Note to new members

Due to spamming issues new members cannot post until their membership is validated by Site Admin. We do not accept new members using web-based email addresses. Once validated, new member's posts will be moderated. New members joining under a Monash email address will avoid moderation queues.

TERMS OF SERVICE

Use of this forum site indicates agreement to these Terms of Service.

The forum site owner is the Monash Postgraduate Association Inc. (“MPA”). Site Administration (“Site Admin.”) is MPA staff as so designated.

Every time you access this forum site, your computer’s identity address known as your IP address, is recorded. MPA reserves the right to disclose your IP address and identity if required to do so by law or for the administration of this forum site.

Forum site purpose
This forum site is intended for people who wish to express an opinion, share information or participate in discussion of interest to postgraduates. The opinions expressed by users are the opinions of those individuals and not the forum site owner.

Use of Posted Material
The forum site allows members to post content. Any material or information posted on this forum site by any means will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary. Material posted may be disseminated or used by anyone accessing the site. Posting of personal details is not recommended. Posting of personal details of others is contrary to the forum site owner’s privacy policy and any such item will be deleted once the forum site owner is alerted.

Posting Rules
Posts of the following nature will not be tolerated:-

• Personal Attacks (flaming). Criticise ideas, not people. This includes any material which is vulgar, defamatory, harassing, hateful, threatening, invading of others privacy, sexually oriented, or violates any laws
• comments of a racist, sexist or discriminatory nature;
• vilification of any kind;
• inflammatory or provocative comments with or without relevance to the forum site (trolling);
• defamatory comments posted in full knowledge of the defamatory nature;
• pornographic, obscene, sexually offensive or sexually explicit material or any kind, including jokes. This includes suggestive images, graphics, and comments or links to sites with these items;
• comments violating privacy principles;
• self promotion, promotion and advertising of other sites or entities;
• spamming (commercial or otherwise);
• links to sites that encourage or engage in providing cheats, plagiarism, breaches of intellectual property rights or moral rights and other behaviour contrary to academic codes of conduct.

For moderation purposes all posts must be in English. Any posts in languages other than English will be removed regardless of content.
You also agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you.

Reporting Objectionable Posts
Anyone identifying a post or other content on this site as an objectionable item or as otherwise offensive or inappropriate is encouraged to contact the moderators immediately. Once objectionable content has been brought to the attention of moderators, they will assess the veracity of the complaint. If the complaint is deemed valid the item will be removed as soon as practicable. Warnings, suspension or bans may be implemented against a user deemed to have posted objectionable or inappropriate content.

Warning System
Failure to observe any of the guidelines may result in formal warnings by moderators. If a member’s warning level reaches 100%, the member may face a suspension or ban. In some circumstances an immediate suspension or ban can be imposed. Site Admin reserves full discretion in ensuring appropriate use. The decision of Site Admin is final.

Disagreements with Moderators
Any registered user who strongly disagrees with a moderator’s decision may seek review by Site Admin. Complaints deemed by Site Admin to be vexatious, frivolous or time-wasting may lead to the offending user being suspended or a banned.

Applicable Law
Use of this forum site is governed by, and enforced in accordance with the laws of Victoria, Australia.

This forum site may be accessed throughout Australia and overseas. The forum site owner makes no representations that the content of this site complies with the laws (including intellectual property laws) of Australia or any country outside Australia. If you access this forum site, you do so at your own risk and are responsible for complying with the laws in the place at which you access the site.

Warranty Disclaimer
This forum site is available for access without any warranties of any kind, expressed or implied within the State of Victoria, Australia. The forum site owner does not represent or warrant that the information accessible via this forum site is accurate, complete, reliable or current. The forum site owner hereby disclaims any representations made by individual authors accessing this forum site and does not warrant freedom of any part of this site or any linked sites from computer virus, trojans, spyware, malware or computer contaminants. It is the responsibility of anyone using this site to ensure their computer has the adequate ability to check for viruses or other faults. Nothing on this site is intended as legal or commercial advice. Use of the forum site does not create and is not intended to create legal relations. The forum site owner will not be responsible for any loss or damage suffered by anyone in connection with the use of this forum site or any of the content. Use of links to other sites is at own risk; the forum site owner makes no representations about the accuracy or otherwise of the linked pages, content and information.

Limitation on Liability
The forum site owner shall not be liable for any direct or consequential damages that result in your use of, or the inability to use, the materials on this site or reliance on representations.