Code of conduct
Please agree to the terms and conditions below to complete your login process for The Bench, created by the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association. For more information, contact the CPRA at info@cpra.ca or (613) 523-5315.
Welcome to The Bench. We’re so glad you’ve decided to participate in our online community! Here you can actively communicate with CPRA members, staff, and leaders, and meet others with similar ideas, interests, and issues. We hope that through regular dialogue and information sharing, you will form new, stronger professional and personal connections within the parks and recreation community.
This is your community, so please help us keep it friendly and sound. By joining and using The Bench, you agree that you have read, understood, and will follow all rules and guidelines outlined here.
Postings and discussions will be monitored to ensure that users are adhering to conditions.
CPRA reserves the right to immediately remove any and all postings that violate the terms of use. In addition, CPRA reserves the right to temporarily and/or permanently suspend user accounts in continued violation of these terms, which will be at the full discretion of The Bench site administrators.
The opinions, views, positions, policies and goals posted to, or available on or through, The Bench site do not necessarily represent/reflect those of CPRA (staff, board, and committees).
User Etiquette and Rules for Posting Content
Use of The Bench requires the practice of respectful communication, as well as an understanding of the difference between opinions/constructive criticisms as opposed to derogatory/negative comments. Please don’t challenge or attack others. The discussions on the lists are meant to stimulate conversation and not to create contention. Let others have their say, just as you may.
CPRA requests that you follow these general rules:
You will not send, post, or otherwise promote commercial products, services, or events except sales of CPRA merchandise/material. This includes links intended to gather leads by collecting email addresses or other contact information in exchange for resources, webinars, etc.
Respect the purpose of the community. Use the community to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals. If you’ve found a product or service helpful, please share your experience with the group in a respectful way. *CPRA reserves the right to remove at our discretion any content without warning that we believe violates this Code.
You will not send, post, or otherwise promote offers for contests, giveaways or sweepstakes.
You will not send, post, or otherwise promote surveys.
You will not post content that is defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, pornographic or violent. *This includes your profile picture.
You will not send, post, or otherwise promote any content that infringes any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity, including, but not limited to, violating anyone’s copyrights, trademarks or service marks.
You will not knowingly post any spam, documents, files or other content that contain viruses, corrupted files, or other materials that may cause damage to another’s computer.
You will not use the site to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious or discriminatory.
Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another’s business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade.
You will not post job announcements. We encourage members to post jobs on the career page.
Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale, salaries, profits, profit margins or cost data, market shares, sales territories or markets, allocation of customers or territories, or selection, rejection, termination of customers or suppliers.
Violation Policy
Please take note of our “Three Strikes” policy for those participants who violate the Code of Conduct:
- Upon the first violation, the participant will receive a written warning from an CPRA staff member.
- A second violation will result in a three-month suspension from The Bench.
- A third violation will result in immediate and permanent suspension of all privileges on The Bench.
Copyright
By posting content on any CPRA discussion string, or CPRA group page or individual profile housed in the CPRA site, you warrant and represent that you own the copyright with respect to such material, or have received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, you grant CPRA and users of this list the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.
It is the sole responsibility of the user to ensure that the posted content is accurate and does not infringe or violate the intellectual property rights or other rights of third parties.
Participant Liability
Information posted is available for all to see, and comments are subject to all laws concerning libel, slander, harassment, verbal assault and antitrust issues.
Limitations on CPRA Liability
By posting content on any CPRA discussion string, or CPRA group page or individual profile housed in The Bench, you automatically agree to indemnify CPRA, all other participants, and any other person or entity affiliated with either site, from and against any and all third party claims, demands, liabilities, costs or expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, resulting from content you posted to either site or from a breach of these posting restrictions.
The Bench site has security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of information under our control. However, we cannot guarantee that information will not be lost, misused or altered, and The Bench shall not be responsible for any harm that you or any person may suffer as the result of a breach of security.
The Bench site is operated solely for educational and non-profit purposes of CPRA. Posted materials are provided to you “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. CPRA does not warrant that the functioning of the site/software will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that the server(s) that make(s) the site/software available are free of viruses or other harmful components.
CPRA does not warrant or make any representations regarding the use or results of the use of the materials on The Bench in terms of their correctness, accuracy, reliability or otherwise. You (and not CPRA) assume all necessary costs for correcting any malfunctions or errors to your property. Under no circumstances, including, but not limited to, negligence, shall CPRA be liable for any special or consequential damages that result from the use of, or inability to use, the materials on the site/software, even if CPRA or a CPRA-authorized representative has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Applicable law may not allow the limitation or exclusion of liability or incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitations may not apply to you.
In no event shall CPRA’s total liability to you for all damages, losses, and causes of action, including but not limited to negligence, arising out of, or in connection with your use of The Bench, exceed the amount paid by you, if any, for accessing the site/software.
Whenever possible, each provision of the terms outlined here shall be interpreted in such manner as to be effective and valid under applicable law, but if any provision is deemed prohibited or invalid under applicable law, such provision shall be ineffective to the extent of such prohibition or invalidity without invalidating the remainder of such provision or the remaining provisions of these terms.
Be Courteous, Tolerant, and Keep it Clean!
CPRA encourages site users to protect themselves and each other when engaging in information sharing and online discussions. If you notice a user violation of the terms, or if you have a technical question, please notify the CPRA at info@cpra.ca or (613) 523-5315.