Community Rules & Etiquette and Privacy Guidelines
Thank you for being part of our Institute membership community. To ensure the best possible experience for all Members, we have established rules and some basic guidelines for participation.
By joining this community and using this site, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to keep discussions and shared files and content to the type that is best suited to the medium. This forum is provided so you can seek the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation.
Questions should be directed to communitymanager@architecture.com.au or via the Contact Us link on this site.
Please read and be familiar with these important rules and guidelines.
In order to create and preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to this community if you breach these rules or engage in a gross or persistent breaches of etiquette. Member conduct that breaches the Member Behaviour Policy or the Code of Professional Conduct can have disciplinary consequences, as well as consequences for your continued membership of the Institute.
The Rules: General Use of the Site
Respect and Good Conduct
- Respect others—this includes both the content and tone of your posts. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer guests and Members; there’s no such thing as a ‘stupid’ question.
- Respect the purpose of this professional community of Members. Use the community to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals, rather than promote products or services that you provide. If you’ve found a product or service helpful, please share your experience with the group in a considered way.
- Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening or harrassing, offensive, unconscionable or illegal comments, information or materials. All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening or harrassing, offensive, unconscionable or illegal conduct is strictly prohibited. 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. Conduct that breaches this rule can also breach the Institute’s Member Behaviour policy and the Professional Code of Conduct.
People and Products
- Use caution when discussing an individual. Information posted on the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments about individuals can be hurtful and are always subject to defamation laws. Even comments that don’t explicitly name an individual, but where the community can identify or infer the identity of the individual being referred to (such as by reference to a practice, design or building), will breach these rules and can amount to defamation.
- Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments about products are subject to laws relating to building regulation, consumer protection (truth in advertising, unconscionable conduct) and encouraging competition.
Intellectual Property, Copyright and Moral Rights
- Respect the intellectual property, copyright and moral rights of all authors and creators. Carefully consider whether to post content (eg. an ‘artistic work’) that you have personally created or have permission to use and if you do, ensure you have properly attributed that content to the creator, which can include co-authors of an artistic work. Architects’ drawings and designs generally attract protection as an ‘artistic work’ under the Australian Copyright Act.
- When posting content in our collaborative environment, please indicate the limitations on whether and how that content can be used, copied, printed, modified, adapted, distributed, or republished. If you would like to re-use (or do any other thing with) any material posted by another user, please contact the owner of the material directly to request their permission.
- Do not post any information or material protected by copyright, or that can be the subject of copyright (‘Copyright Material’) without the permission of the copyright owner. When you post Copyright Material, you promise (a warrant) and represent that you either: own the copyright with respect to such material or that you have received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, by posting Copyright Material you grant the Institute and all users of this site the non-exclusive right (a license) to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and reasonably use that Copyright Material, but not for any commercial purpose.
Anti-Competitive Behaviour
- Do not use this site to engage in anti-competitive behaviour. Do not post messages, comments or information if they encourage or facilitate Members to arrive at any agreement or understanding that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing (cartel conduct), a boycott of another's business, exclusive dealing or other conduct intended or that amounts to illegally restrict free trade. Conduct that encourages or facilitates any formal or informal agreement or understanding about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.
Discussion Group Etiquette
- State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows Members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for Members to search the archives by subject.
- Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals, not to the entire list. Do this by using the "Reply to Sender" link in every message.
- Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list,” to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new email address. Simply change your settings.
- Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."
The Legal Stuff
This site is provided ‘as’ is’ as a free member benefit service solely for the Members of the Australian Institute of Architects (the Institute). The Institute is not and cannot be responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by Members or any third party. We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by the Institute, a Member, or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. The Institute is not and will not be liable for special, indirect, economic nor consequential damages or any damages of any kind resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use of or performance of any information posted on this site.
The Institute does not automatically monitor, and from time to time may not actively monitor, the site or any forum on the site for inappropriate or infringing postings (comment, information or content). The Institute does not on its own undertake nor exercise editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate or infringing posting is brought to the attention of the Institute we will take all appropriate action. This action may include directly contacting the Member who has made the posting and requesting they remove the post; and referring the Member’s conduct under the Institute’s Member Behaviour Policy or the Disciplinary Proceedings.
The Institute reserves the right, in its absolute discretion, to solely determine whether a Member’s post has breached these rules and such a decision made by the Institute is not subject to any avenue or complaint or right of review.
The Institute reserves the right, in its absolute discretion, to suspend or terminate access to any user who does not comply with these guidelines. A Member’s conduct on this site and breaches of these terms and conditions may also have consequences under either or all of the Member Behaviour Policy and the Institute’s Code of Professional Conduct and the Disciplinary Proceedings.
Privacy Policy and Your Information
The data and privacy information you provide to the Institute via this site will be collected, used and disclosed in accordance with the Institute’s Privacy Policy. You agree to the use of your data and information in accordance with the Privacy Policy. If you become aware of any unauthorized use of your password or of your account, you agree to notify the Institute immediately at national@architecture.com.au.
External Sites
We are not responsible for the content of external internet sites. You are advised to read the privacy policy of external sites before disclosing any personal information.
Cookies
A "cookie" is a small data text file that is placed in your browser and allows us to recognize you each time you visit this site (personalization, page layout, views, etc). Cookies themselves do not contain any personal information, and we do not use cookies to collect personal information. Cookies may also be used by 3rd party content providers such as newsfeeds.
Remember The Risks Whenever You Use The Internet
We cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit via this site. You are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information. Third-party Internet sites or services that may be accessible through our site have separate data and privacy practices independent of the Institute, and the Institute cannot and does not take any responsibility or liability for their systems, policies, procedures or actions. Please contact those third-party site owners, vendors and others directly if you have any questions about how they handle your information and for their privacy policies.
For any other information please contact us via communitymanager@architecture.com.au
Institute documents
Member Behaviour Policy - https://www.architecture.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Member-Behaviour-Policy-Handbook_July-2019.pdf
Professional Code of Conduct - https://www.architecture.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Institute-Code-of-Professional-Conduct.pdf
Disciplinary Proceedings – https://www.architecture.com.au/regulations/#disciplinary
Privacy Policy - https://www.architecture.com.au/wp-content/uploads/australian-institute-of-architects-privacy-policy.pdf