Rule 1: We welcome your opinions
We welcome your opinions. We want our members and those interested in the Thrive Approach to:
- see and understand different points of view;
- help each other find new solutions; and
- discuss further developments of the Approach.
If you have a new idea or comment, please start a new thread. In the case of existing discussions, try to contribute to the thread, rather than just stating if you agree or disagree.
Rule 2: Forum membership
Once your comment is online, while all members of that forum can read it, some forums and Thrive social media are public and therefore anyone worldwide can read contributions. Please make your comment clear to ensure that it is not misunderstood. You can express a strong opinion but please do not go over the top. Don’t forget that you are legally responsible for what you submit. Please consider how your comment could be received by others.
Rule 3: Language and relevance
Please be polite. Do not use swear words or crude or sexual language. Only English is allowed. Keep your submissions relevant to the case or topic. Do not insult other contributions or discuss the non-appearance or removal of any content. If you would like to discuss the operation of a forum with us, please email us at forums@thriveapproach.com.
Rule 4: Report abuse
If you consider that a comment, or any other type of content on a forum or Thrive social media account, does not comply with these rules or our Terms, please email us at forums@thriveapproach.com. This facility should only be used for serious complaints, not simply because you disagree with something said.
We are under no obligation to moderate any content, and we expressly exclude our liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of a forum in contravention of these rules, whether the service is moderated or not.
Rule 5: No libel or other abuse
You must not make or encourage comments which are:
- defamatory, false or misleading;
- insulting, threatening or abusive;
- obscene or of a sexual nature;
- offensive, racist, sexist, homophobic or discriminatory against any religions or other groups;
- promoting illegal activity; or
- intended to deceive.
Rule 6: Confidentiality, privacy and contempt
Please respect people’s privacy. You are not allowed to submit confidential or private information. For example, you must not include the name, telephone number, email address or any other contact details of any person without their permission. Please remember that people can be identified from snippets of information so you must ensure that any case to which you refer is completely anonymised.
You should not write anything which could prejudice pending or ongoing court proceedings of which you are aware. If you do, you could be in contempt of court, which is an extremely serious matter.
Rule 7: No advertising
You must not use your contribution for:
- the promotion of any products, services or for any other commercial purpose without our prior consent;
- sending or procuring the sending of unsolicited emails, unauthorised advertising or other communications;
- promoting any campaign or requesting sponsorship.
We retain the right to remove comments that refer to any sponsorship, petition, campaign or scheme, at our discretion.
Rule 8: No impersonation and proper disclosure
You must not pretend to be someone else (eg an expert, another member or a member of our staff). You must not pretend that you are unconnected to a case or topic, when in fact you are. If you have a personal connection to a case or topic, you should disclose your connection or, where appropriate, not comment at all.
Rule 9: Copyright infringement
You must not infringe another person’s copyright, for example by copying and pasting content from another forum or article and using it as your own comment. If you include links to other material, it is your responsibility to ensure that such links are permitted by the owner of that material.
Rule 10: Respect the spirit as well as the letter of this Policy
In deciding what is acceptable, please also respect the spirit and tone of these Rules and the ethos of the Thrive Approach.
Rule 11: Removal of content
We may carry out some pre-publication and post-publication moderation. In addition to this, contributions that violate the letter or spirit of these Rules or our Terms may be removed (or, if checked in advance, not published in the first place). If we do remove something, we will generally remove whole posts, or where necessary, whole threads (not parts). This means that even if only one sentence is objectionable, the whole comment will usually be removed (or not published).
If your contribution or a thread is removed, this may be for any number of reasons. Usually, this will be because the contribution breaks these rules or our Terms or is the subject of an abuse report. Sometimes, the contribution may be removed because it is connected to another contribution which is being removed. We hope that you will understand that, once properly notified of a complaint, we may have to remove a contribution for legal reasons (whatever the rights and wrongs).
If your content has been removed, we may email you to let you know or to inform you if you have been suspended or banned from submitting further comments to the forum concerned, all forums or Thrive social media accounts. If you are aware that content has been removed, you must not deliberately resubmit the same content.
Rule 12: Suspension and termination
We reserve the right to suspend or ban your use of a forum, all of them or block you from Thrive social media accounts, at our sole discretion. Here are some reasons why we might do so:
- Breaching these rules or our Terms;
- Serious failure to respect the spirit and tone of the community;
- You cease to be a member of Thrive or, in the case of a forum for a particular group, that group; or
- Conduct or comments that demand a disproportionate amount of our time or that abuse our staff.
We also reserve the right to take proceedings against you for breach of our Terms or this Policy and to report the matter to the Police or other appropriate law enforcement agency. Failure to comply with the above Rules, and the other terms set out in our Terms, constitutes a material breach and you agree to indemnify us for all liabilities, costs (including, but not limited to, reasonable administrative and legal costs), expenses, damages and losses suffered by us which result from the breach.