Site rules

Rules for the use of ProZ.com

The following rules have been created to extend and protect the pleasant, results-oriented atmosphere of the ProZ.com translation workplace. By using the site, you indicate your acceptance of, and agreement to abide by, these rules.

Site Rule

1.1	"Help" and glossary-building KudoZ are provided only for terms help and glossary building respectively. Use of the platform for advertising, discussions, or purposes other than getting or giving help with terms is prohibited.
1.2	KudoZ is limited in scope to language. All KudoZ-related postings must be limited in scope to the topic of terms. Comments of a personal nature, in KudoZ as elsewhere, are strictly prohibited.
1.3	Text boxes may be used only for their intended purposes. For example: The "Discussion entries" box provides a place to post additional exchanges of information and linguistic discussions on the question. In GBK it also allows participation of users who do not meet the criteria to answer. The answerer's explanation box is intended for providing justification of a suggested translation. Web reference boxes provide a place for links to online resources that the asker and others may consult for confirmation. Reference boxes allow the posting of reference information that may be useful to the asker but is not provided as an answer and cannot be graded. Use of the above form fields for purposes other than those described is prohibited. For example, comments such as 'Studied medicine for 3 years' should be entered in the explanation box, not in the reference boxes.
1.4	Glossary form must be maintained. Draft glossaries are generated automatically from KudoZ questions and answers. For this reason, expressions such as "see below", "in this context", etc., must not be entered in the boxes provided for terms, either when posting source terms or proposing translations. Question marks, quote marks, unnecessary capitalization and anything else that would not be found in a dictionary, should not be entered. Translations entered for glossary-building KudoZ must include the translated term, a definition and at least an example of use, all in the corresponding target language.
1.5	Care should be taken not to disclose confidential information in KudoZ postings. In most cases, client names should not be disclosed in a KudoZ posting. Consideration should also be given to whether the term or context would disclose confidential information by its nature.

Adherence to the above rules is a condition for continued right to access and use the site.

Enforcement

Staff members and moderators may take any of the following actions to enforce the above rules:
* contacting site users to call attention to specific rules
* refraining from approving (or removing/hiding) postings that violate a rule
* causing a message related to the rules to appear to certain users when they undertake certain actions
* suspending, temporarily or permanently, access to site features that have been used in violation of the rules.
* termination of profile or membership (staff only)

Moderators and staff members must act in accordance with, and are protected by, site rules in exactly the same way as other members.

Termination

In rare cases of severe infraction, ProZ.com staff members may terminate a profile (and membership) with immediate effect. In most cases, however, ProZ.com uses a "yellow card/red card" policy, akin to yellow-card/red-card practice in the sport of football/soccer, for terminations.

Yellow and red cards are issued only by staff members. Rules are cited by number, and the date of the card is logged. The terms "yellow card" or "red card" are used explicitly; if an email is sent, the terms appear in the subject line.

A site user who has been issued a yellow card may continue to use the site (sometimes with certain restrictions), but is otherwise under notice that further infractions will lead to termination. A person whose profile has been terminated will not be readmitted to ProZ.com.

Outsourcers are subject to the site's Termination policy.

Clarification

For clarification regarding any of the above rules or rules enforcement, please submit a support request.