ECI Connects Community Code of Conduct & Rules

Thank you for being part of the ECI Connects Online Community (“ECI Connects,” “Connects,” or the “Community”). The Community is intended to serve as a forum for ECI constituents (“members”  “member community”) to engage in discussions and to seek and receive feedback and resources from other professionals around the ethics and compliance profession.

ECI encourages you to share your experiences and expertise, ask thoughtful questions, provide constructive feedback, seek career guidance, and provide perspective in all matters related to ethics and compliance profession. To ensure the best possible experience for all ECI members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation that are based on ECI's Core Values. 

 
By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best suited to the medium. This is a great medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation. Questions should be directed to our member services department via the Contact Us link on this site.

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. If you have questions, contact the member services department. In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violate these rules.

The Rules

• Respect others. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer guests and members; there’s no such thing as a stupid question.

• Respect the purpose of the community. Use the community to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals instead of products or services that you provide. If you have found a product or service helpful, please share your experience with the group in a respectful way.

• Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.

• Help us maintain a "promotion-free" zone. Let idea-sharing be informational rather than promotional in nature. While link-outs to business websites, product offerings, or personal blogs are acceptable on an individual’s own personal member profile pages, please do not include them in posts or discussion signatures. Share about upcoming events or programs in a conversational way, within a context that adds value to ongoing discussion. 
  
  • Please do not solicit academic research subjects, conduct market research, or otherwise survey respondents via the community. Members can reach out to research@ethics.org if they wish to request a Pulse Survey to the ECI member community.
  • Members may be able to see your profile information and send you private messages. Private messages should not include solicitations, calls for participants in studies, or advertising for personal gain. Keep in mind that the rules that apply to public posts to ECI Connects also apply to private messages.

• Keep it "member to member." ECI Connects is a peer-to-peer forum. Please do not use community discussion as a venue for providing or gathering feedback directed toward ECI. We encourage you to provide your comments to ECI staff via membership@ethics.org.

• All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.

• ECI Connects will follow the Chatham House Rule. "When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed."

• When posting items in our collaborative environment, please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. It’s also advisable to contact the owner of any material if you would like to reuse it.

• Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."

All messages must add to the body of knowledge and the membership community. ECI reserves the right to reject any post for any reason. For any offense listed above, ECI implements a documented three-strike rule process outlined below:

Strike 1: ECI sends a written warning the user who violates the code of conduct and ECI may delete the applicable message(s).

Strike 2: ECI sends a written warning to the user who violates the code of conduct and ECI may delete the applicable message(s). In addition, ECI will place the user’s ECI Connects Community account into moderation for 30 days.

Strike 3: ECI sends a written warning to the user who violates the code of conduct and ECI may delete the applicable message(s). In addition, ECI will place the user’s ECI Connects Community account into moderation for one year.

Severe Offenses
 
Severe abuses such as harassment, discriminatory language, libel, or posts that upload malicious files will immediately be removed without warning and may be reviewed by ECI’s legal department. The contributor will lose access to the community and will be notified by the Community Administrator and, if proven necessary, Legal.

Discussion Group Etiquette

• State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.

• Include a basic signature tag on all messages, including your name, affiliation, and location, except in the case of anonymous posting (see Anonymous Posting Etiquette section).

• Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals, not to the entire list. Do this by using the "Reply to Sender" link in every message.

• Include only the relevant portions of the original message in your reply. Delete any header information and put your response before the original posting.

• Warn other list subscribers of lengthy messages either in the subject line or at the beginning of the message body with a line that says, "Long Message."

• Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list,” to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new email address. Simply change your settings.

Anonymous Posting Etiquette

• Some, but not all, communities have an anonymous posting feature. Anonymous posting should only be used in the instance where proprietary, sensitive, or otherwise delicate information is being shared that requires a members' name not to be attached to the message.

• Anonymous posting should never be used to attack, defame, harass, or abuse other members. All anonymous posts will be subject to full moderation by the Community Administrator before being posted.

• The anonymous posting feature provides an extra layer of anonymity, so your name will not be associated with the post. However, no electronic communication is completely untraceable. In the event that an inappropriate post occurs, the Community Administrator can access this information.

• Anonymous posting is a privilege, and if it is taking advantage of, ECI has the right to remove it.

The Legal Stuff

This site is provided as a service for the members and other constituents of the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association (dba Ethics & Compliance Association) (ECA) and Ethics Resource Center Inc. (dba Ethics Research Center) (ERC). The Ethics Research Center and Ethics & Compliance Association together are part of a strategic alliance, which are collectively branded as Ethics & Compliance Initiative (ECI), which is not a legal entity. ECI is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by ECI or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall ECI be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site. Member or ECI staff responses in threads, discussions, or blogs on ECI Connects should not be construed as legal advice.

Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials.  Do not post or transmit anything that contains or distributes malicious code, viruses, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of the Community or ECI or another’s data, network or systems. Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants ECI and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.


Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.

ECI does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of ECI we will take all appropriate action.

ECI reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.

Privacy Policy

Any personal information you provide to us including and similar to your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address will not be released, sold, or rented to any entities or individuals outside of our organization except as noted below.

With Whom Do We Share the Personal Information We Collect Through This Site:

Our Service Providers

We may share your personal information with companies (including our affiliates) that perform services on our behalf, for example, companies that help process credit card payments. Our service providers are required by contract to protect the confidentiality of the personal information we share with them and to use it only to provide specific services on our behalf.

Business Transfers

Your personal information may be transferred to another entity (either an affiliated entity or an unrelated third party) in connection with a merger, reorganization, dissolution or similar corporate event. If such a transfer were ever to occur, the acquiring entity’s use of your personal information will still be subject to this Privacy Policy.

Government and Legal Disclosures

We may disclose the personal information we collect through this Site, when we, in good faith, believe disclosure is appropriate to comply with the law (or a court order or subpoena); to prevent or investigate a possible crime, such as fraud or identity theft; to enforce our Terms and Conditions or other agreements that govern your use of this Site; or to protect the rights, property or safety of our company, our users, or others.

External Sites

We are not responsible for the content of external internet sites. You are advised to read the privacy policy of external sites before disclosing any personal information.

Cookies

A "cookie" is a small data text file that is placed in your browser and allows us to recognize you each time you visit this site (personalization, etc). Cookies themselves do not contain any personal information, and we do not use cookies to collect personal information. Cookies may also be used by 3rd party content providers such as news-feeds.

Remember The Risks Whenever You Use The Internet

While we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us and you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information. In addition other Internet sites or services that may be accessible through our site have separate data and privacy practices independent of us, and therefore we disclaim any responsibility or liability for their policies or actions. Please contact those vendors and others directly if you have any questions about their privacy policies.  For any other information please contact us using the Contact Us page.