SparkPeople Community Guidelines
Standards & Guidelines
-- By Jen Mueller, SparkPeople Community Leader
SparkPeople Sponsors help keep the site free!
We are all here to work towards achieving our goals and helping others to do the same. In order to create a supportive and positive environment, there are some guidelines we observe when posting on the Message Boards. By making posts, you are agreeing to abide by the following standards:
- Respect everyone’s opinions. Even though you might not agree with someone, that doesn’t mean they are wrong or deserve to be belittled. Remember that what works for you may not work for everyone else. Give everyone the same courtesy you would expect in return.
- No profanity or explicit content.
- No profile pictures that might be considered "inappropriate".
- No posts that could be interpreted as threatening or harassment.
- No advertising or product promotion is permitted. Any posts created with commercial intent will be removed.
- No links that solicit for donations, contest votes, advertise a product, or promote a direct competitor's website are allowed in Message Board posts or on SparkPages.
- No “posting for points”- meaning you cannot post messages multiple times (whether it is the same message or not) with the goal to get as many points as possible.
- SparkPeople has the right to remove a post if it does not meet these standards.
- You have the right to edit any of your posts.
- If you have started a thread (such as a journal) that you want to close, please post a message indicating "THREAD CLOSED". We do not typically delete threads on request.
- Understand that posts made by members do not necessarily reflect the views of SparkPeople and should not be taken as medical advice.
- Posts submitted to the SparkPeople Message Boards are not considered confidential. These posts may be used by SparkPeople for any purpose without requiring permission from the originator.
- Message Boards on the SparkPeople website will contain information that can be posted and viewed by anyone on the Internet. Please keep this in mind when sharing personal information on the site.
- The Message Boards are a place to get advice and support from your fellow members. Our experts are not qualified to deal with serious issues like depression, suicide or other harmful situations. If you are involved in a situation like this, we recommend you contact a professional in your area , a trusted friend or family member, or call 911 (when the danger is immediate).
- All SparkPeople diet advice has been approved by a Registered Dietician because it is considered to be a serious health issue. Because of this, please be careful about what you recommend to others, as it could be dangerous if you go outside of medically-accepted boundaries. We encourage members to help each other using the SparkPeople recommendations.
- When posting news reports or articles, including articles appearing on the SparkPeople.com site, please post only a few sentences for the reader’s information and reference, and include a link to the rest of the content on the original site. Do not post articles, news reports, copyrighted photographs, graphics, images, audio, or other copyrighted material in its entirety unless you have obtained written permission from the relevant copyright owner(s).
- All of these guidelines above also apply to our other Community features, such as blogs, SparkPages, SparkMail messages, article comments, and SparkTeams.
- Be positive and encouraging at every opportunity.
- Do everything you can to make others feel welcome.
- Keep an open mind as others talk about their beliefs, goals and opinions- you might learn something!
- Give everyone the benefit of the doubt that they are trying to help and have good intentions.
- Tough love can be a helpful kick in the pants, but "tough" does not equal "mean".
- Welcome all types of personalities and encourage people to be themselves.
Thank you for your help and cooperation!
