User Agreement & Community Policies

Connectism is a peer-support community and intended to be a respectful and supportive community. Therefore, respectful participation is required.

Constructive disagreement/feedback, respectful criticism, and different personal experiences are welcome.

Users may disagree with one another, but disagreements must remain respectful.

The following conduct is prohibited:

• harassment, bullying, intimidation, or threats;
• personal attacks, name calling;
• abusive, degrading, or deliberately hostile language;
• repeated unwanted communication;
• discriminatory or hateful conduct;
• mocking or attacking another person's disability, diagnosis, communication style, support needs, identity, family circumstances, or personal experience;
• encouraging others to harass, shame, threaten, or target another person;
• deliberately disrupting community discussions.

At this time, Connectism accounts are available only to individuals who are 18 years of age or older.

By creating or operating a Connectism account, you confirm that you are at least 18 years old.

This age requirement is in place to protect the privacy and safety of younger individuals and to ensure that users are legally able to consent to the terms of this User Agreement.

This policy may change as Connectism evolves.

Connectism is a peer-support, educational, and community platform.

Connectism is not a medical provider, mental-health provider, therapist, attorney, financial adviser, insurance adviser, benefits adviser, educational authority, emergency service, or other licensed professional service.

Information shared through Connectism is for general informational, educational, and peer-support purposes.

Users are responsible for evaluating information before acting on it.

Users may not use Connectism to engage in:

• spam or repetitive unwanted content;
• irrelevant promotional activity;
• fraud, scams, phishing, or deceptive offers;
• impersonation;
• manipulation of reports, reactions, or platform systems;
• attempts to evade account restrictions or bans;
• attempts to disrupt, attack, overload, or compromise Connectism systems;
• unlawful activity.

Connectism reserves the right to moderate the platform to protect users, maintain community standards, preserve platform integrity, enforce these policies, and comply with applicable law.

Connectism may take actions including:

• removing or limiting content;
• issuing warnings;
• restricting features;
• temporarily suspending an account;
• permanently terminating an account;
• preventing a previously removed user from creating replacement accounts;
• preserving relevant records for security, moderation, legal, or abuse-prevention purposes.

A warning is not required before enforcement. Serious, repeated, deliberate, or dangerous violations may result in immediate restriction, suspension, or permanent account termination.

Some Connectism features may hide your username, email address, or profile identity from other users.

This does not mean the content is anonymous to Connectism. Your username, email address, profile information, and the posts or submissions you create may still be internally linked to your Connectism account.

Authorized Connectism administrators or moderators may identify the account when reasonably necessary for moderation, safety, security, account support, abuse prevention, policy enforcement, or legal compliance.

Users are responsible for:

• the personal information they choose to disclose;
• protecting account credentials;
• respecting the privacy of others;
• evaluating advice and recommendations;
• their communications and interactions with other users;
• taking reasonable safety precautions;
• complying with applicable laws
• complying with Connectism policies and review its updates periodically
• ensuring that information, experiences, opinions, recommendations, images, and other material they share are submitted responsibly and that they have the right to share them;
• maintaining the confidentiality of their account credentials and promptly reporting suspected unauthorized access;

Users must not knowingly disclose another person's private, confidential, or sensitive identifying information without appropriate permission or another lawful basis.

Users should avoid sharing unnecessary information such as exact home addresses, Social Security numbers, medical-record numbers, financial information, passwords, full birth dates, confidential documents, or unnecessary identifying information about children.

Users are encouraged to report genuine concerns involving harassment, threats, abuse, spam, fraud, privacy violations, unsafe conduct, or other policy violations.

Reporting tools must not be used to harass another user, retaliate after a disagreement, submit knowingly false reports, or manipulate moderation decisions.

Connectism allows users to share posts, replies, comments, stories, images, recommendations, resource listings, reviews, and other material through the platform.

Connectism may remove, restrict, hide, or moderate user-submitted material when reasonably necessary to enforce community rules, protect users, maintain platform integrity, or comply with applicable law.

Depending on the feature, content may be visible to other Connectism members or to visitors where a feature is identified as public.

Connectism cannot prevent another person from copying, saving, quoting, photographing, forwarding, or taking screenshots of information that person is permitted to view.

Deleting content from Connectism does not guarantee deletion of copies previously retained by other users or third parties.

Connectism may help users discover, communicate with, or connect with other members.

Connectism does not supervise private communications, off-platform conversations, in-person meetings, or private relationships between users.

Users are responsible for taking reasonable precautions before sharing personal contact information, meeting another person, entering another person's home, providing transportation, exchanging items, or entering private arrangements.

Interactions between users are undertaken at the users' own discretion and risk.

Connectism may allow users to offer or receive free items or community assistance.

Connectism does not own, inspect, manufacture, control, or guarantee items offered by users unless expressly stated.

Users are responsible for independently evaluating an item before giving, receiving, transporting, or using it.

Connectism may contain recommendations, resources, businesses, places, products, programs, services, or information submitted by users or third parties.

A listing or recommendation appearing on Connectism does not automatically mean Connectism has independently verified, approved, guaranteed, or endorsed it.

Users are responsible for independently confirming relevant information before relying on a recommendation, visiting a location, or using a third-party service.

Users can manage certain account information and preferences through available Connectism features.

• review or update available profile information;
• change available privacy or notification preferences;
• delete certain content where that option is available;
• request deletion of their Connectism account;
• contact Connectism regarding privacy or security concerns.

Users may also contact Connectism regarding access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information associated with their account. Connectism will respond to such requests as required by applicable law.

Following a valid account-deletion request, Connectism will take reasonable steps to delete, remove, anonymize, or de-identify personal information that is no longer reasonably necessary for legitimate purposes.

Certain records may be retained where reasonably necessary or legally required for security, abuse prevention, moderation, dispute resolution, legal compliance, or protection of users and Connectism.

Connectism respects user privacy, but privacy is not absolute where disclosure is required or permitted by law.

Connectism may preserve, access, or disclose account information, user content, or related records when reasonably necessary to:

• comply with applicable law;
• respond to a valid subpoena, warrant, court order, or other lawful legal process;
• respond to lawful requests from law-enforcement or government authorities;
• investigate suspected fraud, abuse, or unlawful activity;
• protect the rights, property, security, or safety of Connectism, its users, or others;
• respond to an emergency involving a risk of serious harm where disclosure is permitted by law.

Where legally permitted and appropriate, Connectism may notify an affected user of a legal request. Connectism may be legally prohibited from providing such notice in some circumstances.

Connectism may collect account information, profile information, user-generated content, moderation records, preferences, location information when voluntarily used, and technical information reasonably necessary to operate and secure the platform.

Connectism does not sell users' personal information.

Connectism does not currently use users' personal information for targeted advertising.

Connectism may rely on third-party service providers for infrastructure, database services, authentication, file storage, notifications, mapping, or related operations.

Connectism aims to provide a reliable service but does not guarantee uninterrupted, error-free, or continuously available access.

Features may be temporarily unavailable because of maintenance, updates, outages, security issues, technical problems, or circumstances outside Connectism's reasonable control.

Users may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to Connectism systems, accounts, databases, administrative tools, source code, APIs, storage, authentication systems, security controls, or other non-public technical resources.

Unless expressly authorized by Connectism or permitted by applicable law, users may not:

• access or attempt to access another user's account or private information without authorization;
• bypass, disable, interfere with, circumvent, or defeat authentication, authorization, access controls, rate limits, security protections, or moderation controls;
• probe, scan, test, or exploit Connectism systems for vulnerabilities without prior written authorization;
• alter, manipulate, corrupt, delete, or interfere with Connectism databases, records, files, permissions, policies, application logic, or stored data;
• submit malicious code, malware, scripts, payloads, or commands intended to damage, disrupt, access, or manipulate the platform;
• use bots, crawlers, scrapers, automated scripts, data-mining tools, or similar technology to systematically extract Connectism content or data without authorization;
• reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, decode, or attempt to derive non-public source code, internal logic, security mechanisms, database structure, or technical architecture, except to the extent such a restriction is prohibited by applicable law;
• use undocumented or unauthorized methods to interact with Connectism APIs or backend services;
• attempt to obtain administrator, moderator, service-role, database, storage, or other elevated privileges;
• interfere with the availability, integrity, security, or normal operation of Connectism;
• use information obtained through unauthorized access for commercial, competitive, fraudulent, harmful, or unlawful purposes;
• assist another person in carrying out prohibited technical activity.

Security research, penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, or similar testing must not be performed against Connectism without prior written authorization.

Connectism may restrict or terminate accounts, block technical access, preserve relevant security records, and take other reasonable measures in response to suspected unauthorized access, scraping, security abuse, or interference with the platform.

Where appropriate and permitted by law, Connectism may report suspected unlawful activity to service providers, law-enforcement authorities, or other appropriate parties.

Connectism and its associated software, source code, original written content, graphics, visual designs, logos, branding, interface elements, educational materials, databases, data organization, and other proprietary platform materials are owned by Connectism or its applicable licensors, except where otherwise stated.

Users may access Connectism only for personal and permitted purposes provided through the platform.

Unless expressly authorized by Connectism or permitted by applicable law, users may not:

• copy, reproduce, republish, distribute, sell, license, or commercially exploit Connectism proprietary content or software;
• copy substantial portions of Connectism's original written materials, educational resources, visual designs, graphics, or interface content;
• reproduce or imitate Connectism branding, logos, or other source-identifying materials in a manner likely to cause confusion;
• extract, download, reproduce, or compile substantial portions of Connectism data or databases for unauthorized commercial or competitive purposes;
• use Connectism proprietary materials to create an unauthorized copy or substantially duplicative version of the service;
• remove, conceal, or alter copyright, trademark, attribution, or proprietary notices;
• use Connectism materials in a way that falsely suggests sponsorship, affiliation, approval, or endorsement by Connectism.

Users retain ownership of original content they submit, subject to the permissions reasonably necessary for Connectism to host, store, process, display, reproduce within the service, moderate, and operate that content as part of providing the platform.

Nothing in this Agreement transfers ownership of Connectism's proprietary materials to a user.

Connectism is continually being developed and may change over time.

Connectism may add, modify, redesign, suspend, remove, or discontinue features, community areas, account functions, resources, privacy controls, moderation tools, technical systems, eligibility requirements, or other portions of the service.

Connectism may update this User Agreement, privacy practices, community rules, and usage policies as the platform evolves.

The current version will display a Last updated date.

Users are responsible for periodically reviewing the current policies governing their use of Connectism.

For material changes, Connectism may provide additional notice where appropriate or required by applicable law.

Questions regarding this User Agreement, account enforcement, safety, privacy, or Connectism policies may be sent to:

connectism.rs@gmail.com