We are committed to keeping both the public web log and the members' discussion area a supportive context for discussion and nurturing of chanpon identities. Our site policies are thus designed to make the site a comfortable space for members of all ages and backgrounds, which means that we want to keep the site content open, within some basic limits and guidelines.

Any disputes and policy changes will be decided by a two-thirds majority of the steering committee, made up of the staff and volunteers of the site. We will solicit the input of members at large in the case of major changes and disputes.

Mostly, we trust your judgement about what you should and shouldn't post. We hope you will be friendly and respectful, particularly given our diverse cultural backgrounds. Posters are encouraged to state their views and share their experiences, and also engage with controversy and debate. Also, Posters are expected to maintain a basic tone of civility. We don't have any problem with heated arguments, but name-calling, ongoing flame wars and personal attacks may be edited by moderators if it gets out of hand.

Comments attached to particular stories or posts are not reviewed before they appear on the site. We reserve the right to edit or delete any post deemed inappropriate. Readers may contact us with any posting problems.

The members-only discussion groups are moderated in the sense that there is somebody monitoring and hosting the content. This does not mean that each message goes through the moderator to be posted, only that the moderator oversees the discussion area and reserves the right to edit any messages deemed inappropriate, or to steer the discussion in a certain way. Members should contact the moderator or the steering committee to report any problems.

If you are totally new to online discussion groups, you might check out the netiquette documents for Internet newsgroups, which you can find at http://www.fau.edu/netiquette/netiquette.shtml.

• Please try to stay on topic to the particular discussion groups.
• Please browse past messages before you post so you get a sense of what has been discussed already and the tone of the group.
• It's nice to welcome newcomers by saying 'hi' and to address other posters individually in your posts.
• It is appropriate to include some text of the message your are responding to, but try to trim it to the relevant sections to reduce overall volume on the site.
• Try to avoid posting the same thing different groups.
• While it is up to you what you want to share about your own background, be careful about what you share about other members.
• Use caution when posting personal information such as phone numbers, addresses, citizenship and immigration status.
• Check out the chanpon.org FAQ for more details.

• You may not post any defamatory, abusive, harassing, obscene, profane, vulgar, sexually explicit, threatening or illegal material, or any material containing blatant expressions of bigotry, racism, or hate.
• You may not use the site for commercial purposes.
• You may not 'spam' by posting the same message in multiple discussions that are not related to the topic of the post.
• You may not collect the email addresses of members and 'spam' them by sending unsolicited commercial messages.
• You may use the chanpon.org website only for lawful purposes. You may not post or transmit any material that violates the rights of others, infringes a person's intellectual property rights (such as copyrights, patents, or trademarks), or is otherwise unlawful or encourages unlawful activity.
• The chanpon.org steering committee reserves the right in our sole discretion (but is not obligated) to review and delete or refuse to post any material on the site.
• Material placed online by members does not necessarily reflect the views of the steering committee or the Momoko Ito Foundation.

• We welcome comments on all of the articles and reviews posted on our site.
• You will be asked to provide a name and verifiable email address when you post a comment.

The Members-only discussions on Chanpon.org is "closed" in the sense that that site is only accessible to registered members. We ask that you use discretion when sharing information with people outside the community. While it is expected that you might discuss the content of the members-only site with other friends and family, it would not be appropriate for you to take site content and email it out or post to other mailing lists or discussion groups. Nor would it be appropriate to publish the contents of the site in any way without members' permission. If you have any questions about sharing the information on the site, please contact members@chanpon.org.

We cannot guarantee that the content posted in the members-only discussions will not migrate outside of the site. As with any online communication, our site is prone to snoopers and hackers. In addition, you should expect that members would share, to some degree, the information that they gain on this site with others that are not necessarily part of chanpon.org.  For this reason, you should consider anything you post here potentially "public" and use discretion when posting personal information.

If we want to use the content of your post in any publications or on the public web site, we will contact you first. Any research conducted on online actions or usage will be disclosed to the entire community.

Ultimately, the safety of the site relies on the trust between members. We encourage people to participate in good faith. The community steering committee is available as a last resort to mediate disputes and in the worst case, exclude people from participation.