Forum User Code of Conduct

Welcome to the Parotid Patient Project (“PPP”) website (“Site”). All users of the patient support group forum must register with the Site and agree to the following terms.

No Medical Advice.  PPP’s goal is to provide trusted and current information about parotid tumors to assist patients in making informed decisions about their own medical care.  However, this advice and information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice.  Patients should consult with their individual physicians to discuss their individual situation and to determine an appropriate treatment plan.  Do not rely on any content in the site for treatment purposes.  Content is informational in nature only, and you understand and agree that we can’t certify that information provided by others, particularly in the forum, is truthful or accurate.

No Medical Professionals Allowed.  This forum is intended for patients, their supporters, and loved ones only.  It is not the appropriate place for medical professionals to interact with patients. As such, medical professionals are expressly prohibited from participating in the member forum.  All users are encouraged to work with their personal medical providers, and PPP will ban participation and terminate the registration of any known or suspected medical professionals.  Only those medical professionals, who are parotid patients themselves, may participate in the member forum but may not provide medical advice.

This Forum User Code of Conduct explains the terms and conditions for participating in the patient support group forum. While we respect honesty and free speech, we expect you to treat other users with respect.  By participating in the forum, you agree to follow our Discrimination and Harassment Policy and to abide by this Code of Conduct.

This forum was created to be a positive and supportive place where parotid patients can discuss their shared experiences and help each other through the diagnosis, management, and treatment of parotid tumors and parotid gland diseases.

This if often a stressful, scary, and overwhelming time in a lot of patient’s lives, and we want this forum to be a place where patients feel safe and comfortable sharing their concerns and fears. This forum is intended to be a place where patients can exchange information and ideas and receive support and encouragement from fellow parotid patients.

The following behavior will not be tolerated:

1. Verbal abuse, obscene language, or offensive language or nicknames.
2. Threats of violence
3.  Personal attacks
4. Cyberbullying
5. Sexism or sexually explicit posts.
6. Religion-based threats or abuse
7. Homophobia
8. Flaming
9. Flooding
10. Spamming
11. Sales links, selling
12. Suspended members/ban-dodgers
13. Unlawful, libelous, obscene, or offensive content, including content related to legal proceedings or otherwise in violation of law.
14. Trolls
15. Encouraging illegal activity or violation of law, such as posting of materials copyrighted or trademarked by others.
16. Impersonation or others.
17. Sharing or posting of personally identifiable information of others without their consent.
18. Chain letters or money-making schemes, or advertising of products or services, or other commercial use.
19. Profile names that include racist, crude, profane, or otherwise offensive terms.
20. Solicitation of funds for yourself or others, including links to Go Fund Me pages, or other fundraising platforms.
21. Posting of miracle cures, natural remedies, and other non-peer reviewed information that is not backed by credible scientific data.
22. You may not falsely imply that you’re affiliated with or endorsed by PPP.
23. You may not remove any marks showing proprietary ownership from materials you download from the forum.
24. You may not disable, avoid, or circumvent any security or access restrictions of the forum.
25. You may not strain infrastructure of the forum with an unreasonable volume of requests, or requests designed to impose an unreasonable load on information systems underlying the forum.
26. You may not submit content to the forum containing malicious computer code, such as computer viruses or spyware.

User Responsibilities: 

You are responsible for what you say or do online and may be held legally accountable if those actions violate applicable law or the rights of others.

You agree that you will comply with these terms.

Disclaimer/Responsibilities of PPP:

PPP cannot monitor every thread or comment in the member forum.  We operate a notice and take down policy known as reactive moderation, meaning we will respond to violations of which we become aware.  We will use best efforts to promptly remove offending content.

PPP does not endorse any of the opinions expressed by other users or third parties, nor do we ensure that any content provided by other users or third parties is accurate, truthful or complete.

We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove content or users from the forum, including temporarily or permanently banning violators from using the site or forum.

Threads or posts in the forum may be deleted by PPP without notice to you.

We may release information about you in response to valid legal requests, or to notify legal authorities of substantial violations.

Effective Date: March 9, 2020