York for Life Platform Conditions of Use and Community Guidelines

• Treat others online as you would treat them in real life and how you would like to be treated.

We want to foster a positive, diverse community. We will remove content that contains credible threats or hate speech, content that targets private individuals to degrade or shame them, personal information meant to blackmail or harass someone, and repeated unwanted messages.

It's never OK to encourage violence or attack anyone based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, disabilities or diseases.  When hate speech is being shared to challenge it or to raise awareness, we may allow it. In those instances, we ask that you express your intent clearly.

Serious threats of harm to public and personal safety aren't allowed. This includes specific threats of physical harm as well as threats of theft, vandalism and other financial harm. We carefully review reports of threats and consider many things when determining whether a threat is credible.

• Help us keep the community strong.
  Be tolerant towards other’s viewpoints; respectfully disagree when opinions do not align. You may find content that you don't like, but doesn't violate the Community Guidelines. If that happens, you can unfollow or leave the group to stop seeing the content. If there's something that you don't like in a comment on one of your posts, you can delete that comment.

We can monitor conversations but we also allow freedom of speech  on the York for Life platform that is in accordance with these Guidelines and our Terms and Conditions continued below. Each of us is an important part of the York for Life community. If you see something that you think may violate our guidelines, please help us by using our built-in reporting option.

• Follow the law.
  The York for Life platform is not a place to support or praise terrorism, organised crime or hate groups. Offering sexual services, buying or selling firearms, alcohol and tobacco products between private individuals, and buying or selling non-medical or pharmaceutical drugs are also not allowed.
  

We have zero tolerance when it comes to sharing sexual content involving minors or threatening to post intimate images of others.

• Have meaningful and genuine interactions and engagement.

Help us stay spam-free by not artificially collecting likes, posting repetitive comments or content, or repeatedly contacting people for commercial purposes without their consent.

We do require all users to provide us with accurate and up-to-date information. Don't impersonate others and don't create accounts for the purpose of violating our guidelines or misleading others.

• Offering personalised opportunities to create, connect, communicate, discover and share.  People are different and require different things from their relationship with us. So whether you are an Alum, student or staff, we offer you different types of accounts and features to help you communicate, share, and connect with people on and off the YfL platform. We also want to strengthen your relationships through shared experiences that you actually care about. So we have built the platform in a way that tries to understand who and what you and others care about, and use that information to help you create, find, join and share in experiences that matter to you. Part of that is highlighting content, features, offers and accounts that you might be interested in, and offering ways for you to experience the YfL platform, based on things that you and others do on and off the platform.

• Fostering a positive, inclusive and safe environment.
  We offer and develop tools and resources to our community members that help to make their experiences positive and inclusive, including when we think that they might need help. We also have teams and systems that work to combat abuse and violations of our rules and community guidelines, as well as harmful and deceptive behaviour. We use all of the information that we have – including your information – to try to keep our platform secure. We also may share information about misuse or harmful content with other law agencies. Learn more in our Privacy Policy and our Data Policy .
• Providing consistent and seamless experiences across all University platforms and offers but also during your time before joining us, during and after.
  The YfL platform is part of the University of York, which shares technology, systems, insights, and information – including the information that we have about you across departments and platforms, to provide services that are better, safer and more secure.

• All our Regulations , particularly;

• • Regulation 7  (applicable if you are a student): Student Discipline
  • Regulation 10 : Freedom of speech within the University
  • Regulation 11 : Using University Information
  • Regulation 12 : Intellectual Property
  • Regulation 13.2 : Publication of posters and notices

• Student Code of Conduct  (applicable if you are a student)
• HR Policies (applicable if you are an employee)
• Your employment contract (applicable if you are an employee)
• Privacy Policy and our Data Policy together (‘Conditions of Use’).

• You may only use the Platform if you agree to form a binding contract with us.
• You must be at least 18 years old to use the Platform.
• You must be either an alum, student,  a staff member or support er of the University of York and you agree that we may check this.
• We must not have previously suspended, disabled, or removed your account for any violation of our Conditions of Use, our Community Guidelines, the law or any other applicable policies which may apply from time to time. If this applies to you, you must have our prior written consent to use the Platform again.
• If you are accepting our Conditions of Use and using the Platform on behalf of a legal entity other than you, you represent and warrant that you are authorized to do so and have the authority to bind such entity to these Conditions of Use, in which case the words “you” and “your” as used in these Conditions of Use shall refer to such entity.

• You must not register multiple accounts on the Platform or use automation to register. 

• • We allow you to create and/or operate one account unless we consider it to be a non-duplicative account and you have our prior written consent for such additional account. If you wish to operate more than one account you must contact us to obtain our consent by contacting us at alumni@york.ac.uk.  Any exceptions will be at our discretion.  

• You must not provide inaccurate information or impersonate others.

• • You must not provide us with inaccurate or out-of-date information (including registration information). Information provided must be accurate and up-to-date and will sometimes include providing personal data. You must not impersonate someone or something that you are not, and you cannot create an account for someone else unless you have express permission to do so from both us and them.

• You must not do anything unlawful, misleading or fraudulent or for an illegal or unauthorised purpose.

• • You may use the Platform only in compliance with our Conditions of Use and all applicable laws and regulations. Prohibited content includes:

• • • controlling or coercive behaviour
    • abuse, cyberbullying or harassment
    • any form of sexual violence
    • fraud
    • child sexual abuse
    • hate crime
    • inciting violence
    • illegal immigration and people smuggling
    • promoting or facilitating suicide
    • promoting self harm
    • revenge porn
    • selling illegal drugs or weapons
    • sexual exploitation
    • terrorism
    • pornographic content
    • content that does not meet a criminal level but which promotes or glorifies suicide, self-harm or eating disorders
    • violation of posting private information

• You must not violate (or help or encourage others to violate) our Conditions of Use or our policies.
  • You must not coordinate or encourage harmful activity that would violate our Conditions of Use.

• You must not do anything to interfere with or impair the intended operation of the Platform.
  • This includes misusing any reporting, dispute or appeal channel, such as by making fraudulent or groundless reports or appeals. It also includes spam, malware and hacking of the platform.

• You must not attempt to create accounts or access or collect information in unauthorised ways.
  • This includes creating accounts or collecting information in an automated way without our express permission.

• You must not sell, licence or purchase any account or data obtained from us or our Platform.
  • This includes attempts to buy, sell or transfer any aspect of your account (including your username); solicit, collect or use login credentials or badges of other users; or request or collect YfL usernames, passwords or misappropriate access tokens.

• You must not post someone else's private, personal or confidential information without their permission or do anything that violates someone else's rights, including intellectual property rights (e.g. copyright infringement, trademark infringement, counterfeit or pirated goods).
  • You may only use someone else’s work under exceptions or limitations to copyright and related rights under the laws of England and Wales. You represent that you own or have obtained necessary rights to the Content you post or share on the Platform. If you think someone else’s content infringes your intellectual property rights please contact alumni@york.ac.uk or view our complaints procedure .

• You must not modify, translate, create derivative works of or reverse engineer our products or their components.
  • This includes but is not limited to cybersquatting, typosquatting and homograph attacks.

• You must not use a domain name or URL in your username without our prior written consent.
• You must not use your account to scam or spam others or for any other harmful purpose. 
  • You must not use the Platform in a manner intended to artificially amplify or suppress information or engage in behaviour that manipulates or disrupts people’s experience. We want the Platform to be a place where safe, genuine human connections can be made and people can express themselves freely. We therefore prohibit spam and platform manipulation in any form. This includes but is not limited to:
    • posting repetitive comments or Content;
    • creating spam that intends to drive attention or traffic from a comment or conversation on the Platform to websites, services, accounts or initiative that are harmful or not associated with the University and the purpose of the Platform;
    • repeatedly contacting people for commercial purposes without their consent; and
    • attempting to artificially control or influence conversations, feeds, message boards or any type of forum on the Platform through the use of fake accounts, numerous accounts, scripting, automation or AI.

• Whether we claim ownership in your Content depends on your capacity We do not claim ownership of your content that you post on or through the Platform and you are free to share your content with anyone else, wherever you choose, except for in limited circumstances:
  • We will take assignment of Student created intellectual property submitted, posted or displayed on the Platform where such Content is created jointly with one or more members of staff, where the Content is a result of participation in a staff-led project where there is already substantial University intellectual property, if the Content is created under a contract with third parties and/or the student is employed by us. Please read Regulation 12  to find out more about when your Content may be owned by us.
  • If you are employed by us then any Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Platform in the course of your employment is owned by us and governed by Regulation 12 .

• Grants of Rights in your Content
  • Except in the circumstances set out in ‘Whether we claim ownership in your Content depends on your capacity’ you retain your rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Platform. However, we need certain legal permissions from you (known as a "licence") to provide the Platform. When you share, post, display or upload Content that is covered by intellectual property rights (such as photos or videos) on or in connection with our Platform you grant us a world-wide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable licence (with the right to sub-licence) to host, use, reproduce, distribute, transmit, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate and create derivative works of your Content. This licence will end when your content is deleted from our Platform. You can delete Content individually or all at once by deleting your YfL account.

• If you select a username or similar identifier i.e. profile picture, for your account, we may change it if we believe that it is appropriate or necessary (for example, if it infringes someone's intellectual property, impersonates another user, breaks our Conditions of Use or any applicable laws.

• You can only use our intellectual property and trademarks or similar marks as expressly permitted by our Brand Guidelines  or with our prior written permission.

• Content removal and disabling or terminating your account
  • We can remove any Content or information that you share on the Platform if we believe that constitutes misinformation, is harmful, violates our Conditions of Use or we are required to do so by law.
  • We can refuse to provide or stop providing all or part of the Platform to you (including terminating or disabling your access to the Platform) immediately to protect our community, our reputation or the Platform, or if you create risk or legal exposure for us, violate these Conditions of Use, if you repeatedly infringe other people's intellectual property rights or where we are required to do so by law.
  • We can terminate or change the Platform, remove or block content or information shared on the Platform, or stop providing all or part of the Platform if we determine that doing so is reasonably necessary to avoid or mitigate adverse legal or regulatory impacts on us.
  • You acknowledge and agree that both us and our moderators can remove any Content or information shared on the Platform at our absolute discretion. We will always take such steps as are reasonably practicable to ensure that freedom of speech is secured both in the University and on the Platform but Content on the Platform must be within the law and must not be considered harmful by us. We do not seek to prevent expression of opinion where it is considered lawful and harmless.
  • In some cases when we remove content, we'll let you know and explain any options you have to request another review,  unless you seriously or repeatedly violate our Conditions of Use, or if doing so may expose us or others to legal liability; harm our community of users; compromise or interfere with the integrity or operation of any of our services, systems or products; where we are restricted due to technical limitations; or where we are prohibited from doing so for legal reasons. If you believe that your Content has been removed or your account has been suspended or terminated in error please contact us via our complaints procedure .

• Any post or uploaded Content added to the Platform will show up right away. We do not screen Platform activity or Content before it is posted or goes live on the Platform. This is called reactive moderation, which means moderators monitor posts and also rely on you and our other community members to tell us about any inappropriate content. Moderating in this way means that we can keep the community running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so that support is available when you need it.
• We aim to provide you with clear and accessible ways to report problems and we request that all community members report concerning behaviour or behaviour that violates our Conditions of Use. The moderation team works diligently to maintain the York for Life Community but we need your assistance to keep both you and the Platform safe from harm.
• You may report any post or communication you deem as inappropriate or a violation of our Conditions of Useby.

• You are responsible for your use of the Platform and any Content that you upload or provide. This means you are responsible for compliance with our Conditions of Use, and any applicable laws or regulations. You should not provide Content unless you are happy and comfortable with such Content being shared with others. All Content is the responsibility of the person who originated such Content. Any Content used, provided, or obtained by you for use on the Platform is done so at your own risk. We do not endorse any opinions communicated, provided, or uploaded on the Platform. We do not endorse, support, represent or guarantee the completeness, accuracy or reliability of any Content posted on the Platform.
• You understand that by using the Platform you may be exposed to content, communications, or information that you may find offensive or harmful or is inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate, including misinformation. We need your help to keep the Platform safe. If you see something you believe is in breach of our Conditions of Use or is illegal or unacceptable content, please report it via alumni@york.ac.uk.
• You are responsible for safeguarding your account, so make sure you use a unique, strong password, different to all passwords used across your other University and non-University accounts. It should be long and difficult for anyone else to guess. We cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with this.
• You acknowledge and agree that we can and will not be responsible for any loss or damage whatsoever arising from an inability to access the Platform from any country outside of the United Kingdom.
• You acknowledge and agree that: (i) the use and availability of our Platform will be dependent on a third-party service provider (ii) such third-party may not operate the Platform in a reliable manner all of the time and they may impact on the way that the Platform operates and (ii) we are not responsible for damages and losses due to the operation of this third-party service. If you experience problems with the Platform service levels please contact alumni@york.ac.uk and we will liaise with the third-party service provider to raise such issue(s).
• We will exercise professional diligence to maintain the Platform but we cannot guarantee that the Platform will always function without disruptions, delays or imperfections as the Platform is provided by a third-party service provider. We cannot and will not be responsible for any delays, delivery failures, downtime or any other loss or damage resulting from the transfer of data over communications networks and facilities including the internet and you acknowledge the Platform may be subject to limitations, delays and other problems inherent in the use of such communications facilities.
• Provided that we have acted with reasonable skill and care, we do not accept responsibility for: losses not caused by our breach of these Conditions of Use or otherwise by our acts; losses which are not reasonably foreseeable by you and us at the time of entering into these Conditions of Use; any offensive, inappropriate, obscene, unlawful or otherwise objectionable Content posted by others that you may encounter on our platform; and events beyond our reasonable control.
• The above does not exclude or limit our liability for death, personal injury or fraudulent misrepresentation caused by our negligence. It also does not exclude or limit our liability for any other things where the law does not permit us to do so.

1. You are not satisfied with the response you received to your original complaint.
2. You believe a member of Office of Philanthropic Partnerships and Alumni staff acted inappropriately.
3. A member of staff believes the nature of the complaint is too serious for the informal process.
4. Stage 3 (formal) – In the unlikely event that your complaint is still unresolved, you can use the Formal Complaints Procedure by completing a formal complaint form and sending to the Registrar and Secretary’s Office.

1. You are not satisfied with the response you received from the Director of Philanthropic Partnerships and Alumni to your complaint.
2. You believe the Director acted inappropriately.
3. The Director believes the nature of the complaint is too serious for the semi-formal process.
4. At the end of the process we will contact you to check that we have answered all the points you have raised. If your complaint is upheld, we will also check that you are happy with the outcome.