Rules, Etiquette and Privacy Guidelines
Thank you for being part of our community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we remind you of some basic guidelines for participation.
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 ongoing conversations.
Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. Questions can be directed to INCITS Secretariat via this Contact Us link.
The Rules
Membership Agreement
Your organization has signed the INCITS Membership Agreement, and as such, the Member agrees to be bound by the terms of the Membership Agreement, and further agrees to be bound to and abide by the policies and procedures of INCITS. The Membership Agreement sets forth the entire understanding (e.g., privilege's and obligations) of INCITS and Member with respect to membership in INCITS. The Membership Agreement allows INCITS to 1) document and formalize rules; 2) clarify and update other rules; and 3) legally bind Members to these rules to bring consistency, transparency, and efficiency to the INCITS standards development process. The Membership Agreement provides protection and certainty to INCITS stakeholders. You can view a copy of the Membership Agreement here.
INCITS Organization, Policies and Procedures (IOP&P)
The Organization, Policies and Procedures document is a resource for members that establishes rules, guidelines and protocols for all major decisions, actions, policies, and principles for the organization. It is intended to help improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and communication in carrying out the technical work of the committees. This is a public document that can be viewed here.
INCITS Code of Conduct
The INCITS Code of Conduct states the obligations for professional conduct by all INCITS member organizations and their representatives in support of INCITS' mission. The code articulates the values and principles that INCITS wishes to foster in all its participants and, in doing so, defines desired behavior. All INCITS member organizations and their representatives shall adhere to the Code of Conduct. This is a public document that can be viewed here.
Respect others. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer 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’ve found a product or service helpful, please share your experience with the group in a respectful way.
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.
Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.
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.
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, or set up when and how you want to receive emails. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new email address; however, you will need to request to change this important piece of information; this can be done by using this Contact Us link.
Refrain from debate and discussion that is disrespectful, threatening (mental or physical), or otherwise unprofessional in tone or which is offensive to other participants and damaging to INCITS and the overall process of achieving consensus.
The Legal Stuff
INCITS Antitrust Guidelines
The INCITS Antitrust Guidelines are for the protection of INCITS and INCITS Subgroup members on antitrust issues. INCITS and INCITS Subgroup members must follow the INCITS Antitrust Guidelines.https://www.incits.org/standards-information/legal-info
INCITS Patent Policy
As INCITS subscribes to the ANSI Patent Policy when developing American National Standards, a call for patents and pertinent issues is issued throughout the development of a project to determine if a proposed standard may require the use of a patented invention. More information can be viewed here. INCITS Patent Policy Overview: INCITS Patent Policy Slides for IOE Meetings
This site is provided as a service for the members of INCITS. INCITS 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 INCITS or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall INCITS 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.
INCITS 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 INCITS we will take all appropriate action.
INCITS reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by its 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 this Contact Us link.