Moderation Policy for the National Autism Strategy Discussion Board

The online discussion board for the National Autism Strategy is open between 6 September and 6 October 2023 it is moderated by The Social Deck and Social Pinpoint.

Terms of Use

The Terms of Use and this Moderation Policy govern the use of the National Autism Strategy Discussion Board (“the site”).

Participants should familiarise themselves with, and must agree to, this Moderation Policy and our Terms of Use before participating.

The Social Deck and the Australian Government Department of Social Services, and their contractors, reserve the right to:

  • restrict, suspend or terminate your access to the online discussion board if you are found to be in breach of this Moderation Policy or our Terms of Use
  • refuse, moderate, move or remove (including delete, hide or edit), any material that you post in breach of this Moderation Policy or our Terms of Use, the ascertainment of which is to fall under the moderator’s or account administrator’s discretion, exercised in accordance with these Terms of Use and Australian law.

The moderation process

  • The online discussion board for the National Autism Strategy will be moderated by moderators at The Social Deck and Social Pinpoint.
  • The discussion board will be open and moderated between 6 September and 6 October 2023.
  • Any responses made by the moderators will be conversational and informal. If you seek a formal response from the department on a matter, please address your request to AutismPolicy@dss.gov.au.
  • The Australian Government has strict anti-discrimination laws. Moderation of the discussion board will take a strong stance on deleting content which is discriminatory, hateful or threatening and actions which may offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate. We will delete content that is not in accordance with these Terms of Use.
  • Your contribution may be removed if it does not comply with the Terms of Use.
  • Other users within the forum may report your contribution to the moderator for checking. This may be done outside of the online discussion board, via email to engage@thesocialdeck.com.

Rules for all contributors

In making your contribution, you agree that you will not use this online discussion board to:

  • post personal information including, email addresses, telephone numbers or any other personally identifiable information of yourself or others
  • post specific incidents or complaints naming individuals, companies or organisations
  • collect or store personal information of any other person or group
  • abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights of others
  • impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity. Making false representations may amount to a criminal offence
  • post any misleading, deceptive, false, defamatory or libellous content
  • post content that is insulting, threatening or hateful towards a certain group of people
  • post content to incite hatred on the basis of race, religion, gender, nationality, sexuality or any other personal characteristics
  • post inappropriate, profane, defamatory, obscene or indecent content
  • post or upload content of a partisan political nature
  • conduct any illegal activity or solicit the performance of any illegal activity
  • contribute any text or other material that infringes the intellectual property rights of others
  • spam your contribution to the site by sending multiple copies or versions of it
  • post off-topic or irrelevant contributions not in keeping with prescribed topics or themes
  • advertise or offer to sell any goods or services for any commercial purpose unless you have our written consent to do so.

What happens to my contribution?

Contributions submitted in this online discussion board will be analysed and used to inform the development of the National Autism Strategy.

However, your name and details will not be used in any reports.

The moderator will inform help-seeking users about available services and information.

Posts which contain a threat or disclosure about the safety and wellbeing of a person will be escalated as soon as practicable and/or the situation may be reported to emergency services on 000.

Intellectual property

By submitting a contribution, you accept full responsibility for ensuring that in making your contribution your intellectual property rights are not lost or diminished. This is for your own protection.

The Social Deck or the Australian Government Department of Social Services does not warrant that any material or information you contribute will be protected against loss, misuse or alteration by third parties. In particular, this does not warrant that you will not suffer loss or diminution of any intellectual property rights you currently own or may be able to obtain in relation to any material or information that you contribute.

If your contribution includes material in which the copyright is owned by another person or entity, you warrant that you have obtained all necessary permissions, authorisations, licences and consents required for the use of such materials and have made arrangements for the payment of any royalties or other fees payable in respect of the use of such material.

You agree to indemnify the Australian Government Department of Social Services and The Social Deck against any loss, liability, claim, demand, damage or expense (including legal fees) asserted by any third-party (including yourself) arising out of a breach of the warranty referred to above or of the Terms of Use.

Contact

For enquiries and support contact email engage@thesocialdeck.com or phone 0458 228 142