Using the BCN: Guidelines and Policies

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of the Beacon Citizen Network is to facilitate conversation among the people living in the city of Beacon and nearby areas as well as visitors. It exists to provide information on events and news affecting Beacon and its citizens and to promote citizen involvement on every level.

Feature Guidelines:

1. Groups: Groups may be started by any member to connect members with shared interests. Creation of a group is subject to approval by the administrator.
2. Dicsussions: Questions, suggestions, requests for feedback and conversational exchanges of any kind should be created in the Forum. These will not be moderated by the administrator, please participate with that in mind.
   
3. Members: Each user is allowed to create one account. Multiple accounts may result in one or more being deleted.
4. Events: Any individual, business or group may post events. The administrator will select single-day events to be featured on the main page. Ongoing events will be visible in the Events section only. This is to ensure a fresh turnover of listings on the main page each day. Tip: If you have an ongoing exhibit as well as an opening reception, make the reception a stand-alone event and it will be featured on the main page. 
5. News: Originated by any member, news posts should inform and report. They should be truthful to the best of the author's ability and are subject to moderation and/or removal by the administrator. NOTE: The originating member of a news post has administrative control over all the comments on that post. Originators are urged to maintain user guidelines within their posts.
6. Gallery: The image gallery is for members' original photos and artwork. Images that do not fit this criteria may be removed. 
7. Info (also called Notes): This section is for reference information about Beacon, created by the administrator. It includes the BCN Service Listings - a listing of members' professional contact information. Email kelly@beaconcitizen.com to have your information added.
   

General Guidelines

Keep it on-topic. This site is about the city of Beacon. If content posted in the blog or forum is off-topic it may be removed, as well as content that violates other general User Guidelines. Interpretation of the guidelines is the discretion of the administrator.

Keep it respectful.

• Do not post personal, real-life information such as home addresses and home phone numbers, cell numbers, et cetera.
• Do not post copyrighted materials (articles, videos, audio, etc.) that you do not have permission to reproduce or distribute.
• Refrain from inflammatory and defamatory comments as well as flaming, taunting, and general disrespect.
• The BCN may not be used to defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy) of others. Any member engaging in such will be removed.

Advertising and promoting on BCN

• Community and not-for-profit groups are welcome to use the BCN to promote their events and ventures. Please use the guidelines above for each feature.
• Business owners are welcome to be listed on the BCN Service Listings page and to post events in the Events section.
• Blog posts by commercial ventures are limited to announcements that they are open for business. Other news items may be sent to kelly@beaconcitizen.com for consideration.
• At no point may any individual or business use the BCN in connection with contests, pyramid schemes, chain letters, junk email, spamming or any duplicative or unsolicited messages (commercial or otherwise).
• Ad space is available for purchase on a case-by-case basis. If you are interested in utilizing this option, please kelly@beaconcitizen.com

Because of the live nature of the discussions on this community, it is not possible for the administrator, Kelly Kingman, to review and/or confirm the accuracy or validity of a message before it is posted. If you believe that someone has violated the BCN Guidelines or you have spotted content that may otherwise require attention, please send a private message to kelly@beaconcitizen.com with a link to the content and a brief description of what you believe is wrong. Notification is voluntary and anonymous.

The above is in addition to the Ning.com Terms of Service.