USMS Community Rules

Steve Hall — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 12:49:33 GMT

Current Revision posted to Frequently Asked Questions by Steve Hall on 3/26/2021 12:49:33 PM

Welcome to the USMS Community

This community of adult swimmers is designed to provide a productive and safe environment for all USMS members to discuss swimming and related topics. Whether you’re using swimming simply as a form of exercise, attempting to set a national record, or training to swim long distance in open water, this community is a place to exchange ideas and thoughts, comment on the sport you love, and connect with other Masters swimmers.

You’ll find a range of swimming experience, topics, and opinions here. To ensure that discussions here remain productive and safe, we require that you show respect for others. Therefore:

No Offensive Posts, Links, or Images 

Do not post anything you wouldn’t want to be seen by your boss, your parents, your kids or anyone else whose opinion you respect.

Do not post hate speech, express or promote intolerance, or use any slurs based on race, ethnicity, nationality, gender or gender-identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, or disability.
Do not use profanity or circumvent the obscenity filter by using special characters.
Do not post violent or graphic content.
Do not post sexually explicit material. Images including full or partial nudity are forbidden in the Community. This includes your avatar. Swimming-related images of people in swimsuits are permitted.

Determination of what constitutes an offensive post is solely at the discretion of U.S. Masters Swimming and the Community administrators. Posted content may be altered or removed by administrators and users may be suspended or banned without explanation.

Respect Others

Personal attacks are not allowed under any circumstances. Do not post any messages that harass, insult, belittle, or threaten anyone. Debates are fine, but argue the point, not the person.
Do not post topics with the sole purpose of starting a dispute (AKA trolling). Do not respond to another’s post for the purpose of trolling them.
Note that just because a person disagrees with your opinion doesn’t necessarily mean they’re trolling you. Keep it civil, even if you're sure the other person is wrong.

Protect Others

Do not disclose any other member's email, address, phone number, IP address, or other personal information (AKA doxxing). This includes the posting of contents of emails, private messages, warnings, infractions, and bans. Do not bring personal disputes into the Community.  
Do not post content that libels another member, public figure, or any person living or dead.
Do not claim to be, either explicitly or by implication, someone you’re not, such as a public figure or another USMS member. This includes all posts, images, and avatars.
If you're not a moderator, don't correct or try to manage other posters. If you have a problem with a post, use the "Report This Post” link and we’ll take it from there.
Do not post copyrighted articles or images. Assume that anything you find online is copyrighted. You may post a synopsis in your own words and then link to the article or image. You may also, using quotation marks, provide brief quotes of copyrighted material along with your own commentary. Do not post entire articles.

Post with Integrity

Do not make off-topic posts. Keep your posts relevant to the discussion at hand and inside the proper thread. Off-topic posts may be moved or deleted at the moderators’ discretion.
Do not double post or cross-post the same message in multiple forums. This includes "bump threads" and posts intended to increase one's post count.
Do not mass-PM or mass-email the same message to multiple members of the Community.
To avoid duplication, before posting a new topic, make an attempt to search the Community for posts similar to yours. Duplicate or similar threads are subject to being merged, closed, or deleted at the discretion of Community administrators and moderators.

This is a swimming community. As such, threads posted to here should be related to swimming. There is one area where nonswimming-related discussions may be held. All the same Community rules apply to the NSR forum. Some topics, such as politics and religion, can be easily become divisive. We recommend finding other communities for these discussions. If any topic becomes divisive or is no longer a productive discussion, it will be removed from the Community.

No Unsolicited Advertising

Do not post to sell, buy, or trade products or services; links to auctions or affiliates; or links to promote personal or commercial websites, blogs, or other forums. If you have a website or business, you may include a text link to your site in your signature ONLY.
On-topic promotional posts are permitted in the Event Announcement & Reviews Forum and in the Coaches Seeking Positions/Coaching Positions Available forums.
Replying to requests for information about certain products or services in existing threads is acceptable. If someone asks about a product, it’s fine to reply with information about the product or a link to the product’s website.

Do not advertising for goods or services via private message within the USMS Community.
If you wish to advertise with U.S. Masters Swimming, please contact our corporate partners liaison at partners@usmastersswimming.org.

Requirements for Posting 

We require a valid email address for all active users of the Community. If at any time your email address bounces mail back to us, we may suspend or terminate your account. Please keep your email address current. All active users must also be USMS members. If your USMS membership lapses, you won’t be able to access your Community account.

USMS reserves the right to remove any posts or suspend or remove accounts at any time for any reason. If it appears that you're trying to manipulate the system, your posts and/or account will be removed. If an administrator feels that your pattern of posts is a detriment to the U.S. Masters Swimming mission and our Community discussion forums, your posts and/or account will be removed.

Rules

Steve Hall — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 12:48:43 GMT

Revision 1 posted to Frequently Asked Questions by Steve Hall on 3/26/2021 12:48:43 PM