MakingHealthEasier.org Member Guidelines

MakingHealthEasier.org accounts are intended for active community members who hope to make positive health changes in their community. The following Member Guidelines are here to help you understand what it means to be a member of MakingHealthEasier.org. Your use of MakingHealthEasier.org is subject to these guidelines and our Terms of Service.

CDC’s Role: 

• We understand that social media is a 24/7 medium; however, our moderation capabilities are not. We may not see every inappropriate comment right away.

• Posted comments and images do not necessarily represent the views of CDC. External, non-CDC links on this site do not constitute official endorsement on behalf of CDC.

• CDC does not agree with or endorse every comment that individuals post on our pages. Our goal is to share ideas and information with as many individuals as possible, and our policy is to post the majority of comments made to MakingHealthEasier.org, reviewing for objectionable content after the post has been made.

• In most circumstances, we like to give second chances, so we’ll send you a warning if you do not follow the guidelines described below. Subsequent violations may result in account termination without warning.
  
  

What to Do

• Keep it civil: MakingHealthEasier.org members come from diverse areas and backgrounds, but all are unified by their desire to improve health in their communities. To that end, please be kind and respectful when you are interacting with others on the website. See the Terms of Service for more information on acceptable use and conduct on the site.

• Chat with others: Post what you are comfortable sharing, and note that everyone can read what you post. And when we say everyone, we really mean everyone on the Internet.

• Search for topics of interest to you: Use the MakingHealthEasier.org search feature to find previous posts and discussions around your topics of interest. With an increasing number of members and posts, it is very likely that someone has already addressed those topic areas somewhere on the website.

• Tag your content and add descriptions and titles: Blogs, photos, and videos must be tagged with your community name and content type, as appropriate. Adding a description and a title will help others find your content more easily and know exactly what they are looking at.

• Monitor your tone: Tone is one of the hardest things to “understand” online. It sometimes causes miscommunication and hurt feelings. Keep this in mind, and use punctuation, “emoticons,” and graphics conscientiously.
  

• Make yourself unique: Since some members may have similar first names, it might be confusing for others on MakingHealthEasier.org to tell who is posting. If you don’t want to use your entire name, consider adding a last initial. You can also add an image or photo to your personal profile.

• Report guideline violations: Posts on the site are not prescreened. If you find anything that you feel violates our guidelines, send us a private message. We will review all reports promptly and decide whether a violation of the guidelines or Terms of Service has occurred. Although we value our members' opinions, we have final authority on making decisions about what is permissible.

• Remember: Visitors do not have to be members of Ning or MakingHealthEasier.org to read your posts.
  

What Not to Do

• Don’t publish without permission: While it is acceptable to include hyperlinks to articles on other websites, please do not publish in full any documents having outside authorship without written permission from the original source.

• Don’t solicit for products and services:No individuals, communities, or businesses may solicit any product or service external to the site within the forums, communities, or blogs. You may not send other members messages about a product or service unless members specifically request this information. Posts and messages about the following are prohibited: 
  • Products or services you are selling
  • Requests for signatures, money, gifts, or donations either for yourself or an external cause
  • Work-at-home businesses or opportunities
  • Job opportunities or résumés
  • Charities and charitable causes or fundraisers
  • Promotion of your own website/blog or a website or an online support group that you represent
  • Promotion of contest entries

• Don’t post inappropriate comments: We will not tolerate the posting of anything vulgar, hateful, violent, racist, or otherwise obnoxious or illegal. Slurs, stereotyping, hate speech, and other forms of discrimination based on any race, color, religion, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation are not permitted. Personal attacks or harassment of members will not be tolerated. Should we receive a valid complaint about your conduct, we may send you a warning or terminate your account. If a member blocks you, please respect his or her decision.
  
  If you suspect that a member is not legitimate, let us know and we will investigate the matter further.

• Don’t post inappropriate photos or videos: We will not tolerate the posting of photos or videos that depict nudity, violence, gang symbols, profanity, obscenity, or anything of a sexual nature.

• DON’T SHOUT: Writing in capital letters can be interpreted as shouting in the digital world. Please avoid use of all caps. If, for medical reasons (such as poor vision), you must use all caps, please note this when you post so that others do not misinterpret your tone.

• Don’t post content that is off-topic: MakingHealthEasier.org is a place for the exchange of ideas related to health and wellness. There are many areas of the website where you can post questions, answers, and comments. Please post comments that are related to the ongoing discussion in that particular area of the website. If a comment is determined to be off-topic and unrelated to the conversation in which it appears, the site administrator will request that the member move the post to a more appropriate area. If the member does not comply with the administrator’s request, the post may be deleted.

• Don’t forget about your own and other members’ privacy: This site can be viewed by anyone on the Internet. Posting your full name, your contact information (email addresses, phone numbers, links to your pages in other communities), and other sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, can jeopardize your own safety if the information falls into the wrong hands. To be safe, share this information privately and only when you feel comfortable, as we cannot verify the identity of everyone on the site. Keep in mind that there are privacy tools that are available within this site that can help you control who views the content that you post.
  
  Private messages, blogs, and communities are meant to be just that: private. This includes private information we send to you. If you receive a private post, please do not repost the information in a public manner without permission. Doing so may be viewed as member harassment and a violation of these guidelines.
  
  If someone is posting content that is against our guidelines within a private space, please let us know as communication within these areas of the site still falls under our guidelines.

Page Manager Role: 

• All communities are run by members and must abide by our Member Guidelines.

• Community creators/administrators reserve the right to delete posts and comments and remove members within their respective communities as they see fit. They may also impose further guidelines relevant to their purpose.

• Communities that persistently violate our Member Guidelines may be deleted.

• Community creators/administrators may contact us if they need help with an issue that they cannot resolve on their own, or if they would like assistance in appointing additional administrators to their Community.

• Communities with creators that are inactive for long periods of time may appoint an additional administrator, if requested, for the benefit of the group.

Technical Help

• If you have technical difficulties navigating the site and/or posting content, or if you have any technical questions, please visit our help site here: http://help.ning.com.

• You can also contact Leslie Lewis at LLewis@FHI360.org if you have any technical assistance requests specific to MakingHealthEasier.org