A Very Small Set of Requests for Using Ning Network Creators

We spend a lot of our waking hours here on Ning Network Creators. We love it and hope you do too. The purpose of this network - beyond having our own social network on Ning! - is to introduce Network Creators to each other, provide a place to exchange ideas, tips, ask questions, and, well, talk to us too.

To make this the best possible place ever, we ask that everyone follow a few simple guidelines. We'll do our part to ensure this remains a fun, constructive, and supportive place but we need your help here as well.

Please don't spam. Spam is annoying. What is spam? Spam is posting the same message repeatedly across the network. Spam is writing the same post or comment over and over again. Spam is sending the same message to multiple members. You get the picture.

We take a hard line view on spam and, unfortunately, if you are reported or deemed by us to be a spammer, we'll have to ban you here on Network Creators.

If you've got something that is directly relevant to Network Creators in creating and managing their social network on Ning, by all means, tell folks about it here on Network Creators! The more things people have to do on their networks, the better. We've even got a forum category to talk about Third Party Widgets and Add-Ons.

That's the good news. The bad news is that there are a set of advertisements and promotions - such as asking for donations or telling everyone about ways to make money fast on the Internet - that you may think are relevant to everyone, including Network Creators, but, well, aren't.

Unfortunately, we need to use our judgment here and we will delete content and ban members from Network Creators who are just here to spread the news about the latest way to make money or are looking for donations as a way to make a living.

Respectfully disagreeing with someone - including us - in a constructive, well-reasoned manner is not only welcomed, but encouraged here on Network Creators. We can't get better if we don't have thoughtful, constructive feedback from you about your social network on Ning. That's why we're here.

On the other hand, if you're here to find an outlet for your anger, frustration, or desire to call us IDIOTS IN ALL CAPS over and over again, this isn't the right place. Drop us a note in the Ning Help Center to get whatever it is off your chest. We do read every email that comes in and will get the message loud and clear when you are unhappy.

We take threatening, unconstructive, toxic, profane, or generally abusive people very seriously and will ban fast and furiously when we see them. Even if you have a right to be angry or frustrated, yelling at us or other Network Creators here isn't helpful and won't get you what you want. Just like in the real world.

Please read our Terms of Service. Then please follow our Terms of Service. It's there for a reason. And we read it regularly to determine if a network, application developer, or individual is complying with it.

If something is not in compliance with our Terms of Service, we will unfortunately need to deactivate or take down the network, application, or individual account. Trust us, this brings us no joy and is the least favorite part of our job.

We'll certainly try our best to give you a few hours of notice to make changes, but because we are running a rapidly growing service we can't make any guarantees. We may need to shut your network, application or individual account down without notice.

The best plan is to follow our Terms of Service and try not to operate in too many gray areas. Namely, we might not shut you down today for not buying our premium services while running ads in your text box, but we will at some point and then you'll be bummed.

If you've been banned from Network Creators or had your network on Ning deactivated by us and you think it is in error, by all means let us know via the Ning Help Center. We'll always take another look at the specific case and respond at least once to your concerns.

Unfortunately, we aren't able to publicly handle appeals or articulate reasons for shutting down a network here on Network Creators. These topics have a tendency to devolve into the realm of unconstructive shouting matches that take a lot of time and don't end well. As a result, we'll remove discussions and blog posts on Network Creators asking for public comment on banning or network deactivation.

We totally recognize that Ning won't be for everyone. If our Terms of Service or these few simple requests here on Network Creators aren't going to work for you, we totally understand. We hate having to ban people or deactivate networks, so if you don't think that this is going to work for you upfront, it's much better for all of us to know it now.

Thanks!
The Ning Team