Community Rules

Introduction

Our values (see our About page) govern our community approach. We have established rules to keep our community clean, useful, professional, and enjoyable. Essentially, we all agree to be nice, courteous, and constructive members of the Navion community and we agree to promote and maintain a collegial and constructive environment. We could also summarize our rules with the Golden Rule, "Treat others the same way you want them to treat you."

We think that most of our members will reach this point and say, "Sounds reasonable; 'nuf said." So we can move on. Additional details are provided for the curious reader and for completeness.

To enter or remain in our community, one must agree with the rules and must agree to be governed by the rules. All new member registrations require this agreement. Of course, this agreement is for the lifetime of someone's membership. Members who no longer agree with our rules or refuse to be governed by these rules cannot remain in the community. We are not an exclusive club but we are serious about common sense rules that enhance the community of Navion professionals.

Our staff and moderators agree to uphold the community rules as they place information on this Web site. Members can also post information to the Web site, primarily through posts or replies in our forums. All posts and replies are subject to review and approval by our moderators, who act as referees to ensure that members "play fair" and follow the community rules. Moderators will also help members wherever possible and will encourage lively discussion.

Some bad words are automatically censored by our software. If you see an indication of something that was censored, it was most likely edited automatically by our system. Our moderators will not normally edit a member's material without permission. The words and thoughts of posts are those of our members. A moderator may ask a member (normally through a private message within our system or an e-mail) to confirm something, clarify something, or change wording to assure conformity to our rules or any structure that we have recommended.

We are not responsible for messages posted. We cannot confirm the accuracy, applicability, or completeness of messages (your mileage may vary) and are not responsible for the contents of posts / replies. For products or services listed (including classified ads), a contact must be listed and all questions concerning those products or services shall be directed to the named contact.

Views expressed are those of the posting member / author and are not necessarily shared by the moderator(s), members, or Association.

Rules: More Detail

1.		Remain Factual & Objective
		(a) remain factual and objective; where possible, replace speculation with documents and reference material
		(b) by using this service, you agree to not knowingly post false or inaccurate information; if in doubt, hold the post until you've made the effort to check it out or state clearly that something is not proven / known
		(c) avoid heresay; let's all be students and keep learning, not from second-hand or unreliable information but from facts and, as much as possible, first-hand experiences
		(d) when possible, follow the academic practice of citing reliable sources; this accomplishes two good things: (1) gives credit where credit is due and (2) potentially ties to material that is more authoritative / accurate than our own thoughts and opinions. Caveat: we recognize and value the experiences and knowledge of our members and we do not want to discourage the sharing of information obtained through personal experience and knowledge.

2.		Show Respect for Others
		(a) show respect for other individuals and organizations; we are not anti-anyone (not opposed to any individual or organization) ... we are pro-Navion
		(b) dissenting opinions or differences of opinion, disagreements, and opposing viewpoints are all welcomed as long as discussions remain civil and respectful.
		(c) no personal attacks, hateful language, defamation, libel, or slander. Disagreement is acceptable; subjective negative statements about others (persons or organizations) is not acceptable.
		(d) if material is reported (by members or guests to our Web site) to be offensive, we would ask that the poster reconsider and our Administrator or moderators may remove material that is reported to be offensive (we will normally offer the poster an opportunity to edit or change the material so that it is not offensive)

3.		Stay On-Topic and Relevant
		(a) No spam or excessive off-topic material; all material on this site should be related to aviation and the Navion aircraft
		(b) Several of our forums are more oriented toward threads of dialogue and discussion around a central topic whereas others are more oriented toward structured single posts for a particular topic or purpose. Our moderators may move your post to a more suitable forum or may send the post back to you if it needs to be modified (for instance, to fit within a desired template or structure)
		(c) Posts must fit within the purpose and scope of defined forums. Each forum has (1) a title or name, (2) a purpose statement visible in the Main Index, and (3) an About document that describes in further detail how to use the forum.
		(d) you may contact the primary moderator for the forum (the primary moderator for a multiple-moderator forum is the person shown as author of the About document for the forum) with any questions prior to posting.

4.		Handle Privacy, Rights, and Reasonable Expectations Properly
		(a) Respect the privacy of others. You may, of course, post private information about yourself (such as e-mail address or telephone number, for example). We ask that members avoid posting private information about other individuals unless the post is done with the permission of the individual.
		(b) Posting public information (such as company name, address, Web site, phone number) is generally fine; as a courtesy, we suggest that you inform the company or organization if you are posting information about them.
		(c) No plagiarism. If you use a source, cite it and give credit where credit is due. Do not violate copyright protection and do not operate outside of legal protections / permissions.

5.		Language
		(a) No profane, obscene, or foul language
		(b) No adult material (content or images) and no links to adult material
		(c) No sexually oriented or sexually explicit language
		(d) No threatening, harrassing, or abusive language

Identifying Violations

All of our forums are moderated; that is, a moderator manages each forum. The moderator is something like a referee in sports. A moderator won't change any play that fits within the rules but will strive to ensure that the rules are adhered to and that the game remains fair. The moderator will blow the whistle when a violation occurs.

The primary moderator is the primary owner of a forum and, for multiple-moderator forums, is the moderator who appears as the author of the forum's About document.

While we work hard to review all posts and material on our boards, we may miss something. Members who believe a rule has been broken or who find any material offensive should contact the forum's primary moderator to let us know what they find offensive. We will carefully evaluate all issues that are presented by our members and take appropriate action that is consistent with our values and rules.

Enforcement

For minor issues or border-line issues, we may delete the post and recommend that a member change wording or present something differently. We normally return to the member a copy of the text that was in the post. If the member works with our moderator and agrees to edit the post, of course, we will not consider such issues to be a violation of our rules. If the member re-posts appropriately modified material (which conforms to our rules), our moderator will allow the post to remain. If the member attempts to re-post the same (or similar) offensive material, the moderator will delete the material and inform the member that this has resulted in a first violation of the community rules.

Within any given membership year, upon a first violation of the community rules, we will provide a formal first warning and will recommend corrective action. We will send a formal warning to the member making it clear that this is a "first warning" relative to our community rules.

Second-time violators will be notified that they have violated our community rules and will be banned from posting in our forums for a period of one month. We will send a formal warning to the member making it clear that this is a "second warning" relative to our community rules.

Third-time violators will be notified of their status and will be banned from membership for a period of six months. We will send a formal warning to the member making it clear that this is a "third warning" relative to our community rules.

Flagrant Offenses. In sports, there is often a greater penalty for flagrant fouls. We will not normally bypass our first, second, and third warnings; however, in the event of a flagrant offense, we reserve the right to proceed immediately to any level of enforcement up to and including banning a member for any period of time.

Any member may, at any time, request that their account be closed. In this event, we will refund the correct pro-rated subscription fee to members who ask that their account be closed.

Issue Escalation and Resolution

Level 1 Resolution. Most matters will be resolved by a forum's primary moderator. In exceptional cases, issues may be escalated for further review.

Level 2 Resolution. If a member has a disagreement with a forum's primary moderator, the member may request that the matter be heard by all moderators for the forum (the primary moderator as well as the alternate moderators). This team will discuss the issue, hear the member's point of view, hear the primary moderator's point of view, and resolve the matter in an agreed-upon manner.

Level 3 Resolution. If a matter is not resolved through Level 2 resolution, it may proceed to Level 3. At this level:

the member and primary moderator present their views on the matter to the Administrator alternate moderators may present their perspectives the Administrator will make a judgement based upon our values, rules, the member's perspective, and the moderator perspective(s) the Administrator's ruling shall be final and may include

Change Process

Any member may recommend a change to our community rules. To recommended a change, please contact a moderator or use the Contact Us link to notify us.

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