The International Exchange on Hoarding web site is a complimentary information service provided by the Mental Health Association of Orange County (MHA) as a convenience to users, with the express condition that users agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this User Agreement. MHA reserves the right to change the User Agreement terms and conditions at any time. Use of the International Exchange on Hoarding web site constitutes your acceptance of the terms and conditions included below.
MHA has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to your privacy and security. The following discloses our information collection and use practices for this Web site: www.mhaoc.org.
Effective Date: January 1, 2011
Summary:
- MHA does not collect personally-identifiable information about you other than what you freely share. We do log the Internet IP address of every computer that visits our site as part of our normal site usage tracking.
- You have the option of entering personally-identifiable information about yourself as you interact with the Web site, including name, address, interests, profession, etc. MHA uses the information to help us understand who our site users are and how we may better target and tailor our services.
- MHA does not share any of your personally-identifiable information outside the MHA organization.
- You retain full control over all information you share about yourself, and may remove or request removal of this information at any time.
- You retain full control over what types of e-mail communication you receive from MHA, and may opt to discontinue e-mail correspondence at any time.
- Anytime you enter personally-identifiable information, not intended to be shared publicly, such as password, address, or credit card number, this information is sent to MHA over a secure connection.
- MHA uses generally accepted industry standards to protect the information submitted to us.
Limitation of Liability
You agree that you will hold harmless MHA and its officers, directors, employees, and volunteers from all claims arising out of or related to your access or use of, or your inability to access or use, this Web site or the information contained in this Web site or other Web sites to which it is linked. You also agree that MHA or the contributors of information to this Web site shall NOT be liable to you or anyone else for any decision made or action taken by you in reliance on information provided on the MHA web site or for any consequential, special or similar damages, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.
Disclaimer on Professional Advice
The information available on and through the International Exchange on Hoarding web site is presented in summary form as a supplement to, and NOT a substitute for, the knowledge, skill, and judgment of qualified psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians and health care professionals or other qualified professionals. The information on International Exchange on Hoarding web site may or may not have been obtained from sources believed to be accurate and reliable. However, MHA makes no warranty as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of this information. Should you have any legal, health, medical or disability questions or concerns, please consult a professional in your local community. Information accessed on or through International Exchange on Hoarding web site is neither complete nor exhaustive and does not cover all situations, disabilities, diseases, illnesses, and physical conditions or their management or treatment.
Information accessed on and through the International Exchange on Hoarding is provided “AS IS” and without warranty, express or implied, including, but not limited to, any implied warranty of merchantability or of fitness for a particular purpose. The information provided on the International Exchange on Hoarding web site is provided for general information only.
Disclaimer of Warranty
MHA makes no warranties of any kind concerning this web site, including but not limited to any warranty of accuracy, completeness, currency, reliability, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, or any warranty that these pages, or the server that makes them available, are free of viruses or other harmful elements, and such warranties are expressly disclaimed.
Endorsements
You understand that the opinions and recommendations included in this Web site are not necessarily those of MHA or endorsed by MHA. MHA may provide links to other Web sites, which are not under the control of MHA. These links are included as a convenience to you and are not intended as an endorsement by MHA of the organization or individual operating the Web site.
Usage of Content
Unless otherwise indicated, all information contained on the International Exchange on Hoarding web site, including – but not limited to – text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio and video clips, is proprietary to MHA.
MHA grants the requested reprint permission without financial charge subject to your agreement to these conditions.
In the reprint, you will credit MHA. You are not reselling the product at a profit. And you will send a copy of the result to this address:
Administrator
Mental Health Association of Orange County
822 Town & Country Road, Orange, CA 92868.
If the reprint is for use on a Web site, please send the citation to admin@mhaoc.org.
For any information contained on the International Exchange on Hoarding web site that is attributed to another source, permission to reproduce must be obtained from the original source. Use of any automatic device, or manual process to monitor or copy the Web site or any of its content and “mirroring” the Web site or any content on any other server is prohibited unless prior permission is obtained from MHA.
International Exchange on Hoarding FORUM Rules
Participation in the Forum is limited to registered members of this site. Participants are required to abide by the rules and policies detailed below and in the Terms of Use listed above.
Although the administrators of the International Exchange on Hoarding will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and site administrators and MHA will not be held responsible for the content of any message.
When posting messages, please use the same courtesy that you would show when speaking face-to-face with someone. Flames, insults, and personal attacks will not be tolerated. It’s fine to disagree strongly with opinions, ideas, and facts, but always with respect for the other person. Great minds do not always think alike, and that’s one reason why this forum exists. Also, note that messages posted in the Forum express the thoughts of the writers, not MHA or the membership/administrators of the International Exchange on Hoarding.
No Inappropriate Avatars or Embedded Images: Avatars and images embedded within posts using IMAGE tags must be appropriate for all audiences. Any image that might be deemed offensive or inappropriate to members are not tolerated. The site Administrators shall make the final determination as to the appropriateness of any image.
No Commercial Postings: This is a private BBS designated for the use of its members. No commercial posts of any kind will be allowed in the general forums. Special announcements concerning educational events related to hoarding interventions that may generate income for non-profit organizations may be allowed. Any posts to any forum that are deemed to be of a commercial nature will be subject to removal and the identity posting them may be blocked or banned.
Copyrighted materials: This site is available for the free flow of information among its members; each person is responsible for the content he or she submits to this site. Posting of copyrighted materials, links to pirated copyrighted materials or solicitation to buy, sell or trade pirated copyrighted materials is not condoned by the Administrators of this site. Any materials or links posted on this site which appear to be in violation of a copyright will be removed without notice. The Administrators of this site respect the intellectual property of others and will make every effort to assure those rights are not violated. The determination of any materials in question will be at the sole discretion of the site Administrators.
Safe place: This site should be considered a “safe place”. Blatantly offensive, off-color or racially insensitive comments, inappropriate content, personal attacks, harassment, and posts meant to polarize, inflame or incite other members the group will not be tolerated.
Identity: You are allowed to participate in our community anonymously but you are required to provide a real name and other identifying information to help provide a real sense of community to all of our members. We do require that you provide a valid email address for membership. If any account is found to have an invalid email address, that account will be terminated by the Administrators.
Stick to the topic: Know what on-topic is and what is off-limits. Every forum is a little different in what it talks about and each forum in our group is devoted to clearly defined topics. Please stick to the topic covered by each forum or for more generalized chatter use the OTHER forum.
This is not your personal email: Understand when it’s time to go to private emails or private messaging. Ask yourself the following question before you press the send button — “Am I adding anything to the discussion or would this message be better sent as a private email to the particular individual I’m trying to reach?” If you have something that should be directed to one individual, send them the email or private message, not the forum. That is, unless your answer is of a general interest nature that we all would benefit from.
Control the “chatter”: Friendly banter between members is a good thing. But when it’s taken to the extreme, it clutters up the message board and lowers the value of the information contained in the archives. Each off-topic commentary, witty remark, and me-too post just adds to more messages to search through in the archives. Use the site’s chat system if you want to share one on one conversation.
Keep some things to yourself: Treat all posts you place in this forum as PUBLIC information. Anything you put in a post is potentially there for the entire internet to see. Home addresses, phone numbers, or other personal information is better left to a private email and not posted on the group.
Just the Facts (not FAQs): Concise and to the point is more important than showing off your expressive nature or expansive knowledge. Please be clear, and please be brief.
Don’t shout: TYPING ALL IN CAPS IS CONSIDERED SHOUTING. Reading a lot of text in caps is hard on the eyes and is considered very rude.
Don’t over quote: Copying a long post (more than 20 lines) just to add “I agree” or “me too” is considered bad form. Be original; bring something new to the discussion.
Context: Just as you shouldn’t over quote, at least give us some idea what you’re talking about when you do post that “I agree” or “thank you” message. Nothing like having to track back on a “thank you” message and read through an entire thread of “hoarding newspapers” as it morphs into some other completely unrelated subject to get to the original post.
Don’t beat a dead horse: Read through the entire thread BEFORE you post a response. Chances are you are reading a message that is several days or even weeks old. Please take the time to read the entire thread before responding.
The Golden Rule: Treat other users with the same respect you would like to receive yourself. Remember that we all started in this work with little idea of what we were dealing with or what we were getting ourselves into.
Name without a face: On the Internet and in newsgroups especially, people don’t see you, just what you post. Because of that, you need to be careful of what you write because that almost completely determines how you are perceived by others. So, if you want to be taken seriously, it’s a good idea to double check the spelling and grammar of a post before sending it. It’s also a good idea to double check any facts you state in a post — there is always someone who has enough free time to go checking on anything you post; and it can be embarrassing to be called on a factual error.
Show some emotion: Because email is a text form of communication, it lacks the subtleties and nuances of verbal/face to face communication. Take a moment to learn the various methods of expressing a level of “internet body language” in your posts (a.k.a. emoticons). Some basic emoticons and acronyms can be found at http://www.pcmedixwebs.com/emoticons.htm
Enforcement of the Guidelines: Enforcement of the FORUM guidelines is at the discretion of the site Administrators. Serious infractions will be handled with a warning, with any further infractions resulting in having the offending member’s membership revoked by the Administrators. Although the site Administrators will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the administrators of this site nor MHA will be held responsible for the content of any message.By agreeing to these rules, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-orientated, hateful, threatening, or otherwise contrary of any laws.The site administrators and MHA reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason.