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Welcome to VibrantNation.com's Community Guidelines. VibrantNation.com was created as a place where smart, active women could connect within a positive, supportive environment where they can share stories, vent, and feel understood by other women like them. Feel free to give and get advice, to laugh, and to discuss anything that matters to you.
These guidelines are intended to maintain a positive place for Vibrant Women to come together. Personal attacks and antagonistic or disrespectful behavior will not be tolerated at VibrantNation.com, nor will constant complaining about the site or other members.
Here's one way to think of your experience here: Imagine that you're at a real-life gathering of other Vibrant women (a garden party, perhaps). You may know some of the other guests, and there may be some with whom you may or may not be friends -- or even know. You now have the opportunity to mix, mingle, and connect with these other women -- find out what they're all about. Ask questions, talk about current events, your work, your families, etc. Or you may choose to just listen to others' conversations. You may choose to be active or inactive in the conversations -- but no matter what, we want you to be comfortable.
As in real life, there are lots of women with lots of different opinions. If you're listening to someone else's thoughts, you might hear things that you don't want to. That's all right -- we're all entitled to our opinions and we want Vibrant Nation to be a place where you can share your opinion, even if it isn't popular or mainstream! We value diversity of opinions, lifestyles, fashion, etc. and we do our best to encourage this.
As the party's host, the Vibrant Nation staff will do our best to enforce the guidelines listed below, answer members' questions, and provide a delightful, easy environment for great conversations.
VibrantNation.com's Community Guidelines
Be as pleasant and respectful to the women you meet as possible. Remember, emotion doesn't translate well in type, so give each other the benefit of the doubt.
- Respect the other women on the site.
- Don't harass, personally attack, or gang up on others.
- Name-calling, racial slurs, stereotyping, and hate speech will not be tolerated.
- Be constructive when you're debating a controversial topic. Understand that putting your opinion out there means that others may or MAY NOT agree with you and your ideas.
- All faiths (including no faith) welcome here.
- Don't make comments whose only goal is to antagonize or annoy others.
- Don't ask other members for help in the form of money, gifts, or donations.
- Advertising and promotions are allowed ONLY on your profile page.
- Private messaging
- When you talk about sex -- and we know you will! -- be respectful of others.
- Don't share your personal information or anyone else's information on the site unless you're absolutely certain it is safe to share with that person. That includes anything another member shared with you in private.
- Do not create multiple accounts. If you need a second account for some reason, please contact the Vibrant Nation staff.
- Sorry, men. This nation is for Vibrant Women only.
- Report any abuse or problems you see on the site, including posts that break these rules and anyone you suspect doesn't belong on Vibrant Nation. It's your community. Keep it safe!
- Don't do anything criminal or illegal on Vibrant Nation or encourage anyone else to do so.
- If you have a problem with Vibrant Nation's policies, send your thoughts to Vibrant Nation. Do not post repeatedly about it on the site.
- If you can't stand the heat, get outta the kitchen.
Vibrant Nation's Responsibilities
The Vibrant Nation editors try to look at every comment made on the site, but we can't guarantee we'll see everything. If we see something that we believe violates our Community Guidelines or the Terms of Service, we will review the situation and take appropriate action.
If you see it before we do, please select the "report" link under the post. You can also send an email to beth@vibrantnation.com. Please include the link to the page where you saw the post.
When you report something that you believe violates these Guidelines or the Vibrant Nation Terms of Service, understand that we may not always agree that there is a problem. When we do agree, we will take the action that we feel is appropriate. For privacy reasons, we often will not be able to share the action that we have taken, but we take all reports seriously, and take appropriate actions when necessary. Our members are our number one concern; however, we have the final say on what is permissible under these Guidelines and our Terms of Service.
We always have the right to remove postings, warn members, and disable accounts to enforce these guidelines and the Terms of Service or to maintain the integrity of the site. Whatever we do, we do in the community's best interest and our decision is final. We may not always be able to explain our actions, but know that we do not take these decisions lightly.
There may be content on the site that violated these guidelines before we had them in place. We probably won't remove it. We feel our efforts are better spent focusing on current issues on the site.
Your Responsibilities
Follow these guidelines and you'll be doing your part to make Vibrant Nation a great place for all Vibrant women. These guidelines will always be a work in progress, and we may revise them at any time and without prior notice.
Vibrant Nation Detailed Rules of Conduct (a.k.a. The Fine Print)
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Respect the other women on the site.
It's just like we all learned in kindergarten - treat others as you'd like to be treated. If everyone follows this rule, we'll never have a problem! Don't comment in anger, and give each other a break. Remember that things online can be more easily misunderstood because you can't see the writer's facial expression or hear the tone of her voice. Also, just because someone has a different opinion than you doesn't make their opinion - or yours! - the wrong one. Try not to take things too personally. Oh, and mean girls are not welcome on Vibrant Nation. Go start your own web site!
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Don't harass, personally attack, or gang up on others.
You can express your point of view, different though it may be from others', but remain respectful. Your opinion isn't better or worse than any other, so don't be hateful about it. Name-calling or rallying support for "your side" only creates division and ill feelings. Nobody wins.
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Slurs, stereotyping, and hate speech are not tolerated.
Vibrant Nation has zero tolerance for slurs, hate speech, and attacks aimed at any race, color, religion, national origin, disability or sexual orientation. All posts containing such language will be deleted.
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Be constructive when you're debating a controversial topic. Understand that putting your opinion out there means that others may or MAY NOT agree with you and your ideas.
When you post about a controversial topic, expect that your point of view will be challenged and vigorously questioned. If you put your ideas out there, expect scrutiny. If being expected to defend your position makes you uncomfortable, please don't post about that topic.
We encourage discussion and debate. However, if a healthy conversation becomes an exchange of attacks and insults or becomes too heated, we may take measures to end the discussion.
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All faiths (including no faith) welcome here.
VibrantNation.com members represent a wide variety of religious and spiritual orientations - all are welcome to participate in conversations on our site. When you participate in conversations here, you will probably encounter women whose beliefs differ from yours. Please approach these encounters in a spirit of tolerance, accepting the rights of others to follow freely their own religious beliefs, even if they seem false to you. Saying, "I believe..." is a lot more respectful than saying, "You are wrong" or "My belief is right."
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Don't make comments whose only goal is to antagonize or annoy others.
Nobody wants to read a childish exchange of name-calling and finger pointing, and certainly not the smart, informed women of Vibrant Nation. Posts that are meant to hurt another member have no place at Vibrant Nation. It's the online equivalent of schoolyard bullying, and it makes it a less inviting place for everyone. Sometimes comments are unintentionally inflammatory or hurtful -- and we understand that -- but we might still remove the post.
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Don't ask other members for help in the form of money, gifts, or donations.
It's fine to post about your favorite charity, non-profit organizations, etc. We know our members love to give back! However, it is not acceptable to ask another member for money, goods, or services.
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Advertising and promotions are allowed ONLY on your profile page.
Advertising includes:
- Work-at-home businesses
- Products that you are selling (personal or professional)
- Job opportunities
- Charities and charitable causes
- Promoting your website, blog, etc.
- Promoting your entry in a contest (e.g,. "Vote for my grandchild in the cutest baby contest on xyz.com!")
Pyramid schemes and cash gifting scams are illegal, and posting information about these schemes anywhere on Vibrant Nation is prohibited.
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Private Messaging
On rare occasions, a Vibrant Nation member might have something very personal in nature to share with another VN member. That's why we added a private messaging feature.
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Please use this feature sparingly and only for its intended purpose. Anyone sending advertisements, solicitations, or other prohibited messages will be banned from sending private messages in the future -- and perhaps even booted off the site altogether. -
When you talk about sex -- and we know you will! -- be respectful of others.
We all have different thresholds for what we are comfortable seeing and reading. Try not to be graphic or overly profane. We're all adults, there's no need to go to an extreme.
Bare your soul but not your private parts. Nude photographs or images are not allowed. (Did we really have to say that?)
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Don't share your personal information or anyone else's information on the site unless you're absolutely certain it is safe to share with that person. That includes anything another member shared with you in private.
Would you give your phone number, street address or anything else to a stranger you just met in the grocery store? Maybe -- if you trusted her or knew someone in common. But this is the world wide web. Anyone can view VibrantNation.com and your posts. Be safe, not sorry.
Further, we cannot verify the identities of everyone on the site. You use the site at your own risk. We urge you to learn and follow best practices for staying safe online.
You should also not share or post anyone else's personal information.
We can't be responsible for what happens outside of VibrantNation.com, even if you attend an event that was organized on the site. Be careful whom you talk to, whom you trust, and what you do in the "real" world based on what you read online.
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Do not create multiple accounts. If you need a second account for some reason, please contact the Vibrant Nation staff.
Each member of Vibrant Nation is allowed to have one account. If we discover you have multiple accounts, we may disable the alternate identities in addition to your original.
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Sorry, men. This nation is for Vibrant Women only.
While we understand that men may be curious to see what’s going on at VibrantNation.com (and we welcome their interest), men are not allowed to post comments on the site as members.
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Report any abuse or problems you see on the site, including posts that break these rules and anyone you suspect doesn't belong on Vibrant Nation. It's your community. Keep it safe!
If you see a problem, tell us. We're always watching the site in one way or another. We rely on our members to help us identify when there is a violation of these guidelines. When you report something to us, we will do our best to investigate it as soon as possible. There is no need to report things multiple times or encourage others to also report it.
If you think you've found a member who doesn't belong on VibrantNation, send us an email (beth@vibrantnation.com) providing the member's profile link and member name and we will investigate. Do not threaten, harass, or post about your suspicions.
Likewise, if we discover that you are pretending to be someone you are not, we will cancel your account.
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Don't do anything criminal or illegal on Vibrant Nation or encourage anyone else to do so.
Any postings that we suspect are criminal or illegal will be removed, and any conduct that we suspect is illegal or which poses a threat of illegal activity will be reported to the appropriate authorities. We will cooperate with authorities to prosecute anyone who breaks the law while using our site. Do not link to sites containing criminal or illegal activity.
If you see something that you believe is illegal, you can report that to the authorities. We are not legal experts and cannot make assessments about the legality of many things. If you think it's illegal, you should contact the police and let them make the decision. We will fully cooperate with any authorities who contact us about issues on Vibrant Nation.
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If you have a problem with Vibrant Nation's policies, send your thoughts to Vibrant Nation. Do not post repeatedly about it on the site.
We are open to constructive feedback about our decisions and policies, but we don't want constant complaining interrupting the flow of what's supposed to be happening on the site. Just send us an email (beth@vibrantnation.com) outlining the issue and we'll give it some thought at our next staff meeting!
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If you can't stand the heat, get outta the kitchen.
Just kidding. We do understand that VibrantNation.com may not be right for everyone. If you find yourself thinking about leaving, though, don't post long diatribes about why you're leaving. Most members won't care. Send it to us instead. We do.
- The Vibrant Nation Team
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