ACCEPTED RULES OF BEHAVIOR

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The Pro Bono Institute bulletin board has been created to allow Members of the Law Firm Pro Bono Project and Challenge Signatory firms an opportunity to share ideas, pose questions, and learn from each other about the latest trends in pro bono. It is intended to be a peer-to-peer interactive bulletin board.

Participation Policy

By creating an account, logging on to the site to post, and/or using any services on the Pro Bono Institute website, you explicitly agree to be bound by this policy. Violations of this policy can result in termination of use privileges, by username or by IP if necessary.

Please note that all activity on this site is logged and monitored. You are offered no guarantee of privacy.

This policy is subject to change without warning at any time. This policy may be extended by moderators and administrators on the threads as needed on a per-thread basis.

Please note that there may be a delay between the time you post a comment and when that comment appears on the bulletin board.

Bulletin Board Use Guidelines and Restrictions

-This bulletin board is a benefit intended exclusively for Member and Challenge Signatory firms of the Law Firm Pro Bono Project to share ideas, pose questions, and learn from each other about the latest trends in pro bono. This site is not to be used to discuss details of specific cases or to advance personal agendas. Any confidential information regarding the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge(SM) or any other confidential, firm-specific information should not be posted on this site.

-The Pro Bono Institute reserves the right to edit and/or delete all posts.

-This site is not to be used in any way as a mechanism for fundraising or soliciting for membership or support for groups and/or causes.

-There will be no anonymous postings. All users must register and be approved prior to being allowed to post on the site. The site will be closely moderated by staff at the Pro Bono Institute who will have access to personal information of participants and can trace all postings.

-To request new topics and ideas for threads, please send a Private Message (PM) to the moderator with a description of your idea. Please note that the moderator may not be able to honor all requests immediately.

-Courtesy is paramount. We expect spirited debates, but please focus on being a polite member of the community while debating. Attack the idea, not the person presenting it.

- Accept responsibility for your postings, your actions, and their consequences.

- Please do not post the same question across several different threads, i.e. 'cross posting'.

- Please do not attempt to continue threads that have been locked. If a thread is locked, do not post a new thread about the thread being locked.

- Use the "report this post to a moderator" link that appears in all posts to report potential violations or concerns to a moderator. Your complaint will be seen and acted on, although you may not be responded to publicly or privately. Responses take time; please exercise patience.

The Following are Expressly Prohibited

Violations of items in the following section subject the user to immediate termination of all privileges. The owner and moderators reserve the right to determine, at their sole discretion, whether a violation demands immediate termination of the offending user's privileges, or can be effectively dealt with via the issuance of one or more warnings.

- Using the Pro Bono Institute bulletin board services for any unlawful purpose, such as to violate copyright law, or any other law or international treaty of the United States.

- Using the Pro Bono Institute bulletin board services in a manner that would constitute violation or infringement of any person, firm or company's rights (including, but not limited to, confidentiality).

- Attempts to hack, degrade, or disrupt the operation of this site. In addition to termination of privileges, the disruptor's ISP may be contacted, as may be legal authorities.

- Attempting to use the site to transmit data intended to hack, degrade, or disrupt the operation of another participant's computer.

- Registering multiple accounts for the purpose of misleading other participants as to the identity of the sender or the origin of a message. This includes but is not limited to impersonating other users.

- Posting of illegal adult content such as pornographic images or text.

- Posting deliberately disruptive messages such as unauthorized advertisement of products or services, commonly called SPAM. Chain letters, pyramid schemes, and such will be treated as spam and the posted dealt with accordingly.

- Personal threats, harassment, and slander. If threats, harassment, or slander are suspected in postings or Private Messages (PMs) on the site, users are instructed to report such acts to the site owner via PM or the “report this post to a moderator” function. Determinations made by the owner and moderators as to whether reported actions actually comprise actionable items under this section will be final and are not subject to appeal.

- Content which is racist, sexist, hateful, obscene, inflammatory, demoralizing, or in any way purposely harmful to the health of the discourse that is the base purpose of the community. If such content is suspected via postings or Private Messages (PMs) on the site, users are instructed to report it to the site owner via PM or the “report this post to a moderator” function. Determinations made by the owner and moderators as to whether reported content actually comprises a violation of this rule will be final and are not subject to appeal.

- Bullying is defined as a form of online intimidation. While this is done online there are common characteristics very similar to that of a “real world” bully. If bullying is suspected via postings or PMs on the site, users are instructed to report such acts to the site owner via PM or the “report this post to a moderator” function. Determinations made by the owner and moderators as to whether reported actions actually comprise bullying will be final and are not subject to appeal.

- Trolling or acting like a troll, as defined by Wikipedia is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion. If trolling is suspected via postings or PMs on the site, users are instructed to report such acts to the site owner via PM or the “report this post to a moderator” function. Determinations made by the owner and moderators as to whether reported actions actually comprise trolling will be final and are not subject to appeal.

- Harassing the moderators or owner. This includes but is not limited to participants who insist upon filing baseless complaints against other users, who claim harassment or bullying in a manner that is not supported by the evidence, and who continue to attempt to prosecute complaints deemed baseless (possibly by lobbying other members or members at any other site) after such decisions have been rendered. Disputes will occur, and the decisions of the owner and moderators will be final and are not subject to appeal. Once again, it is to be explicitly understood that participation in this bulletin board and community is a privilege granted by the owner of the site.

Violations of this policy

The owner and moderators reserve the right to determine what constitutes a violation of any portion of this policy and to take appropriate action.

Submission Copyright

Any text message, image, or other media/data posted on this forum is copyright of the submitter. The submitter grants the Pro Bono Institute non-exclusive rights to the material for use on the Pro Bono Institute website and other media or services sponsored by the Pro Bono Institute, in any capacity, for an indefinite period of time. The Pro Bono Institute is under no obligation to remove material from the website at the request of the submitter. The Pro Bono Institute reserves the right to remove any material from the website for any reason, and to edit material that is deemed inappropriate, without consent from the submitter.

Limits on the Responsibilities of the site owner and representatives

The owner and moderators cannot guarantee the accuracy, security or quality of any content posted on or transmitted through the site. The Pro Bono Institute does not endorse any views expressed on this bulletin board, unless they are posted by the moderator.

Under no circumstances will the owner or moderators be liable for any loss, harm, error or omission that may result from the use of the site, or for any service failure or interruption, regardless of the cause, or for any termination for cause of the privileges conveyed by membership of the site.

All rules and terms of use expressed herein are by way of example and do not constitute an exhaustive list. The owner hereby reserves the right to expand, modify, or repeal any of these terms of use at any time and in any manner whatsoever at his sole discretion.