SJREIA Chat forum Policy and Guidelines
SJREIA MEMBERS!! JOIN OUR CHAT FORUM >> email info@sjreia.org
Welcome to the SJREIA chat forum. In order to provide a responsible service, SJREIA requires that each member who uses this service agrees to be bound by this policy. Your continued access to this chat forum is conditioned upon your continuing to abide by these policies and guidelines.
Chat forum members are encouraged to post ideas, resources, questions, news, real estate and real estate business related events or the like that will facilitate networking and communications among chat forum members. Members share information on real estate investing, the operation of their real estate business, share resources (lawyers, accountants, contractors, insurance providers) and do deals daily via chat forum postings.
HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
When you join SJREIA you will automatically be added to SJREIA’s chat forum on groups.io. If you do not begin seeing chat forum messages within 48 hours of joining, email info@sjreia.org and let us know.
Group Email Addresses
Message delivery options are as follows:
- Individual Messages You will receive each message in an individual email
- OUR GROUP DEFAULT >>>> Full Featured Digest Group up to 12 messages together as one email instead of being sent individually (rich formatting)
- Plain Digest Group up to 12 messages together as one email instead of being sent individually (plain formatting)
- Daily Summary A daily summary, delivered in the morning, of the group’s messages of the previous day
- Special Notices Only You will only receive special notices from the moderators
- No Email You will receive no emails
You can change your message delivery option at any time via Your Subscription at bottom of any post.
GUIDELINES
Appreciation The people on the chat forum are volunteering their time because they are interested in helping each other succeed. The extent of each chat forum member’s participation is entirely within his or her own discretion. None are required to post any messages and none are required to reply to any post. The best way to participate is to approach all members with respect and courtesy.
Access Participation is a privilege. A member who fails to follow chat forum policies or guidelines may be denied access to the chat forum. Inappropriate postings, as determined by the Board, may also be removed from the chat forum.
Violations Note: the guidelines below are applicable to violations of any Chat Forum Policy Rules. Offenders may be warned for the first offense or suspended for 30 days at the Board’s discretion. On a second similar offense within a 180 day period, if not previously suspended, the member will be suspended from the chat forum for 30 days. If the offending member has been previously suspended for the first offense, then the member shall be suspended from the chat forum for 60 days. Upon suspension, and again at the completion of the suspension period the member shall be advised in writing, which may take the form of e-mail or other electronic transmission, of his or her right to request in writing to be re-instated to the chat forum. Upon the completion of the suspension period the member shall have the right to request in writing to be re-instated to the chat forum.
If there is a third similar offense within a 180 day period, the member will be suspended from the chat forum for 180 days. Upon being suspended and again at the completion of the 180 day suspension period, the member shall be advised in writing, which may take the form of e-mail or other electronic transmission, of his or her right to request in writing to be re-instated to the chat forum.
Special Circumstances Justifying Suspension for a First Offense If an offender’s first offense is such an outrageous or egregious violation of the chat forum Policy and Guidelines as to reasonably justify and result in a 30 day suspension from the chat forum, then in the event there is a second similar violation within an 180 day period of the first violation, the offender shall be suspended from the chat forum for 60 days.
In the event that there is a third similar offense within a 180 day period from the second violation, then the offender shall, in the discretion of the moderator and/or the Board of SJREIA, either be suspended for 90 days from the chat forum or permanently banned from the chat forum.
Forwards and Virus Warnings Do not forward a virus warning or missing person report without first researching it on sites such as www.snopes.com
Respect for Members It is expected that all chat forum members will respect the views of others on the chat forum in all discussions, regardless of how different the others’ views are from their own. Refrain from personal attacks. On the chat forum, we are committed to furthering the goal of inclusiveness and to fostering a welcoming atmosphere among members.
Expressing opposing points of view can be done with consideration for the feelings of others. If you are upset and want to respond to a posting, a good suggestion is to wait a day before sending your response.
Use of profanity or derogatory comments are not only inappropriate but will subject the sender to the penalties that are available under these chat forum Polices and Guidelines which may include loss of access to the `hat forum.
Do not “flame” chat forum members by sending e-mails that are confrontational, hostile, or discriminate based upon gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, etc.. Please be respectful of other members and be cautious about your tone. Do not berate or insult a poster, their postings, or the content of their post.
All postings on the chat forum must be polite, respectful and without sarcasm, libel or defamatory remarks concerning any member of SJREIA or any of its governing bodies.
Asking a Question that was Just Asked Try to read as much of the recent content of the discussion as possible before posting a reply. This will avoid repeating the same question or answer.
Replies of Interest to a Small Audience when your reply is only of interest to one or two people, reply to them privately. Responses such as, “Thanks, “What’s your address and/or phone number?” should be directed to the recipient’s own e-mail address. Send any brief personal notes privately to the intended recipient’s e-mail address.
Administrative Inquiries Do not send administrative inquiries to the chat forum. Instead, send administrative inquiries to info@sjreia.org .
Inquires about content of messages on the Chat forum may be sent to info@sjreia.org
Avoid Responding to Annoying or Abusive Messages. Though it is relatively rare, from time-to-time a member will post an abusive or annoying post. Please exercise restraint by not responding to it. The chat forum Moderator and/or the Board will deal with the sender, if necessary. For the rest of the chat forum membership, the best policy is to ignore the post.
CHAT FORUM POLICY RULES
Appropriate Topics for the chat forum The use of the chat forum is restricted to the posting of topics related to real estate investment and the operation of members’ real estate investment business.
Information posted on the chat forum must be of an educational or informative and supportive nature.
Examples of appropriate posts include current events, articles, pertinent financial or community based information (planning board information or other similar topics) that pertain directly to real estate investing, related financial subjects, or the operation of a real estate investment business. Appropriate topics also include landlording, taxes, rehabbing, wholesaling, property management, etc.
The leadership of SJREIA may also use the chat forum to notify the general membership of SJREIA about meetings and events.
Reporting Inappropriate Posts Refrain from participating in inflamed discussions. Do not comment on the chat forum about an inappropriate post. Report any inappropriate post immediately to info@sjreia.org
Sender’s Identification in Posts Your full name must appear in the post. Anonymous posts are not acceptable and could jeopardize your continued participation in the Chat forum at the discretion of the moderators.
Your full name is required somewhere in your post. In addition to sharing information, the purpose of the SJREIA chat forum is to facilitate networking among its members. Networking works because we develop a relationship with someone, and because we have learned to rely on the answers they provide us. Providing full names also nurtures a sense of community not only on the chat forum but also at sub-group and main meetings where members are able to match a face to the name they saw on the chat forum.
To encourage networking, and to eliminate anonymous posts, all posts to the chat forum must contain the full name of the person who wrote it. The writer’s full name must appear in either the “From” line, where it can be contained in the e-mail address itself as in John.Doe@metro.net, or “on behalf of John Doe”, as a signature to the e-mail, as in “John Doe” appearing at the end of the message, or added into the reply header such as “John Doe writes:” or any other method the writer prefers that contains the writer’s full name.
For the purpose of this rule, a “post” is defined as an e-mail message or other electronic message sent to the SJREIA chat forum starting at the top where the first letter or character in the transmission appears and ending where the last letter or character in the transmission appears. In the case of an e-mail message, a “post” begins at the “From” line and ends at the last letter or character of the last word appearing in the transmission.
Subject Line When you create a post, give it a descriptive subject line. If you change the topic within a post, change the subject accordingly. This practice helps members choose topics of interest to them.
If your message is not on topic then it should be a new post, not a reply.
Off Topic Threads If you post an off topic thread, the words “Off Topic” must appear in the subject line to identify the post as such. This practice will allow members to skip the post if they wish.
Do not transmit Dangerous or Illegal Material Do not post information that is deliberately false or misleading or anything that contains software viruses designed to interrupt the function of any other computer, its programs or files.
Do not send or propagate messages that contain computer worms, viruses, or components that threaten to interfere with or compromise the integrity of SJREIA’s computer systems, networks or website(s). Respect the security of our web site. Do not try to gain access to web site areas private to us or to the computer systems of any of our members.
Use of the chat forum for illegal activities is strictly prohibited.
No Chain Letters However worthy the cause, chain letters and petitions are not allowed. Posts containing them will be deleted.
Do Not Post Partisan Information or Solicit Political Actions Please refrain from political (for or against) endorsements or political endorsement events for such things as political fund-raisers, partisan postings, partisan events, campaign solicitations, calls for political volunteers, issues postings, requests for donations, petition signing, etc.
The Board of SJREIA alone, may, in its sole discretion, post announcements or information regarding events, issue postings, or other pertinent items related to real estate investment or the operation of a real estate investment business in New Jersey.
Criticizing specifically Named Companies, Tradespersons, Professionals or Businesses. The chat forum encourages member to member exchange of information regarding their experiences with various business affiliates. One of the benefits of chat forum membership is that members are in a position to learn who provides quality goods or services and who does not.
However, be aware that, depending upon how you word your message, you may be accused of libel or other violations of the rights of others. Be careful. Although the moderators of the chat forum will attempt to review and discourage objectionable messages, it is impossible to review and prevent the messages before they are posted.
All messages express the views of their authors, and SJREIA will not be held responsible for their content. The Directors and Officers of SJREIA, and those they appoint, have the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason, and need not enter into discussion as to their reasons or justification.
Privacy Respect the privacy of all the members of the chat forum. Do not send e-mail privately to them after they have asked you to stop. If you violate the privacy of a member of this chat forum by sending e-mail to them directly, after they have asked you to stop, then you will be suspended from the chat forum. If you post a member’s private e-mail to you on the Chat forum without their permission, you will be suspended from the chat forum.
Advertising
Members who have equitable interest in a property, should use the free website given to them from SJREIA to post a wholesale deal and SHOULD NOT post wholesale deals or properties for sale on the chat forum. In order to post a property on the free website, individuals must be a member of SJREIA and have equitable interest in the property.
Posting the listings of both member and non-member real estate agents is prohibited.
While members may, in response to a request published on the chat forum, provide referrals based upon satisfactory direct personal experience with a service provider, no member may provide on the chat forum unsolicited free advertising.
Regular members must sign off on their posts with their personal name only and may not advertise their business via the chat forum. Regular members shall not post an internet or any other link to their business. Contact information for regular members shall be limited to the name and phone number of the member only.
Regular members shall not identify nor provide contact information in the sign offs of their posts for any business including their real estate investment business.
If they provide a real estate related service, Business affiliate members may sign off with their personal and business contact information and post a link to their business.
Business affiliate members may advertise their company event provided it does not conflict with the existing SJREIA schedule of events, or may post a conflicting event if prior approval from the Business affiliate Coordinator and the leader of the conflicting event is obtained.
A Business Affiliate may sign off with their personal information (as a regular member) as well as their business affiliate contact information including business: name, address, email, phone, fax, facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and a URL link to their business affiliate website. The affiliate may also list their personal certifications and affiliations that are relevant to their affiliated business. As an added benefit to business affiliate members, the affiliate may add a descriptive promotional statement for their affiliated business as part of their sign off. The promotional statement may be no longer than 140 characters including spaces and punctuation.
Members may post a networking or educational event that does not conflict with the existing SJREIA schedule of events. The post must state it is not an SJREIA sponsored event. Posted events must be consistent with the purposes of SJREIA and not conflict with its interests as determined by the Board.
Members shall not post an event held by or organized, in whole or in part, by an organization whose purposes or interests are competitive with or in conflict with the interests of SJREIA, without the prior review and approval by majority vote of the Officers and Directors of SJREIA.
If you need help If you need help with the chat forum operation or protocol, e-mail your question to info@sjreia.org and we will respond as quickly as possible.
We thank you in advance for your cooperation!
SJREIA Board of Directors
Board Approved July 26, 2010
Board Approved April 15, 2019
Revised 6/20/20