With your participation you agree to the guidelines of the present CODE OF CONDUCT for a fair, respectful and professional communication with each other within the whole KNOW-HOW3000 Internet Platform.

This forum is a platform for lively, interesting and inviting dialogues and debates between the users. The following guidelines apply for the use of the forum:

Quality

The quality of all the discussions is of major concern to us. To ensure the quality of the discussions, you should also ensure the quality of your replies through:

• Reference to the topic: Good replies refer to the topic of the discussion (= the thread), answer to questions, bring in relevant aspects, but can – of course – also include contrary positions or new points of view. Avoid drifting away too far from the topic or incomprehensible expressions concerning the content or language of your reply, as well as posting the same content multiple times.
• Understandable argumentation: If you discuss something, show interest in your discussion on partners’ arguments, and, if you have a different point of view, underline your arguments with comprehensible explanations. Also give reference to external or internal sources, and avoid generalizations, false claims, or suggestions.
• Respect for other discussion partners and objectivity: High-quality discussions at this platform are objective, reasonable and based on facts. Give replies without offending, annoying, or mocking your discussion partners, and without hostilities or insults. Do not disturb on-going expert dialogues or professional discussions through unnecessary interferences if you do not know the subject of discussion very well.

Rules for Discussions Boards

The rules for using discussion boards are:

• Account Security: You are the account holder of your account, and therefore also responsible for the security of your account. Any post from your account will be attributable to the account holder. So: Keep your password secret!
• Responsibility for posts of users: HORIZONT3000 does not assume responsibility for the content of the posts of the users of this platform. HORIZONT3000 does not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any post or reply. The posts and replies express the views of the author, not necessarily the views of HORIZONT3000 or any other entity associated directly with HORIZONT3000. Every user remains solely responsible for the content of her/his posts or replies. If you violate the Forum Rules through your postings, HORIZONT3000 will take the appropriate measures to respond individually to these violations (see “Moderation” below).
• Tolerance and criticism: Different points of view, as well as constructive criticism are welcome in discussions in the forum, if they are formulated in a respectful, objective and polite way. Insulting, threatening, or abusive behaviour is and will not be accepted at this platform.
• Law: The general laws and regulations of Austria are to be followed as user of the KNOW-HOW3000 Internet Platform (including Discussion Boards). Consider that you are not anonymous here, and that your posts and replies can be traced back to you. You can be held responsible for any law-violating contributions, for posts or replies of any illegal nature or posts that detail ways to perform acts of an illegal nature. Defamatory behaviour, or behaviour that is damaging to organisations, businesses or any other kind of professional activities, will not be tolerated. It is forbidden to post racist, sexist, or anti-Semitic content, as well as prejudging, discriminating or degrading any other sexually oriented, religious, cultural, national, ethnical, or linguistic (etc.) group of any country. Content that glorifies violence, addiction or drugs, inhuman content, or content which is against good morals, stirring up hatred or inciting violence against any of the mentioned groups or other parts of the populations of any other country are also forbidden. This also applies to the links posted by the users. HORIZONT3000 reserves the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of a complaint or illegal action arising from any post or reply authored by you, in order to hand it over to the legal authorities for further prosecution.
• Advertisement or Spam: It is forbidden to post advertising or commercial content. Spamming or Flooding the Forum with your posts or replies isn’t allowed neither.
• Personal or private Data: It is not allowed to publish personal or private data of any person within this forum without the agreement of the respective person. If you want to share private information with another user of the KNOW-HOW3000 Internet Platform, please find another way of communication, as this Platform is for professional purposes only.

Moderation / Facilitation

The staff of HORIZONT3000 will moderate the topics and discussions, but – as time is not infinitely available to anyone – it is not possible for the Moderators or Administrators to be present in the forums every day. Nonetheless, the Moderators and Administrators will follow these guidelines:

• Responsibility for moderation: Although the Moderators and Administrators of this Forum are not able to immediately review all posts as they are uploaded, HORIZONT3000 reserves the right to delete any post or reply and/or disable any users account for any reason and without posted explanation. Please note that there always is a Moderator or Administrator, no matter which Forum a user happens to post in. The Moderators and Administrators try to cover for each other as they cannot all be there 24 hours a day. If an infraction of the Code of Conduct is being noticed by a user, it hast to be sent by E-Mail to the Administrators or Moderators.
• Objectionable content: Any user who feels that a post or reply is objectionable is encouraged to contact the Moderators or Administrators immediately. Send an E-Mail with a link to the topic/thread/post/reply in question. We have the possibility to remove objectionable posts and we will make every effort to do so if we determine that a removal is needed. This is a manual process however and will take time.
• Violation of Forum Rules and Consequences: If, for any reason, you are violating any of the Forum Rules, your privileges to post or to leave replies in this forum will be reviewed by a Moderator/Administrator. The penalties range from a friendly warning, a ban from a particular thread, subject, or forum, a timed ban from the Forum (for a specific time), a total posting and replying ban (you may still read the forums) or in extreme cases a total ban (you will not be able to read the forums), or a deactivation of your account. If the matter of your violation warrants it, you might also be reported to your appropriate authorities. The forum staff of HORIZONT3000 (Moderators and Administrators) have the final say over what constitutes a violation of the Code of Conduct and the Forum Rules. In addition to the consequences stated above, we reserve the right to terminate accounts without warning(s) and move/delete/close threads/posts/replies without further explanation if users violate the Forum Rules.
• Notification of banning: If your offence or violation requires a temporary or permanent ban, a notice will be sent to your registered e-mail address by an Administrator (as these are the only Staff able to authorize this level of penalty).

Notes

This is a professional forum and was never intended to facilitate the needs of private communication. The purpose of the forum is as indicated in the purpose of the KNOW-HOW3000 Internet Platform.

The Forum is owned and operated by HORIZONT3000. Moderators and Administrators keep the content in line with the vision and purpose of HORIZONT3000 as a whole.

The Code of Conduct might be subject to change without notice. Further, some sub-forums with restricted access may have additional restrictions and/or guidelines for posting that are visible at the respective sub-forum. It is the responsibility of every single user to ensure that she/he is aware of the current rules and forum guidelines for posting.

Copyright

All content posted by HORIZONT3000 Staff within the KNOW-HOW3000 Platform is the exclusive intellectual property of HORIZONT3000, if the content is not indicated as property of someone else. Copyright ownership of that content resides with HORIZONT3000 and the organisation HORIZONT3000 is free to use any of the content owned by HORIZONT3000 as it wishes. Anyone other than HORIZONT3000 seeking to reprint, republish, or reproduce content posted within the Forum of the KNOW-HOW3000 Internet Platform must receive the written permission from HORIZONT3000.

The content posted by another organisation than HORIZONT3000 is the exclusive intellectual property of the respective organisation or institution if not stated otherwise. If the Copyright resides with another organisation or institution (for example documents like manuals, evaluations, etc.), the written permission of the respective organisation or institution must be received.

By posting or leaving replies at the KNOW-HOW3000 Internet Platform you are agreeing to the content of this Code of Conduct.