Community Guidelines

Welcome to Finance 3.0! Feel free to share, connect, communicate and make business happen with other members in any of our different community areas. Once you’ve read the following rules and guidelines, jump right in.

Guidelines for Community Participation

• Don't post any advertising, promotional materials, referrals, press releases, junk mail, spam, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or any other form of solicitation. Don't post with the intent to disrupt or disturb the community or to interfere with other members' use and enjoyment of our community.
• Don't attack the character or damage the reputation of other members, name-call, insult, ridicule, harass, mock or otherwise verbally assault other members of this community. This is a professional network and all behavior should reflect accordingly.
• Don’t bully or intimidate other members. Constructive criticism is welcome, but language that can be construed as belittling or rude is not.
• Don't post anything hateful — including targeting race, class, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, weight or disability.
• Don't create a screen name to hide your identity while you are violating our guidelines.
• Don't post or link to inappropriate content. Inappropriate content is anything Finance 3.0 deems obscene or vulgar, harassing, humiliating, defamatory, libelous, untrue or invasive of someone else’s privacy. This content includes including graphics, images, stories, blog posts, discussion threads, events or videos.
• Don't post anything you don't have the right to publish or violate any copyright or other proprietary rights in your posts. That includes published articles, images or videos, without the author or owner's permission.
• Don't transfer issues or posts from one group to another with the intention of drawing negative attention to the post.
• Don't hit and run. Please don't go to a group where you don't ordinarily post simply to point out the wrongness of another poster or group's actions, beliefs, or comments.
• Don't use all capital letters in your postings unless you REALLY MEAN TO YELL!
• Don't post the same message more than once in multiple forums (such as blogs or discussion threads) or on groups.
• Don't flood. This includes repeatedly "bumping" a thread, disrupting an online chat event by entering the same phrase over and over again, or otherwise using up bandwidth for no reason.
• Don't post on behalf of banned members. If you do this, you may be banned without notice or warning.
• Please consult the job board if you are looking to hire or acquire a job, and do not indiscriminately post to various groups, blogs or discussion threads. You may promote your job posting in the appropriate groups. For instance, if you are a Project Finance firm, you should place the job description in the appropriate category of the Jobs section and then return to the Project Finance group and promote the job as you listed it.

Self Promotion

We understand the desire for members to use Finance 3.0 as a way to promote themselves and their businesses. We want to encourage and foster this, but there are acceptable and unacceptable ways to do this:

• You may not directly advertise or promote yourself en masse to the membership via messaging, in any comment, blog post, discussion thread, group, or any media, including both photos and videos. The content in question is subject to removal at Finance 3.0’s discretion. Additionally, this content should not resemble that which you’d normally find on a press release or advertisement or late-night infomercial.
• The appropriate way to attract attention is to be a periodic contributor of valued content to the site. In the blog posts, discussion threads, photos, videos of groups started by you or fellow members, share your expertise, knowledge and thoughts with the group as you would with any client, without directly soliciting them for business as you do so, or promoting your business or company. Your knowledge should speak for itself and therefore build your reputation and brand at the site within the community areas.
• In blog posts, photos, groups, discussion threads or videos, you are welcome to link back to your member profile page only. You may not include any contact information, including the name of your business, in these areas. Acceptable language includes “Please stop by my home at Finance 3.0” or “Visit my member profile page for more information about me.” Very often videos or photos contain brief, promotional language or text within them, which is acceptable, as long as the videos and pictures contain educational or useful material.
• If you would like to advertise your company, products or services to the membership at large, please contact us about advertising on Finance 3.0.
• A serious violation is poaching or directly soliciting Finance 3.0 members using Finance 3.0 itself. We are not against competition. However, using the Finance 3.0 internal email messaging, our technology or platform to post a self-promoting blog, discussion, or comment on any profile wall with the intent to solicit members to or advertise a competitive site is in violation of our community guidelines and you will be subject to an immediate ban, and open to legal prosecution.

Member Profiles

• Your profile should include your name and a photo of your face, and some simple, clear details that let us all know a little bit about you, including your profession and location. If you do not upload a photo of yourself, an avatar will be automatically assigned as the computerized representation of yourself, like a headshot or image.
• Remember this is a network! If you want to connect, communicate, collaborate, and be found by colleagues and friends, a more complete profile will help. You can edit your profile by visiting My Settings.
• Using your company logo for an avatar is perfectly acceptable, but again, make sure somewhere on your profile is a spot to let people know the identity of the person behind the company profile if your member profile name is, for instance “Finance 3.0”. We like to encourage as much real-person interaction as possible, as opposed to interacting solely with a nameless, faceless brand. Your customers and clients would appreciate it, too.
• You may use your member profile page to promote your company or business, including any links to company Web sites, blogs or contact information.
• You may not alter your page so dramatically that it competes with any Finance 3.0-branded materials, including any and all advertisements posted by Finance 3.0, anywhere on the site. Such alteration of Web pages – which includes banner ad-like promotional materials running atop membership profiles – is strictly forbidden, subject to review and will be removed.
• You may set up widgets to use as promotional materials on your member profile page, as long as the branding is clear that any and all material is solely that which you are providing and are not Finance 3.0 created content or endorsements.

Blogs

Blogs are an excellent way for people to get to know you better. Start a blog post to discuss current trends, observations, share news articles (with proper attribution), funny stories, personal experiences, business dilemmas or successes.

• You may include pictures or images in your posts. If you need help, please contact us for guidance on this.
• You may include content from previously published, print or online, materials with proper attribution. If you can, provide a link to where the content originates.
• Blogs are easy to start and are great ways for you to express yourself to the community. Great blogs we'll feature on the main page for all to see. There are several ways to start a blog. You can click on The Blogs menu tab and then click "Add Blog Post". You can also find "Add Blog Post" at the bottom of the "Blog section on the main page.
• Please review the “Self-promotion” section of these guidelines for more information.

Discussions

A Discussion thread is more of a short topic or question posed to the community where replies are generally desired. You can also create a new topic for discussion or ask a question by clicking on the Start a New Discussion link. Here you can give it a title, write the discussion text/question and even upload file attachments if desired. We encourage you to pick a category that's applicable or general if none apply and to add tags that help people find your discussion!

• You may include pictures or images in your posts. If you need help, please contact us for guidance on this.
• You may include content from previously published, print or online, materials with proper attribution. If you can, provide a link to where the content originates.
• Unlike a blog, which is more directed towards personal commentary, discussion threads are used to solicit feedback. There is no right or wrong application here.
• Please review the “Self-promotion” section of these guidelines for more information.

Groups

Groups allow you to invite or include people who have a common interest around a particular topic. You can share it, socialize it, communicate to other members in the community. It’s your group… make it special. For instance, those who are interested in issues surrounding quantitative finance & derivatives would want to join a group that focuses on those issues.

Participation in any group is similar to that in a blog or discussion thread. Language and content in groups should adhere to the same policies as blogs and discussion threads. Please review the “Self-promotion” section of these guidelines for more information.

Events

The Events section of Finance 3.0 is the perfect place for you to get the word out on any conferences, seminars or training courses you may be aware of or are hosting yourself. These can be free or paid events. This is currently a free service provided by Finance 3.0.

• You can specify time, location and information about your event and invite people to RSVP.
• It can be public or private.
• When you invite people and to a commercial event, please make certain that you’re respectful and not invasive.

Violations of Community Guidelines

If you violate the Finance 3.0 community guidelines, expect to be contacted individually by community staff. Your actions may result in a warning, a suspension, or permanent banning from participation in our community.

• Finance 3.0 has adopted a “Three Strikes” policy when it comes to banning. Finance 3.0 will contact you directly to inform you of a violation of the community guidelines. After three violations, you will be banned from the community. Finance 3.0 reserves the right to handle each violation on a case-by-case basis and, if the situation warrants, to ban any member at any time, for any reason, with or without warning.
• Members who have been reprimanded for violating any Finance 3.0 community guidelines will have 48 hours to rectify the violation. If no action is taken during this period, members will be reprimanded again and the action will be counted against their “Three Strikes” allotment.
• Banning is done at the community staff's discretion and is the result of our sole determination of a member's demonstrated inability or disinclination to follow our guidelines.
• If you poach and solicit Finance 3.0 members using Finance 3.0 messaging, you may be prosecuted. We do not publicly discuss or announce warnings, suspensions or bannings.
• If a thread that contains a violation of these guidelines has information that's useful to the original poster or other members of the site, it may be edited or locked.
• However, if in our sole judgment a thread was created for the purpose of violating the guidelines, violates enough guidelines to be irredeemable, or contains no otherwise useful information, it may be removed.
• Because of the size of our community, we can't monitor all posts on the site. If you see a message you believe violates our guidelines, please contact us.

Guidelines for Live Financial Data

• Financial market and stock quotes data are provided by Yahoo! Finance, FX Universal and Google Finance. Fundamental company data provided by Reuters, Value Line and individual company filings.
• Financial market and stock quotes are updated automatically, but we rely on our providers ability for currency and accuracy. Quote data delayed by at least 15 minutes.
• All information provided "as is" for informational purposes only, not intended for trading purposes or advice. Finance 3.0 is not an investment adviser and does not provide, endorse or review any information or data contained herein.
• The postings on Finance 3.0's message boards and comment boxes contain information that may or may not be from reliable sources. The information is not intended as investment advice and does not constitute recommendations or endorsements of any issuer, security or action.
• Neither Finance 3.0 nor any of its independent providers is liable for any informational errors, incompleteness, or delays, or for any actions taken in reliance on information contained herein. You are solely responsible for the investment decisions made by you and the consequences resulting therefrom. By accessing the Finance 3.0 site, you agree not to redistribute the information found therein.

Your Rights and Responsibilities

Please bear in mind that all of the material you read in our community areas comes from other members. Because our community is very large, Finance 3.0 doesn't monitor or verify all the information posted by our members. The comments, opinions, and statements posted on our bulletin boards, forums, groups and chats don't necessarily reflect the views of Finance 3.0. The information posted on our boards and blog postings, including advice and opinions, is the responsibility of those members who create the posts.

Please consult your business advisors or other qualified professionals before relying on information you find in the community areas. Finance 3.0 is not responsible for the accuracy of posts and is not liable for any damage or loss that may result from your reliance on what other members have said.

All Finance 3.0 communications, including blogs, group discussion and forum posts, are public and not private communications. Finance 3.0 has the right to modify and publish, both on our site and in other media, any information you post in our community areas. Please note that the material you post may be indexed by search engines such as Yahoo and Google.

Community staff and volunteer hosts may use your membership e-mail to contact you regarding your messages in our community. You're responsible for keeping your e-mail address active and updated. Failure to keep your e-mail address updated may result in your being banned until we can confirm that you have a valid e-mail address associated with your Finance 3.0 membership.

Keep your login information, including your password, private. Sharing of memberships or screen names is not allowed and may result in your being banned. Finance 3.0 accepts no responsibility for use of your membership or computer by third parties, with or without your permission.

We reserve the right to modify or change these guidelines without notice.

Privacy Guidelines

• Never provide your password, telephone numbers, or home address to anyone online. Be very careful about responding to solicitations for interviews or research. Note, however, that Finance 3.0 editors might invite you to respond to such solicitations from time to time.
• Never divulge any private or personal information about another person online. That includes the person's real name or address, e-mail address, and any other personal information that the person has not asked you to make public. Don't forward or post private messages that someone has sent to you unless you have his or her permission. Only send e-mail to another Finance 3.0 member if he or she has given you expressed permission. Please don't solicit other members' personal information.
• The e-mail address you provide is for our use only, unless you provide it to other members. By accepting friendships on Finance 3.0, you take full responsibility for any e-mail you receive. Finance 3.0 does not monitor such communications and will not intervene between members who use this function. The only way to keep from receiving undesirable e-mail is to remove the offending member from your friends list and not share your e-mail address.
• Finance 3.0 reserves the right to resend invitations by members, and will only resend invitations once per month. Finance 3.0 will do its best to resend invitations only once.
• Members of the Finance 3.0 community sometimes organize donations, gift exchanges, reunions, and other offline activities. Such arrangements are private and are not sponsored, vetted, or hosted by Finance 3.0. You participate at your own risk.
• If you're looking for subjects to interview or participants for a study, please get in touch to ask for permission before querying the members of the Finance 3.0 community.

Finance 3.0 welcomes any and all comments and feedback. Please contact us regarding the following situations:

• Report any concern you have about our community.
• Get help navigating the site or participating in our community.
• Get clarification of these guidelines or any other aspect of our community.
• Alert us to a violation of these guidelines.

Finance 3.0’s community policies are based on our belief that everyone has a right to free expression and that by talking openly with others we can all become better people and better professionals. We are committed to helping our members do the best they can for their jobs and businesses. To that end, we respect individual differences in philosophies, beliefs, opinions, and work styles, and we expect our community members to do the same.