CRIMEWATCHERS.NET
RULES & GUIDELINES
RULES & GUIDELINES
Thank you for joining CrimeWatchers.net online community of message boards and chats. As with all communities, there are certain rules that must be respected.
1. User Accounts:
A maximum of one account is allowed per member. If you are found to be using more than one account, one or more of them will be deleted and you may lose your CrimeWatchers.net membership altogether. If you wish to remain anonymous, it is best to choose a name that is not associated with your own. If there is a problem with your account and you cannot remember your password, or whatever the case may be, please contact CrimewatchersCW@gmail.com so your password may be reset and/or the problem may be worked out. Please do not set up another account as this will be detected by our software. Please contact Administration if you change your email address.
2. Impersonating Members:
Please do not impersonate other members, victims, or members of a victim’s family. Do not attempt to use another member’s account.
3. Passwords:
Your private password should be for your use only. At no time will a CrimeWatchers.net representative ask for your password. If you have forgotten your password, a new one may be set up for you to gain access to your account, but you should immediately change it so that you are the only one in charge of your access.
4. Abuse & Derogatory Comments:
Please do not harass, threaten, or cause distress or discomfort upon another CrimeWatchers.net member, user or other individual entity.
Please do not use blatant expressions of bigotry, racism, hatred or profanity.
Please do not post to transmit or communicate any data, software, files, links or other materials that CrimeWatchers.net considers unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable.
Please avoid petty nastiness, name calling, derogatory name changes and rude posts directed at case players, victims or their families and yes, even the perpetrators.
Please do not bait, troll or post simply to incite conflict. To do so could result in a loss of posting privileges.
5. Advertising:
Please do not post or transmit any unsolicited advertising, promotional materials, or any other forms of solicitation that are determined by CrimeWatchers.net to be inappropriate. You agree not to upload, post or otherwise transmit, without CrimeWatchers.net’s express prior approval, User Content which contains advertising or any solicitation with respect to products or services.
6. Soliciting Financial Aid:
Soliciting financial assistance in the forums, chat or via PM is strictly prohibited. If you are approached for money or badgered by anyone who relentlessly drops subtle, or not so subtle hints about their financial needs, please contact Administration immediately.
7. Victim Friendly:
Attacking or bashing a victim is not allowed. Discussion of a victim’s behavior is allowed at the time of the crime, but do so in a civil manner and constructive way if it is relevant to the case only. Do not sleuth family members, their neighbors or friends that are not suspected of being involved in the crime or disappearance. We realize there are times that family members are in involved in the crime or disappearance and we will take our lead from law enforcement.
8. Sex Offenders:
When a child goes missing, it is appropriate to look at the sex offenders in the area and post their information, along with maps to show how close they live to the victim. However, the Sex Offender list should never be used to harass anyone. Any posting about a sex offender should always be with the law.
9. Organized Efforts:
Organized efforts such as letter writing, email campaigns, boycotts, petitions and reviews on various sites is strictly prohibited by CrimeWatchers.net unless express prior permission is given for such organized efforts. Please check with Administration if you have any questions in this regard.
10. Social Networking:
Links may be used to direct posters to view something on a social networking page provided it is relevant to the case discussion. Copying and pasting or screen shots directly from these pages is prohibited unless it belongs to a verified news station. Always provide a link.
We discourage linking to social networking pages of minors, even if they are the victim. This must be handled on a case by case basis since other minors (not victims) might be exposed on the social networking page. If you aren’t sure what can be posted, but ask Administration about your link.
Last but not least, you must be 100% sure that the link(s) go to the correct person discussed in the case. There are way too many persons with the same name, so be sure who you’re linking to.
11. Copyright, Links and URLS:
When posting a link or URL, please give a short description of what can be found at the link. Any member posting malicious or harmful URL links will be subject to action. This includes signatures which cause popup windows to popup threads, play music videos or other thing which cause sound on another member’s system while viewing or directs on to another website.
If when posting a link to another site and the address comes up censored, this means it is a blocked site should not be linked or posted. Please delete your post immediately if this happens. Some advertising entities have place strict guidelines on having links to sites they represent posted on other sites. It is a violation of their advertising contract and we are often asked to remove the links.
When posting an article from main stream media (MSM) news sources, please post only 10% of the article and a link to the entire article. This gives credit to the author of the article and complies with the 10% copyright rule.
12. Professionals & Case Players:
If you are a professional and would like to contribute your expertise to our discussion forums, you may be confirmed by contacting CrimewatchersCW@gmail.com. You will need to provide a copy of your credentials which will be kept confidential. Case players may also be confirmed at our discretion.
A member is not required to go through this confirmation process, but must do so prior to posting professional or insider information.
13. Personal Information:
Please do not post your personal information (name, phone number, etc.) on our site. CrimeWatchers.net does not have access to your personal information. If you choose to give another member access to your email, Facebook or other personal information, please know it’s pretty simple to figure out who you are offline.
TOS and Rules & Guidelines extend to your messages to or from other members. If you are harassed or receive messages soliciting or advertising, please forward the message to the staff for review.
14. Posting on Forums and Threads:
Please post all topics in the appropriate forum or thread. When creating new threads, please give the thread an appropriate title that indicates to others the subject and content of the thread. Administration may change the title of any thread if it does not adequately describe its content.
Administration has the right to remove any post, thread or forum at its discretion. If the discussion is no longer constructive or simply used to incite conflict, it may be closed or removed.
15. Law Enforcement:
This site is law enforcement friendly. If served by subpoena, we will comply with their request, which may include copies of any posts and/or IP addresses.
16. Freedom of Speech:
Freedom of speech is allowed, although it must be within our rules. Just as you cannot yell “fire” in a movie theater, you may not yell “virus” on our website. You must also follow all rules within a case. Unless a person of interest (POI) is named a person of interest or determined to be suspect by law enforcement (LE) or the main stream media (MSM), you may not post about them as if they are guilty of a crime. We also don’t allow personal information of a victim’s family or friends to be posted on our site unless they have made statements to law enforcement or the media. Always provide a link to those statements. This rule is in place to protect the innocent.