Terms and Conditions

Community Rules & Etiquette and Privacy Guidelines

Thank you for being part of our community. To ensure the best possible experience for all Community Members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation.

By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best suited to the medium. Please remember that all postings may be subject to the Georgia Open Records Act.

This is a great medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation. Questions about these guidelines should be directed to the moderator for the specific community. In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these rules.

Eligibility

Each time you use the site, or participate in any specific community within the site, you affirm that you continue to meet the requirements for eligibility. Only the following individuals are permitted to use the site: current employees and representatives of Georgia Municipal Association, current employees and officers of Georgia Municipal Association members, attorneys of one or more Georgia Municipal Association members, and for purposes of Local Government Risk Management (LGRMS) communities, current employees and representatives of risk pools supported by LGRMS and invited representatives of entities identified in the eligibility provisions set forth in the LGRMS community. Specific communities within the site may have additional restrictions. Review the description of the community carefully to determine whether you are eligible to participate in it. If you have any questions about eligibility, contact the moderator for the community.

The Rules

  • Respect others. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer Community Members; there’s no such thing as a stupid question.
  • Respect the purpose of each specific community in which you participate. Use the community to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals. If you’ve found a product or service helpful, please share your experience with the rest of the community in a respectful way.
  • Use caution when discussing products and services and issues that may not be appropriate for viewing by the entire membership of the specific community. Information posted on the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all members of the specific community to see. Comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws, and may be subject to the Georgia Open Records Act.
  • All defamatory, obscene, abusive, libelous, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials, and all information that violates another person’s privacy rights, are 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.
  • Never use the site to post or request “Sensitive Personal Information” about yourself or others. Sensitive Personal Information includes social security numbers, government or business issued ID number or account numbers; date of birth; biometric or genetic information, health information; and other information which a reasonable person would recognize as being highly sensitive.
  • Respect intellectual property. Only post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.
  • When posting items in our collaborative environment, please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. It’s also advisable to contact the owner of any material if you would like to reuse it.
  • Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities.

Discussion Group Etiquette

  • State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows Community Members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for Community 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.
  • This site is provided as a service for the members of Georgia Municipal Association and their attorneys, and for members of risk pools supported by LGRMS (Community Members). Neither Georgia Municipal Association nor LGRMS is responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by Community Members, and Georgia Municipal Association and LGRMS disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by Georgia Municipal Association, LGRMS, or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness.
  • No information posted on this site constitutes legal or tax advice. Attorneys may post information and opinions on the site, but such information is not legal advice and is not subject to attorney-client privilege. Community Members are encouraged to consult directly with their legal counsel for legal advice.
  • Although participation in this site is limited to Community Members, content posted on this site may be considered public records that must be disclosed in response to open records requests. Any Community Member that wishes to post or respond to a post in a manner that does not identify the Community Member by name on the site may ask to do so by sending the question or response to the moderator for the Community. However, neither Georgia Municipal Association nor LGRMS can ensure that the information or opinion shared in this way will not be attributed to the Community Member.
  • No question or request on this site shall be deemed a request for records under the Georgia Open Records Act. No Community Member has any obligation to respond to any request posted on this site. In no event shall Georgia Municipal Association or LGRMS be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use of the site, loss of data posted on the site, or arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site.
  • By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants Georgia Municipal Association and, for LGRMS communities, LGRMS, the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material. Moreover, the posting party grants all other Community Members in the applicable community the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material to benefit the entities they represent.
  • Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate Community Members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement 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. Notwithstanding the foregoing, providing information on this site that is subject to the Open Records Act is not prohibited. For example, Community Members are permitted to share Requests for Proposals, sample contract documents, feedback on vendors, and other public documents that do not include trade secrets. Community Members are encouraged to consult with legal counsel before posting documents or information related to vendor selection or evaluation.
  • Georgia Municipal Association and LGRMS do not actively monitor the communities they moderate for inappropriate postings and do not on their own undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of the moderator for a specific community, the moderator will take appropriate action.
  • Georgia Municipal Association reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines or who no longer meets eligibility requirements.

Privacy Policy for Personal Information

The Privacy Policy for Georgia Municipal Association applies to the information collected through this site.