ALFRED SURVEYING ALUMNI FORUM GUIDELINES

OVERVIEW:

This forum was created as a way for students, graduates, professors, and any one else affiliated with or interested in the Surveying programs at Alfred State College to communicate on-line, and to allow alumni of SUNY Alfred's Surveying degree programs to stay in touch after graduation.

NEW TO FORUMS?

If you have never viewed or posted to an internet forum or bulletin-board-system, this may seem overwhelming, but it's not! A forum is essentially an online message board where you can post new messages, reply to existing messages, and read messages. Messages can be discussion threads, announcements, questions, or almost anything else.

To learn how to use the forum, or better understand any forum function, please see the very comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions page - you can get there by clicking here, or by clicking on the FAQ link at the top of any page in the forum.

REGISTERING:

Your first step after reading these guidelines will be to register a username with the forum. You must also choose a password for forum access, and you MUST provide a valid e-mail address so the forum software can communicate with you as necessary.

When you register your username and password you will see a profile page where you can add other information as you see fit. You will be able to add, remove, or change any profile information once you have registered. Fill in as much or as little as you choose - however - remember that any information you enter will be viewable by any other registered members through your member profile. Filling in these fields is optional, but the more information you provide, the easier it will be for fellow alumni to recognize you and/or contact you. At the very least, you should provide a real name and year of graduation. You are welcome to join the forum if you are not a current Alfred student, professor, or Alfred alumnus, but please indicate so in your profile and tell us a little about yourself and why you joined so you don't accidentally get deleted!

ALUMNI CONTACTS:

Members should feel free to put any information about themselves that they choose in their profiles so that other members may contact them. Also, one of the better ways to contact other members is to use the Private Message (PM) function. From the memberlist, from a user's profile page, or anywhere else you see a PM button you can click on the button and send a message to the other member without using e-mail or revealing any e-mail addresses. The PM function is a great way to contact other members even if they haven't put much contact information in their profile.

THE DISCUSSION FORUMS:

There are three main discussion forums. A General Discussion Forum for any and all discussion; an Employment Forum for discussion of Surveying and related employment; and a Website Feedback Forum for any discussion or suggestions regarding the Student Chapter Website or the Alumni Portal. There is also an Announcements Forum where the Administrator and Moderators can post announcements (and other members can comment on them).

If the forums start being used regularly, I will add more forums and split forums as necessary, including adding forums for specific graduating classes - and suggestions for other forums are always welcome!

CONDUCT:

My general approach to administering a forum is hands-off - I am opposed to censorship in general and believe that everyone has the right to voice their opinion in a civilized manner. However, this forum must also comply with the rules of the web hosting company and the internet in general, and must not cause problems for the Society. When registering, an "I Agree" page is shown that details unacceptable behavior for posting to the forum. This will stand as a basic conduct guideline. Additionally, any behavior in the forum that could cause a legal issue for the Student Chapter should be considered "not allowed."

THUS - as Administrator, I will remove any and all material that violates forum guidelines. And, the final decision of the Administrator and/or Moderators stands.

Also, I have the ability to block specific access to the forum (username, ISP, etc . . ), and will do so to all repeat offenders, and anyone posting spam or anyone posting unsolicited advertisements.

That Being Said!!! - In several years of running several forums for professional organzations, I have never had to remove a post or ban a user based on conduct - civilized behavior will always be allowed.

If you feel something has been posted contrary to these guidelines and I have not removed it for a few days, please contact me (via E-Mail or PM) with your concern. [NB - I will NEVER remove a post or ban a user simply because they disagree, in a civilized manner, with another user or myself - don't even ask me to!].

Also note: A "Swear-word" parser has been installed that will either remove or "dumb-down" several key offensive words before they make it into the forum.

ABOUT COPYRIGHTS:

Please do not post copyrighted material (that you don't own) to the forum -you will do so at your own risk. All posts by forum members will retain the de-facto copyright of publication in the name of the author (meaning you may retain rights to anything you yourself write in the forum) - the Student Chapter, myself, or anyone else will not retain any rights to said material with the following exception which you agree to by registering: all registered users of the forum have the right to quote, within the forum, using the "quote" function, anything you post to the forum.

PRIVACY/SECURITY:

All the pages for the board are local to the Student Chapter Web Server - no third party company handles the forums (PHPbb only engineered the code), thus any information you share when you register or update your profile remains as secure as any other info on this site. If you do not want other members to know certain personal details, then don't enter this info into your profile. However, when you register, please give us a VALID E-mail address and keep it updated if it changes - this is how I contact you if there are problems - and it will be used only for forum administration purposes. If you do not want other forum users to know your e-mail, then check NO under "Always show my E-mail Address" when you register, or change it on your profile page later.

Also, all forums require registration to access (read, post, reply, edit) - thus you may feel confident that things posted to any of these forums can not be read openly by internet surfers, but only by registered members. While technically ANYONE can register, I will be watching registrations to make sure the people posting here are students, professors, alumni, or people who genuinely want to join in order to discuss Surveying issues. Anyone signing up may be contacted by the Administrator or Moderators in order to determine if that person is a legitimate user.

Note: I can issue a new (temporary) forum password if you forget yours, or you can use the "I forgot my password" option on the login screen - and you can change your forum password and profile details at any time from your profile page when signed in.

If you try to log on to the forum and you get a notice that you have been banned (or you just can't log in), and you think this is an error, please contact me.

IN CLOSING:

This is how I plan to handle the Alumni forum and portal. If the forum becomes more popular and more widely used, or as new problems arise, I will change these guidelines as necessary. I will also be adding functions to the forum, or new forums, as necessary or as requested.

Questions, Comments & Complaints are always welcome - feel free to E-Mail me or post your issue to the Web Feedback forum.