Welcome!
Before you get started please read through the policies and guidelines for our online community. Then, press the "I accept" button at the bottom of the page to proceed to the CoSN Network.
Thank you for being part of CoSN's online community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation.
We understand that the world is becoming more interconnected. We have created an online community as a private members’ only social network. This community is a great tool to get advice from your peers, learn from their experiences, and participate in ongoing conversations. By participating in CoSN's online community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines.
If you have questions about these guidelines or how to use the online community, please contact our Membership Department at membership@cosn.org.
In order to preserve a climate that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, CoSN reserves the right to discipline online community users, delete posts or terminate accounts for members who violate these rules.
The Rules
- Keep it clean, keep it friendly. Every post should make a positive contribution. The community is open to all points of view on the intended topics. Mature, polite debate is encouraged.
- Don't attack others. The discussions and comments on this online community are meant to stimulate conversation, not to create contention. Let others have their say, just as you may.
- Don't post commercial messages. Contact people directly with product and service information if you believe it would help them.
- Online community messages should not contain promotional material, special offers, job offers, product announcements, or solicitation for services. CoSN reserves the right to remove such messages and potentially ban sources of those solicitations.
- Information posted on any platform is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
- Send your message only to the most appropriate platforms.
- 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.
- Please note carefully all items listed in the disclaimer and legal rules below, particularly regarding the copyright ownership of information posted to the online community.
- Remember that CoSN and other participants have the right to reproduce postings.
Some General Tips to Help You Maintain Good Etiquette When Reproducing Content.
- Be courteous. Please ask participants for permission to republish their words elsewhere (especially if elsewhere would be a publicly viewable setting).
- When citing CoSN discussions, please include a link back to the original discussion or to CoSN's homepage.
- Use the right channels for complaints and inquiries. CoSN online communities are not the appropriate platforms to resolve personal issues or start disputes against any member or organization. Posts of this nature will be removed. Correspondence with CoSN staff liaisons should be handled via private email and not the discussion forum.
Community Etiquette
- Transparency is very important in gaining trust in online relationships, therefore be clear who you are and who you work for when posting on any platform. This means including your real name along with disclosing your employer and using a profile picture of your likeness and not your company’s logo.
- To learn more about how to use these tools please contact our Membership Department at membership@cosn.org.
- 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.
- Only send a message to the entire list when it contains information that everyone can benefit from.
- 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 to the left of every message.
- Do not send administrative messages, such as remove me from the list. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing e-mail addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new e-mail address. Simply change your settings.
Community Violation Policy
CoSN reserves the right to take immediate action on any post that we feel violates the rules of conduct outlined above. That action includes but is not limited to, issuing warnings, removing content and terminating accounts and/or subscriptions.
CoSN reserves the right to remove any content we deem inappropriate for use in the community, and/or to revoke any member's access to the community at any time and for any reason. However, because situations and interpretations vary, we also reserve the right to take no action. These terms and code of conduct may be modified at any time, and your continued use of the community signifies your assent to such modified terms.
If you are a victim of, or a witness to inappropriate content in any of the CoSN online communities’ discussion threads, resource libraries, or member profiles, please notify CoSN immediately by emailing our Membership Department at membership@cosn.org.
Policy for Member Community Violations
The CoSN online community rules and etiquette should not be seen as all-inclusive, but are there to give our members a general idea of the guidelines one should follow when participating in the online community. In order to preserve a climate that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, CoSN reserves the right to suspend, remove content, or terminate participation on all lists for members who violate these rules.
Taking action against one of our members, particularly in regard to removing an account, is something we would like to avoid, but realistically may have to happen in order to protect the quality of service we strive to provide to our members. This restriction is not intended to limit in any way the professional networking and educational advantages of our online community.
When unsure whether content is consistent with these policies, please err on the side of caution and do not post the content in CoSN’s online community. If there are any questions on what content is appropriate to post please contact membership@cosn.org.
The community rules and etiquette may be revised from time to time and it’s the member’s responsibility to stay abreast of any changes.
Possible disciplinary actions for Terms of Agreement/Rules and Etiquette violations
An email or private message will be sent to the member that explains the violation that occurred. The member’s online community account may be put into moderation. Members may be placed in a 30-day moderation queue, where messages from his/her account are reviewed by the community manager before they are posted online.
CoSN reserves the right to edit or delete a post. However, CoSN generally will not edit or delete posts for members, unless there has been a severe violation of the Rules and Etiquette (as mentioned).
To clarify or edit a message posted, we recommend the original poster reply to the existing message. At CoSN’s discretion, older messages that may cause confusion or contain outdated information may be archived or delete.
Appeal process
A member may not appeal his/her warning. A member may appeal his/her removal from a CoSN online community by contacting our membership department (membership@cosn.org) in writing; final decisions will be will be reviewed and decided upon by a panel of peers.
Appeals should include the following pieces of information:
- First name
- Last name
- Email address
- Phone number
- Full disclosure of any previous violations
- Why you feel the community removal should be overturned, include any relevant or supporting evidence.
- For any further questions or comments please contact our Membership Department at membership@cosn.org
The Legal Stuff
This online community is a service of CoSN. CoSN 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 CoSN or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall CoSN 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.
Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials. 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 CoSN and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.
Content 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. CoSN 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 CoSN, we will take all appropriate action.
CoSN does reserve the right to delete a community that is no longer active and all participants may be placed in a more active and vibrant community without prior notice based on the criteria below:
- No discussions since creation or within the last six months.
- If there have been no discussions and the library entry is at least six months old, then the library may be archived and the community will be deleted.
- If there has been low activity or minimal discussion (i.e., no feedback is received from members of the community).
- The discussions would be more beneficial to another community.
CoSN reserves the right to block any users who do not abide by these guidelines.
CoSN's privacy policy is located here: (http://cosn.org/privacy-policy)