PURPOSE OF COMMUNITY:

The Alzheimer’s Association online community is a place where people can come together to share questions, ideas, triumphs and struggles that revolve around Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. The community will remain a supportive and nurturing environment where members can feel safe as they participate and find the support they need. The Alzheimer’s Association will work to nourish this environment. We encourage you to be a part of this growing community of strength and support. The Association reserves the right to edit and/or deleted posts, and to execute any needed action to uphold this stated purpose.

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

For your safety and security, The Alzheimer’s Association discourages the posting of personal information such as emails, addresses or phone numbers. It is important for you to remain aware that when you provide personal information in a posting on any message board, that information is available to any person who uses the message boards, and may be used by someone in a manner unintended by you. For that reason, we discourage you from offering any personally identifying information within a posting to any message board.

HYPERLINKS

A hyperlink is a website address that will lead you to a new web page. Often these are highlighted or underlined. When you click on a hyperlink you will be directed to a new page, a new window will appear and by clicking on the hyperlink, you will be leaving the Association’s online community and webpage.

PLEASE FOLLOW THE BELOW INSTRUCTIONS WHEN POSTING A HYPERLINK;

1. Any and all hyperlinks must be on-topic and/or follow the purpose of this community.
2. Those hyperlinks posted within the community should not direct members to any site that is: unlawful, harmful; threatening; abusive; harassing; tortuous; defamatory; vulgar; obscene; libelous; invasive of another's privacy; hateful; or racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable.
3. Hyperlinks should be used with caution and respect for the other members who may select the posted hyperlinks.
4. No hyperlinks promoting a member’s own products or service for which a fee is charged will be permitted within the community.

Any hyperlinks posted outside these above guidelines may be edited and taken off the message board. Decisions around the deletion and/or editing hyperlinks and removal from the community are at the discretion of the site administrators.

EDITING YOUR OWN POSTS:

Members of the Online Community have a period of 15 minutes after posting to edit/delete their message. After 15 minutes they no longer have access to edit/delete their posts. This helps the administrators to monitor the forum. It also prevents posts from being altered after they have been reviewed by the administration of the community and/or other members, which could interfere with the flow of the online interaction. However, if a member would like to have a post edited/deleted, they can notify the administrators through email and the request will be handled as soon as possible. Simply provide a link to the post along with your requests and send it to onlinecommunity@alz.org. If you cannot provide a link, simply send your screen name, the name of the thread the post is in, and the date of the post to be removed. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact onlinecommunity@alz.org.

MONITORING:

The Alzheimer’s Association is not responsible for the content of the online community, including but not limited to, accuracy, integrity or quality of content. The “Questions for the Care Consultant” forum is monitored by Alzheimer’s Association staff members on a daily basis. The other forums are not monitored as closely. If you have questions or concerns about information posted, please feel free to contact us.

ACCURACY OF INFORMATION:

The Alzheimer's Association is not responsible for the information posted in the message boards including, but not limited to, content, appropriate citations or use of copyrighted material. If you use material created by another author, please cite the author. If you want to reference material from another website or online source, we encourage you to include the link rather than copying the material. Content from the online community is not to be copied and pasted into anyone’s personal blog, chat room or any other online communication.

DEROGATORY MESSAGES:

Derogatory messages will not be tolerated. Derogatory messages include, but are not limited to, the following:
*Name calling
*Swear words
*Discrimination
*Personal insinuations/attacks about other online community members
*Complaints about other online community members
*Sexually inappropriate comments
*Disrespecting the wishes of others

If members are engaging in any of these behaviors, their posts will be deleted. If the behavior continues, the individual may be banned from the community. Decisions around the deletion and/or editing of posts and removal from the community are at the discretion of the site administrators. If you notice any misuse of the message boards or chat room, please email us at onlinecommunity@alz.org.

PROS AND CONS OF A LARGE ELECTRONIC COMMUNITY:

Our message board community has over 7000 registered members, and is growing every day. Its size is one of its strengths. As you post and read messages, though, please be aware that electronic messages, often written quickly, are easily misconstrued. On a healthy message board, exchanges may heat up between community members who share different viewpoints. Communication in the online world exists without the normal signposts of facial expressions, body language and voice tone thereby emphasizing the meaning of the actual words. Given the challenges of online communication, it might be helpful to assume a positive intent.

POLITE ONLINE BEHAVIOR:

A message board exchange may feel like an actual “conversation,” but the rules of polite online behavior are different. In a message board exchange it is perfectly acceptable not to respond to everyone who responds to your message. This is particularly true if someone is taking the topic in a direction you didn’t intend. Please try to keep in mind the main purpose of this online community is to provide support and education to those affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

RESEARCH or PROJECTS:

Those members who wish to ask the community and its members for support on their research or project endeavors must first submit their planned posting for approval by the administrators of this community through email. Permission for recruitment requests is granted at the discretion of the community administrators. Decisions around the deletion and/or editing of posts and removal from the community are at the discretion of the site administrators. Please email onlinecommunity@alz.org with any and all research requests.

SOLICITATION AND SPAMMING:

Solicitation and spamming are not permitted on the Alzheimer’s Association message board. Decisions around the deletion of posts and removal from the community are at the discretion of the site administrators. Please notify the administrators at onlinecommunity@alz.org if you become aware of a solicitation or spam within the community.

ADDRESSING ONLINE COMMUNITY CONCERNS:

Any concern regarding the online community, its members and/or the Administrators should be sent to onlinecommunity@alz.org and not addressed on the message boards. The forum “Website Issues, Comments, and Questions” has been designed as a place for members to report problems or questions regarding the technical aspects of this site. In certain circumstances such community issues can be addressed in this forum. Decisions around the deletion and/or editing of posts and removal from the community are at the discretion of the site administrators.

CONTACTING THE ADMINISTRATORS:

Emails sent to onlinecommunity@alz.org are responded to during regular business hours. Any urgent concerns after hours and during weekends should be reported to the 24 hour helpline at 800.272.3900. Please inform the helpline worker of your online community concern and your call be handled as soon as possible.

VIOLATIONS:

The Alzheimer's Association, at our sole discretion, reserves the right to pre-screen, refuse or remove any content available via the online community.


Alzheimer's Association
Online Community Administrators

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