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Community member guidelines

Community Member Guidelines

  1. Understood is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization focused on shaping the world for difference. We provide a range of resources to help people who learn and think differently thrive. We welcome anyone willing to join us in this pursuit.

  2. You are encouraged to view as many of Understood’s articles, slideshows, infographics, and videos as you wish. Feel free to share what you learn with others both online and offline.

  3. We invite you to participate in the community on Understood.org, and on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and other social media. We’re building an online community centered around families with children who have learning and thinking differences.

    We reserve the right to remove content containing obscenity, language that could make families uncomfortable, or the excessive use of profanity.

    Please be aware, when participating, that we will remove:

    • Content that does not directly relate to larger discussions in a meaningful way

    • Racist, sexist, homophobic, or religiously intolerant content

    • Disrespectful, distasteful, unconstructive, or illegal content

    • Content promoting pseudo­science, conspiracy theories, zealotry, proselytizing, self­-promotion, product­-hawking, or research project inquiries

    • Content posted by members using inappropriate profile names or profile images

  4. To join the community on Understood, you’ll need to create a profile. Anyone 13 and over can join Understood by providing basic contact information (first name, email address, country of residence). Once registered, please feel free to set up a profile and join the community by commenting on existing posts or creating your own.

  5. If you’re under age 13, you may not create an individual Understood account, and therefore you cannot actively participate in the Understood community. You’re welcome to view Understood and enjoy the site, though.

  6. If you act disrespectfully, disruptively, or illegally in the community on Understood or on our social media channels, we reserve the right to block you or terminate your membership, at any time, and without prior warning.

  7. Understood experts are committed to providing families with expert advice that’s free of charge and never influenced by commercial interests. However, all communication between families and experts should only take place within the Understood Community, not through personal email.

  8. Please note that screen names are generated by individual users and may contain titles (such as Dr. or Ph.D.) that are not vetted by the Understood team.

We always appreciate feedback from members of the Understood Community. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments regarding these Community Member Guidelines, please let us know at community@understood.org.

Using the Flag Button

Have you come across a topic you find inappropriate? Understood is keeping an eye out for inappropriate topics but can use your help to flag troublesome content. If you see a topic that concerns you:

  • Please click the Flag button on the comment to send us an alert. No comments will be removed or hidden automatically, but the Understoodteam will be alerted to review it as soon as possible.

  • Other members will not be able to see that you’ve flagged a comment.

  • Please don’t over­use the Flag button, or flag a comment simply because you disagree with the author.

    • Screen names are generated by individual users and may contain titles (such as Dr. or PhD) that are not vetted by the Understood team.

How to Avoid Having Your Post Removed

No one likes having their contributions removed, but sometimes we have to do that to keep the community pleasant, useful, and safe for everyone. We ask all our community members to refrain from posting:

  • Abuse: Understood is not the place for bullying, name-­calling, hateful feedback, threats, harassment, intolerance, or virtual violence.

  • Crass commercialism: Understood is not the right place for selling or promoting your product or service. It’s also not the right place for soliciting traffic to your website or looking for research project participation.

  • Spam: Any spam messages will be deleted.

  • Inappropriate: Whether it’s unrelated content or it’s derailing a conversation, topics posted that are not appropriate will be removed.

  • Inappropriate language: Understood is not the right place for inappropriate text­-speak, foul language, obscenity, or combative posturing.

  • Inappropriate images: Explicit or inappropriate profile images will result in your account being deleted.

  • Privacy concern: ­If your comment divulges private information (including telephone numbers, mailing addresses, or ways to make in-person contact) about you or another person, it will be deleted. Please don’t post identifying information such as the name of your child’s school or teacher

  • Response to an inappropriate comment:­ Please use the Flag button instead of replying.

  • Terms and Conditions violation: ­We will remove any topic that violates Understood’s Terms and Conditions.

  • Other: Understood is not the right platform for pseudo­science, zealotry, personal requests, proselytizing, or self-­promotion.

If the Understood staff removes your topic, please consider working with us to revise your content until it is appropriate for the community. Please don’t harass or threaten the staff; doing so will risk removal of your account.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this guide. We look forward to seeing your contributions to the community on Understood!