Rules
The OVC HELP for Victim Service Providers message board is a tool
for constructive discussion on issues relating to promising practices,
best practices, and victim issues.
A forum moderator screens all posts before they appear. OVC reserves
the right to remove any message or message segment and to terminate
discussion on any topic that appears to be inappropriate and that
falls outside the following guidelines:
Conduct
Treat this forum as a place where you can learn from each other.
Offensive, vulgar, threatening, or derogatory language is not allowed.
Please avoid undue criticism or labeling of any individual, organization,
or agency. All constructive criticism should be supported by appropriate
reference citations (e.g., from a Web site, book, magazine, journal).
The National Criminal Justice Reference Service database is one place
you may want to search for reference
materials.
In addition, OVC reserves the right to suspend or terminate individuals
from the forum at any time for inappropriate conduct.
Privacy
OVC does not rent, sell, or share personal information that resides
on the Web forum, nor does OVC post participants’ e-mail addresses.
It is strictly prohibited for anyone to put a participant of this
forum on a commercial or private e-mail list without first securing
permission from that person in writing. Violators will be suspended
or terminated from the forum.
Spam
Unauthorized or unsolicited posts, including advertising, promotional
materials, “spamming,” or other forms of solicitation,
are not allowed. Posts that include URLs or contact information as
part of an event announcement or explanation of a promising practice
or best practice within a program are acceptable, but posts submitted
solely for the purpose of promoting a product or service will be
rejected or censored. Likewise, posts that include questionnaires
for private or commercial research projects also will be deleted.
Monitoring
OVC reserves the right to edit messages or refuse to post them should
they be deemed inappropriate. Messages should be constructive and
focused on sharing or obtaining information of use to victim service
providers.
Format
English is the preferred language for posts. OVC will not translate
your post into English.
Use standard capitalization and punctuation for ease of reading.
Do not type your message in ALL CAPS. This is considered to be shouting
and therefore poor etiquette.
Copyrighted Material
Do not post without prior approval of the author any material written
or compiled by someone other than yourself. When posting approved
information from another source, please cite the source’s full
title, author, and year of publication for the benefit of all forum
participants.
Age
All participants in this forum must be 18 years old or older.
Contacting the Moderator
All ideas, recommendations, and complaints should be directed to
the forum moderator.
Content Disclaimer
Unless expressly stated, the views expressed in this forum are not
to be construed as the opinions of OVC or the U.S. Department of
Justice and are not to be taken as endorsed or adopted by these agencies.
The goals and rules are subject to changes without notice, at OVC’s
discretion. See also OVC's External
Link Disclaimer.
Federal Employees
Federal employees are welcome to participate in the OVC HELP for
Victim Service Providers web forum. However, federal employees may
not represent their agency in any discussion.
| 
