Community Guidelines

Thank you for being part of our community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation. Please note that the ATD Terms of Use and Privacy Notice also govern your use of the ATD Community.  
 
By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these guidelines. This is a great medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation. You agree that any shared files or content you contribute directly aligns with the topics and are of value to others in the community. Participation in the discussions should be appropriate, helpful, and relevant to members of the community. Questions about these guidelines should be directed to our Customer Care team via the “Submit a Ticket” link on this site or emailed directly to customercare@td.org. 
 
Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with these important guidelines. If you have questions, contact ATD Customer Care. To preserve an online environment that encourages both civil and productive dialogue, ATD reserves the right to suspend or terminate access to this community for anyone who violates these guidelines. 

Our Community Guidelines

  • Contribute. Our community can’t grow without you! Start a thread, join a discussion, share resources, and get involved. Engage in discussions with talent development professionals to learn about new techniques, new content or topics that are of interest to you, find peer groups who are facing similar professional challenges, and share success stories with each other. This community is a great place to grow your professional network and find resources that help you build your career. 

  • Respect others. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Extend the benefit of the doubt to newer guests and members; all questions are welcome. Any statements or materials that defame, harass, abuse, stalk, threaten, intimidate, or in any way violate the rights of others are strictly prohibited. 

  • Keep it appropriate. Any statements or materials that are or are perceived to be vulgar, obscene, profane, bigoted, hateful, political, religious, or racially offensive are strictly prohibited. ATD is committed to providing a professional, friendly, and welcoming community for all regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, or other protected classes. 

  • No self-promotion outside of dedicated spaces. The community is not a space for self-promotion or spam, unless otherwise specified. Messages with the explicit intent to promote or sell a product or service, unauthorized advertising for new business, drive people to a form or a website, or link to a third-party site will be removed at the discretion of ATD. 

  • Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.  Do not post unauthorized copyrighted materials or any other material that infringes on the intellectual property rights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, or privacy of others. In addition, do not post statements or material that violate other contractual or fiduciary rights, duties, or agreements of others. 

  • Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws. 

Discussion Group Etiquette

  • Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating extra "noise." 

  • State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject. 

  • Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" directly to individuals, not to the entire thread. Do this by using the "Reply Privately" link found in the message drop-down. 

Reporting Violations 

If you witness behavior that is not in accordance with our community guidelines, please mark the post as inappropriate to alert our moderation team. ATD reserves the right to remove content at its discretion. 

Disciplinary Action 

Failure to adhere to our community guidelines could result in a written warning, temporary removal of access to the community, or complete removal from the community. 

Key Elements from the ATD Terms of Use 

Please note that ATD Terms of Use also govern users of the ATD Community. Included below are sections 9, 10, and 11 from the Terms of Use as a reminder of the relevant terms regarding postings in Community: 

Postings. The Website may contain blogs, forums, message boards, portals, comment areas, questionnaires and other interactive features and functionality where Users can share and post information and/or photos, video, or audio. To the extent that the Website contains such communication forums and online communities (referenced collectively herein as “Online Communities”), You agree that by using the Website You will not upload, post, display, or transmit any of the following materials on the Website’s Online Communities: 

  • anything that interferes with or disrupts the Website or the operation thereof, 

  • statements or material that defames, harasses, abuses, stalks, threatens, intimidates, or in any way violates the rights of others, 

  • unauthorized copyrighted materials or any other material that infringes on the intellectual property rights, trade secrets, or privacy of others, 

  • statements or material that violates other contractual or fiduciary rights, duties, or agreements, 

  • statements or material that is bigoted, hateful, or racially offensive, 

  • statements or material that encourages criminal conduct or that would give rise to civil liability or otherwise violates any law or regulation in any jurisdiction, 

  • statements or material that constitutes anti-competitive collaboration and/or antitrust violations, 

  • statements or material that contains vulgar, obscene, profane, or otherwise objectionable language or images that typically would not be considered socially or professionally responsible or appropriate in person, 

  • statements or material that harms minors, 

  • statements or material that impersonates any other person or entity, whether actual or fictitious, including, without limitation, employees and representatives of ATD, 

  • statements or material that misrepresents Your affiliation with any entity and/or ATD, 

  • anything that violates the privacy or publicity rights of any other person, including, without limitation, posting any personally identifying information of another individual, 

  • chain letters or pyramid schemes, 

  • statements or materials that are deceptive or misleading, 

  • statements or material that constitutes junk mail, spam, or unauthorized advertising or promotional materials, 

  • statements or material that are “off-topic” for a designated community, and 

  • files that contain malicious code, viruses, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another’s computer, network, or the Website. 

Permission to Use Postings. Online Communities are the resources and property of ATD and/or its licensors and You will not have any proprietary interest in Online Communities. Moreover, by submitting content, information, or a work of authorship of any type ( "Posting") to Online Communities or other portion of the Website or by otherwise using the Website to transmit or display a Posting, You automatically grant ATD a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, translate, create derivative works from, sublicense (or further license), distribute, transmit, perform, and display such content or information (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate into (or combine with) other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in such content or information. Without limitation of the foregoing, You represent that you have all necessary rights to make the Posting available to ATD and Online Communities, and you also acknowledge that such Postings are non-confidential for all purposes and that ATD has no control over the extent to which any idea or information may be used by any party or person once it's posted or displayed. Accordingly, notwithstanding this right and license, it is understood that by merely permitting Your information, content, and materials to appear on the Website ATD has not become and is not a publisher of such information, content, and materials and is merely functioning as an intermediary to enable You to provide and display a Posting. Moreover, ATD assumes no responsibility for the deletion of or failure to store any Posting and recommends that You do not post, display, or transmit any confidential or sensitive information.

No Pre-Screening of Postings. ATD is not responsible for screening, policing, editing, or monitoring Your or another User’s Postings and encourages all of its Users to use reasonable discretion and caution in evaluating or reviewing any Posting. Moreover, and except as provided below with respect to ATD's right and ability to delete or remove a Posting (or any part thereof), ATD does not endorse, oppose, or edit any opinion or information provided by You or another User and does not make any representation with respect to, nor does it endorse the accuracy, acceptability, completeness, timeliness, or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement, or other material displayed, uploaded, or distributed by You or any other User. Nevertheless, ATD reserves the right to monitor, delete, or take other action with respect to Postings (or parts thereof) that ATD believes in good faith violate this TOU and/or are, or are potentially, unlawful or harmful to ATD or its affiliates, volunteers, services, or goodwill. If You violate this TOU, ATD may, in its sole discretion, delete the unacceptable content from Your Posting, remove or delete the Posting in its entirety, issue You a warning, and/or terminate Your use of the Website. Moreover, it is a policy of ATD to take appropriate actions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DCMA”) under U.S. Copyright Law and other applicable intellectual property laws. If You become aware of Postings that violate these rules regarding acceptable behavior or content, You may contact ATD and ATD will take action pursuant to its DMCA Takedown Policy. 

ATD reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines. 

The ATD Terms of Use and Privacy Notice govern your use of the ATD Community.