[Admin Note] Apnea Board Rules

[SuperSleeper]

Apnea Board Registration Agreement and Rules

By registering and participating on Apnea Board Forums, you acknowledge, understand and agree to the following:

1. You agree to accept the entire Apnea Board Legal Statement, Privacy Policy, Copyright Agreement, Commercial Links Policy and any other rules or policies that the Administrator specifies.


2.  You will not post any material which is knowingly false, inaccurate, abusive, disruptive, inappropriate, harassing, sexually oriented, vulgar, threatening, or invasive of a person's privacy, or any other material which may violate any applicable laws. ^{1 & 2}  Ad hominem attacks against forum members are prohibited. (Definition: Ad hominem)  In order for Apnea Board to remain compliant with U.S. Copyright Law, you will not attach or post a link to any CPAP Clinician Manual (also known as a "Provider Manual" or "Setup Manual").  Instead, please direct members to the Clinician Setup Manuals Page where they can request a manual via private email.


3.  No member may use their forum account to solicit or facilitate the sale, trade, or transfer of any prescription-required items (such as CPAP machines, humidifiers, masks or mask parts).* Soliciting or facilitating the sale, trade, or transfer of commercially-sold or pirated computer software packages or digital media is also prohibited.   Members using a forum account for promoting spam of any kind will be banned.


4.  All posts must be made in the English language.


5.   Links to commercial websites are not allowed in forum posts, member signatures or user profiles, unless they are links to knowledge-based informational books, journals, publications or videos (regardless of subscription or cost) directly related to CPAP or sleep apnea where the website is neither owned nor operated by a DME (Durable Medical Equipment supplier). †

†  Prohibited links would include redirects, scam sites, blind links, sites owned or operated by a DME, or any web page, document or video that is designed to sell tangible products to end-users (including "product review" and similar pages with affiliate sale links).   It is not acceptable to bypass this rule by spelling out all or part of a web address like "Please visit my-online-store.com" or "Go to my-products-online-dot-com".   Business names and website addresses are prohibited in usernames and profile information.

While such commercial links are prohibited, a member may name any product or seller as long as no part of a link or website address is used.  Instead of posting external links, members are free to copy and paste non-commercial informational text or graphics directly into forum posts, thereby avoiding commercial links altogether [see "Other Information" section below for more information] ‡

A member may post a direct link to a CPAP equipment manufacturer website in any forum, as long as the manufacturer does not sell equipment directly to patients on the same website domain.


6.  Any information you provide on these forums will not be disclosed to any third party without your complete consent, although the staff cannot be held liable for any hacking attempt in which your data is compromised.


7.  You agree that we have the ability and right to remove, edit, or lock any account or message at any time should the Administrator deem it necessary.


8.  Staff members' instructions and decisions are to be followed. They are human volunteers trying to keep Apnea Board operating smoothly; please be patient and respectful. If you disagree with their decisions, please discuss the issue via the Private Message (PM) system.


9.  You understand that your IP Address is recorded with each post you make on Apnea Board and is retrievable by the forum staff if necessary.


10.  You agree that any information you enter on Apnea Board is stored in a database, and that "cookies" are stored on your computer to save your login information.


11.  Information contained on this website and forums should not be considered as medical advice. Always seek the advice of a qualified physician before seeking treatment for any medical condition, including Sleep Apnea. Always seek the advice of a qualified physician before changing pressure or other settings on any medical device, including CPAP machines.


12.  Some of our forums have additional rules and instructions that apply to that forum only. Please click on the following titles for more information:

-- Product Review Forums - Rules & Instructions

-- Off-Topic Forum - Rules & Instructions

-- Commercial Posts Forum - Rules & Instructions

-- Forum Account Help - Instructions


Failure to comply with these rules may result in the termination of your account, account suspension, or permanent ban of access to these forums.


‡ Other Information:

The PM (Private Message) system should not be used to initiate or solicit private consultations or therapy advice. ³

Internet links sometimes change or are lost over time.  When posting a link to an off-site article, we encourage members to copy or quote either the full text or the relevant portions of that article into forum posts. Apnea Board is an educational website and re-posting the text of articles, manuals, news and information is deemed "Fair Use" under U.S. copyright law.

By registering for a forum account, you agree that Apnea Board may send you infrequent emails from the Administrator, forum staff or other parties from whom you have chosen to receive emails during the registration process. During registration, you will have the option of opting-in or opting-out of bulk emails sent from Apnea Board or from various notifications sent out via email. In addition, members who wish to unsubscribe from bulk emails will have the option of following the unsubscribe directions contained in each email, or they may email the administrator to be removed from the list.

* Apnea Board is based in the U.S. and must comply with U.S. regulations and laws regarding prescription-required items, regardless of where our members are physically located.

[SuperSleeper]

Commercial Links Policy
Definitions and Clarifications

Commercial links are prohibited on the forums in order to maintain Apnea Board's educational status. This status allows us to legally distribute copyrighted Clinician Setup Manuals under the "Fair Use" sections of U.S. Copyright Law.

Definition of a commercial website: any website that has a "shop" or "store", a link to a shop or store, a link to another website to purchase their product, a "how to buy" button/link, a phone number to call/fax to purchase items, a commercial video utilizing these types of sales tools, or any other method of sales. Links to websites owned or operated by a DME are not allowed. (See below for information on how to mention a DME website using our Supplier List).

A member may post a commercial link or message in our Commercial Posts forum, except for any link that falls into one of these categories:

1. Prohibited: Commercial links or message solicitations not related to sleep apnea.
   
   
2. Prohibited: Solicitations offering prescription-required items (such as CPAP machines, humidifiers, masks or mask parts) for sale, trade or transfer.
   
   
3. Prohibited: Links to any website owned or operated by a DME (Durable Medical Equipment supplier) who offers CPAP machines for sale to the public in an online store. (Please see below for instructions on how to refer to this type of CPAP supplier within a post).
   

In order to further clarify which types of links are allowed in the forums, please refer to this chart:



The CPAP 'Supplier List'

If a member wishes to refer to an online CPAP supplier who maintains on online store, first check our CPAP 'Supplier List' (link at the top of every page of forums). This list enables a member to make reference to a specific supplier within their post without making a direct link or reference to the supplier's website address. Example: "I got a good price on filters from 'Supplier #3' on the Supplier List".

If a supplier is not on the list, a member may use the name of the supplier as long as the name is not also its link. Such as if CPAPFiltersDotCom supplier is located at cpapfilters.com. The member would have to say "I got my filter at the CPAP Filters website."

To refer to an item, simply suggest the appropriate Google search term. "Just Google Filter AH456B and it should come up."

For questionable links (or links that fall outside the scope of these rules), a determination of acceptability will be made by the Apnea Board Administrator(s) whose decision shall be final.

Because of the proliferation of spammers, brand new members are prevented from posting links.