MUW Chat and Connect

Discussion Group/Message Board Rules and Policies

The Office of Alumni Relations, an office within Mississippi University for Women (MUW), maintains these discussion groups/message boards (Chat and Connect) on behalf of MUW.  All those that use MUW's Chat and Connect agree that you have read and agreed with the policies/ rules provided below.   MUW reserves the right to terminate or suspend use of all discussion groups/message boards for those who violate these rules and policies.  If you have any questions regarding the discussion groups/message boards, please contact alumni@muw.edu.  The discussion group/message board policies may be revised at any time.  Therefore please check this page regularly for the most current rules and policies.

 Disclaimer and Legal Considerations

MUW's Chat and Connect discussion groups/message boards are provided as a service by MUW for the enjoyment of alumnae/alumni from the MUWired Online Community.  MUW accepts no responsibility for the opinions and information posted on Chat and Connect.  In no event shall MUW be liable for any special, indirect, consequential, or any other damages whatsoever arising out of in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on Chat and Connect. 

·    MUW's Chat and Connect is a private forum.  Messages posted on Chat and Connect can only be viewed by registered users of  the MUWired Online Community.  

·    All Chat and Connect users are held not only to the policies, terms and conditions specified in this document, but also to all policies, terms and conditions identified for use of MUWired registered users as well.  (Refer to MUWired Terms and Conditions.)

Conditions of Use

Users are expected to avoid the following behaviors.  Personnel from the MUW Office of Alumni Relations will monitor messages posted on the discussion groups/message boards and will remove messages that are considered offensive.  Use of MUW's Chat and Connect may be terminated or suspended from participants who engage in these behaviors:

·    Challenges or attacks on others.  MUW's Chat and Connect  is meant to be used to stimulate open and honest exchange of ideas and information.   All users of the discussion groups/messages are expected to respect the rights of others. 

·    Postings of commercial messages.  The cyberspace term for this activity is spamming.  Contact people directly with products and services that you believe would be helpful.  Messages that are posted for advertising purposes to promote the buying, selling or trading of any commercial product, service or item are not permitted.  Posts containing personal advertisements, such as want ads, personal items or events are allowed only in the appropriate forums.

·    Inappropriate discussions relating to entities, products, costs, rumors, and other similar matters.  Information posted on Chat and Connect is available for all registered users to see, and comments are subject to libel, antitrust, and a variety of other laws.

·    Any and all defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexual, threatening, invasive of a person’s privacy, offensive or illegal materials or otherwise in violation of law.  Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.

·    Inappropriate posting of copyrighted material.

·    Posting private messages to the discussion group without the permission of the author.

·    Posting messages from an unregistered third party.

List Etiquette:

·    Include a signature tag on all messages.   Signatures and other automatically inserted text must be kept short and must comply with all guidelines.  For the purposes of these discussion groups, we suggest your full name and class year.

·    Use common sense and caution when posting messages and providing personal information.  Messages will be viewable by the registered users of the MUWired Online Community.

·    Restrict messages and discussion to topics best suited for a particular discussion group and best suited to the medium.   All messages should be relevant to the scope of the discussion group.

·    State clearly the specific topic of the comments in the subject line.  This allows members to respond more appropriately and allows for automatic message archiving. 

·    Only send a message to the entire list when it contains information from which everyone can benefit. 

·    No Attached Files Allowed.  No message with a file attachments may be sent to a discussion group. The message will be automatically rejected. In lieu of attached files, include text in the body of an email. Attachments are not allowed for many reasons, including the risk of viruses.

·    Viruses.  Viruses are an unfortunate fact of life for anyone who uses email. email messages and file attachments are frequently used to transmit viruses, often without the sender being aware that their computer is infected. Chat and Connect does not allow attachments, but in the event a message with an attachment does appear to come from a group, do not open it. Some viruses can also be transmitted by clicking a link contained in a text email. Make sure your computer has good, up-to-date virus software. Subscribers participate in the discussion groups at their own risk.

·    Use Reply To All.  When replying to a discussion group message, use "Reply To All" so that your reply will be sent to the group rather than just to the person who posted the message. We encourage you to use "Reply To All" whenever possible to share your thoughts and keep the discussions active. If you just use "Reply", only the original sender of the message will get your response.

·    Auto-Replies and Out Of Office Messages.  If you will be away from your office and you plan to use an auto-reply or out of office message (also called an autoresponder), please unsubscribe from all discussion groups. These messages can cause severe problems for discussion groups. If you do not unsubscribe and your auto-reply messages create a problem, you will be temporarily unsubscribed from all lists.

Any participant who finds a message objectionable should contact us immediately by e-mail, at alumni@muw.edu.

While it is impractical to list every possible violation of our policies, the above should be used as guidelines.   If the Office of Alumni Relations determines that a user's participation in the MUW's Chat and Connect discussion groups/message boards creates a potential liability for MUW or that the user has violated the policies set forth herein, the Office of Alumni Relations, on behalf of MUW, reserves the right, in its sole and unfettered discretion, to take actions against the user.  Those actions may include deleting or editing any postings and/or comments as well as the right to expel a user and deny a user further access to the discussion groups/message boards within Chat and Connect and the MUWired Online Community if such user violates these policies or any applicable laws or regulations.