surveys are not allowed, unless you have been given permission in advance from the My Child website manager.
6. Our moderators reserve the right to edit or delete any posts they consider to be “spam”.
7. If we find that you are spamming our community, you will be warned by a moderator or by the website manager, and it may lead to the deletion of your posts and/or the removal of your My Child account. 

SAFETY GUIDELINES

All members are responsible for the safety of their personal information. We recommend that members do not disclose their name, address, email address, telephone number or other personal information online. My Child employees or forum moderators will never request such details online. 

LEGALITIES

All members are reminded that they may be held legally accountable for what they say or do online. In particular, members may be held liable for any defamatory comments, threats and untrue statements or other illegal and fraudulent claims made by them.

Unfortunately, My Child cannot guarantee the prompt editing or removal of any content. Neither My Child nor its third party contractors are liable for the content of any material accessed via the internet, any adverse treatment of any information placed by a member anywhere on the internet, or any loss or damage that a member may suffer as a result.

We do not endorse opinions expressed by members of My Child on its discussion forums or anywhere on the site where members can add their own content.

My Child reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to remove material from My Child discussion forums and member content areas at any time.

My Child discussion forums and member content areas consist of information posted by third parties. As a result, My Child accepts no liability in respect to the accuracy or truthfulness of any advice, information or data posted online or any responsibility for the consequences of a member acting in reliance on such information.

Please also be aware of our privacy statement on the website.

TO PROTECT OTHER MY CHILD MEMBERS

If members fail to observe the above conditions of use at any time, My Child reserves the right to exclude the member (either temporarily or permanently) from the My Child community (including forums and member areas) depending on the nature and severity of the breach.

We reserve the right to deny access to My Child’s community, including discussion forums, to members who repeatedly breach these conditions of use.

My Child reserves the right to change these conditions of use at any time and will post details of the changes online.

Members accepting the Conditions of Use agree that My Child may release their information (both present and past) where My Child believes that a member has breached the conditions of use or used My Child’s discussion forums to commit unlawful acts. My Child also reserves the right to disclose a member’s personal information where required to do so by law and where My Child deems it appropriate in response to complaints of a substantial nature.

Use of our community services, including discussion forums and member areas, will be taken as acceptance of these rules. Please note that any contravention of these rules will lead to the removal of your message/content.

Should you come across any messages breaking these rules, please let us know.

HAPPY POSTING! 

COPYRIGHT AND LIMITED REPRODUCTION NOTICES

This website and its contents are copyright. All rights reserved. Reproduction of all or any substantial part of the contents in any form is prohibited except that individual users may print or save portions of the site for their own personal use. This license does not permit users to incorporate the material or any substantial part of it in any other work or publication, whether in hard copy or electronic or any other form. In particular (but without limitation) no substantial part of the website may be distributed or copied for any commercial purpose. No substantial part of the website may be reproduced on or transmitted to or stored in any other website or other electronic retrieval system.

DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY

To the extent permissible by law, Poppet Group Pty Ltd assumes no responsibility for information published on this site and disclaims all liability in respect of such information. Poppet Group Pty Ltd is not liable for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a result of any actual or alleged libelous statements, infringements of intellectual property or privacy rights, or product liability, whether resulting from negligence or otherwise, including without limitation, from any use or operation of any ideas, instructions, procedures, products or methods contained in the material published on the site. Poppet Group Pty Ltd does not warrant that the information published on the site is accurate or free from error. Information published within the site is intended solely for the purpose of providing general information. The information is not intended to be nor is it to be treated as a substitute for professional medical advice relative to a specific medical condition or question. Always seek the advice of your doctor for any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. You agree to accept the application of any laws that govern matters between Poppet Group Pty Ltd and yourself.