GSN-Code of Conduct

One of the best aspects of the Global Spiritual Network Community is that, like the real world, our membership is diverse. There are people with vastly different views regarding spirituality, the environment, human rights, and many other topics that you will find on our boards. We see this diversity and variety as a real strength, and see dialog and debate as an integral part of the educational process as well as an important tool in exploring different sides of complex issues. We ask that all of our members respect this diversity, and the diverse views and beliefs held by others on our site.

We are committed to allowing freedom of expression for our members, including maintaining a safe space for people with opposing views to express themselves. While we will not remove posts on the basis of the views expressed, we do demand respect and courtesy from our members. We will not tolerate abusive language or personal attacks on our boards, and reserve the right to remove any posts, threads or groups which we feel are in violation of our Code of Conduct for the Global Spiritual Network or the Terms of Service for membership. Additionally, users who violate these rules can be removed from using our boards or blocked from using our site.

Code of Conduct:

Respect and courtesy - All Global Spiritual Network Members are entitled to express their views and beliefs in a safe environment, within the realms of spirituality and without insulting or endangering the rights of others. Any such activity will be removed and will be grounds for immediate banning from the network.

This includes but is not limited to:

• Any harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, hateful, or otherwise objectionable posts

• Any posts which are invasive of another's privacy

• Name calling or otherwise attacking the person posting rather than the content of the post Discussion and debate is perfectly healthy, but we will not tolerate personal attacks.

• Any bigotry, racial, ethnic, religious or gender slurs or insults relating to the mental, physical or intellectual qualities of any member

Vulgarity - All Global Spiritual Network members agree to not post text or images that are vulgar, obscene, graphically violent or sexual in nature.

Violent action - No member of Global Spiritual Network may use our boards or network messaging system to advocate violence against others, even in jest.

Illegal activities - No Global Spiritual Network member may use our services to promote illegal actions or to instigate illegal activity from other Global Spiritual Netowrk members.

'Hate messages' - No member may post or email 'hate' messages. This includes any messages that may incite violence toward someone because of their age, disability, gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation, including:

• Advocating violence or aggression against persons because they are a member of any of the above categories

• Implying or stating that members of one of these categories 'deserve' or 'earned' death or violence towards them.

• Degrading or insulting whole classes of people, or using such statements to justify actions taken against them.

Privacy - No Global Spiritual Network member may use our site to collect personal information about other Gloal Spiritual Network members, or to post such information for others to view. This includes telephone numbers, addresses, etc.

Stalking - No member may stalk or otherwise harass others on our site.

Copyrights - No Global Spiritual Network member may post, email or otherwise distribute information or content which infringes on a copyright, patent trademark or other proprietary right of another party.

Disruptive posts - No member may disrupt the discussion boards by posting repeatedly with the same information or by otherwise preventing the use of these boards by other Global Spiritual Network members.

Anonymous posts - If anonymous posts are abusive, do not adhere to our Respect and Courtesy Guidelines, or otherwise violate the Global Spiritual Network Code of Conduct, they will be removed. Members who repeatedly are posting inappropriate anonymous posts will be blocked from making anonymous posts, as the Global Spiritual Network administration can track anonymous posts to membership registrations.

SPAM / Bulk mailings - No member may upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorized commercial advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation.

Impersonation - No member may impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a Global Spiritual Network official or group forum leader; or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity. No member shall misrepresent either explicitly or implicitly their affiliation with Global Spiritual Network.

Minors - Global Spiritual Network Members may not post, email, or otherwise take action that endangers or harms a minor in any way.

Problems and abuse reporting - Do not respond to abusive posts or otherwise engage in the furthering of inappropriate topics and posts. If you encounter a member that is abusing our system, report them directly to the site administrators Jodie or Niki so that appropriate action can be taken.

The Code of Conduct is intended as a guideline for how members should interact with each other on the Global Spiritual Network. Just like a real community, you may have different opinions than other Global Spiritual Network users. While the Global Spiritual Network experience is best when people abide by the guidelines, it is up to each Group Owner to interpret and enact the Code of Conduct as they see fit. Note that the Code of Conduct guidelines do not substitute or override the Global Spiritual Network Terms of Service which all members must abide by.

Thank you for participating on Global Spiritual Network, and for abiding by our rules. We enjoy and appreciate all the different backgrounds, views and beliefs of our members, and hope that Global Spiritual Network remains a site for respectful exchange of ideas. Only through tolerance, respect and consideration can we hope to make a difference in our world, so please remember to treat other members accordingly. We understand that sometimes debates and discussions can get heated, and people do get emotional. However, it is times like this when it is most important for all of us to take a moment to consider our impact on others, and to respond to each other as members of the same community, rather than attacking in the heat of the moment.

The terms of the Code of Conduct are under the exclusive discretion of Global Spiritual Network and may change without prior notification.