[Lori, Exec. Director]

These Guidelines are subject to change as needed...

Double posting
Please refrain from posting the same post in two different forums. When you do this it makes members feel as though they need to respond more than once. Also, it is added work on the Executive Director, and the Moderators. Your post will be responded to.

Safety and General Guidelines
If anybody is found to be stating they have not read the guidelines and its noted they have been a member for more than 48 hours, they will recieve a formal warning. If they are then found to breach the guidelines after that warning, they will have their membership and access to posting withdrawn for a period of one month.

Member Accounts
Every 3 months isurvive's Member list will be gone through. If an account has not been used in that 6 month period it will be removed from the system. This means an account has no posts associated with it.
*A post will be put up in the forums notifying Members of this. Members will have 2 weeks to respond by e-mail to the Executive Director in order to keep an account in the system.

Posting in Open Forum
Triggering posts can be put in our Open Forum, but must be clearly marked. It is asked that Open Forum not be a "catch-all" for all posts, posts will be responded to in the other forums. If a post is found to have content that best fits another forum, the post can be moved, but the Member will be notified.

Post in Appropriate Forum
If a post belongs in a specific forum it must be put in that forum. If needed it will be moved to the appropriate forum. If a member is unsure where a post belongs the Executive Director, Lori Schmitt can be emailed for assistance at isurvive@hushmail.com.

Account Identities
It is understandable that it can be uncomfortable posting about past abuse, and being anonymous is therefore important. However, it is not permissible to register twice and post under alternate identities. If this is done, one or both accounts may be removed from isurvive.

Changing Usernames/Identities
Usernames can only be changed for safety reasons such as abusers or family discovering your posts. Usernames cannot be changed if you decide you do not "like" your username. Usernames cannot be changed if you have chosen the same username you use on another site. Choosing an anonymous username is the responsibility of the Member.

Copying from other sites, or Instant Messages, or Emails
If you are a Member of another support site, it is against the guidelines here, as well as other support sites to copy and paste posts by other Members.
Blogs and sites in general should not be copied and pasted from due to copyright infringement.
We also, for privacy reasons of people who do not even belong to isurvive, ask that no conversations from private messages or emails be posted on isurvive...

Reading Announcements by the Director and Assistant
It is very important to read posts that are made by the Executive Director and the Assistant to isurvive. These posts often contain important information. We request Members please state within these posts they have read these Announcements.
*If newer Members are seen posting in forums where Announcements are posted, and acknowledgement is not received, Members may be contacted privately regarding the Announcement.

Receiving and Responding to Emails sent by Owner or Assistant
If there is a time that a member receives an email from the owner or assistant due to site guideline violations and the member does not respond, the account will be deactivated. The owner and/or assistant could be contacted at a later time to discuss if the non-response was justfiable.

Spouses of Survivors and Partners
It is not recommended that the spouse or partner of a member join isurvive.org. This can cause the survivor to no longer feel they have a safe place to share their past. As well, it can cause hurt feelings in the relationship. isurvive.org cannot be used to work through relationship issues.

Handling Disagreements
Disagreements or misunderstandings or triggering actions will absolutely not occur in the forums. Anyone having an issue should be brought to the Executive Director, Lori Schmitt and dealt with in private. If necessary or at all possible, all parties will meet in chat to work things out... If meeting in chat is not possible, then things will then be dealt with via email. Anyone rehashing a "dead" issue will be taking a break.
_________________
Lori Schmitt,
Executive Director, isurvive
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Contact information:
* Email: isurvive@hushmail.com
* Yahoo Messenger: isurvive_org
* Skype: lori.schmitt
(Download software from Skype website; will need microphone and speakers)