Community Rules & Etiquette
Thank you for being part of the User Group community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation. You must accept these terms prior to participating in the online community or attending a community event.
By joining this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that are best suited to the medium. The online and local communities are great mediums with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in ongoing conversations.
Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. In order to preserve a climate that encourages civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these rules. Questions about these guidelines should be directed to our Member Services department via the Contact Us page on this site.
The Rules
- Always treat all Community Members with respect and courtesy. Don’t challenge or attack others. The discussions and comments are meant to stimulate conversation not to create contention. Let others have their say, just as you may.
- Maintain a high degree of integrity within the User Group and within the community
- Use caution when discussing products. The information posted on the discussion boards is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
- Refrain from discrimination towards any other individual regarding race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability or military status, or political view. All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive or illegal materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.
- Refrain from using the User Group name or logo without the express written consent of the organization.
- Contribute to discussions and other group functions in a positive and productive manner.
- Please note carefully all items listed in the disclaimer and legal rules below, particularly regarding the copyright ownership of information posted.
- Remember that Dynamic Communities and other participants have the right to reproduce postings.
- Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate lists. Do not spam several lists or individuals with the same message.
- All messages on the site, including blogs and discussion posts, must add to the body of knowledge. We reserve the right to reject any message for any reason.
- Job openings/postings are not allowed in the community.
- Report to the Community leadership any conduct by any of the group’s members or leaders which is illegal or unethical in its dealings with other members or organizations or businesses.
Partner Membership Eligibility
Partner membership is open to authorized VARs, Resellers, Systems Integrators, ISVs, and Consultants who provide value-added services to Customers using Microsoft Dynamics software or Microsoft Power Platform. Partners are not eligible to enroll in Customer/User type memberships. Given the mission and purpose of the User group communities, the following types of companies are not allowed to participate in the community: recruiters and staffing firms; Partners (as defined above) of competitive software.
No Solicitation Guidelines
To create an environment that is free from unwanted solicitation, we ask all participants to agree to the following guidelines:
- Refrain from soliciting or marketing their services or products or affiliated third-party vendors to members of the User Group(s) except for sponsorship opportunities that have been authorized by Dynamic Communities. This includes, but is not limited to, email, phone calls, direct mail, social media, online forums, feeds, discussion forums, images, videos, special interest groups, local User Group meetings, and other User Group events.
- We ask all participants to share their deep knowledge of the product and their thought leadership. Contributions should be free of promotional messages (including, but not limited to, promotion of Partner products, services, training, and events), and sales activities are strictly prohibited. This includes messages posted to the discussion boards and messages sent directly to an individual.
- While informational posts about products that address specific needs are acceptable when solicited by a participant, unsolicited promotional posts are not allowed and will be removed. Partners should not promote services to customers unless specifically requested by a participant.
- Participants’ contributions should be unbiased and free of any conflict of interest. As such, please refrain from making comments about affiliates’ or competitors’ products, services, or other offerings.
- Partners participating in Local User Group meetings are encouraged to review the Local User Group Guidelines below.
- Given the mission and purpose of the User Group, the following types of companies are not allowed to participate in the community: recruiters and staffing firms; resellers of Dynamics licenses only that provide no services; product or service providers with no relation to Microsoft Dynamics or Microsoft Power Platform.
Online Community Etiquette
- Include a signature tag on all messages. Include your name, affiliation, and location.
- State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
- Only send a message to the entire list when it contains information that everyone can benefit from.
- Send messages such as “thanks for the information” or “me, too” to individuals–not to the entire list. Do this by using the “Reply to Sender” link to the left of every message.
- Do not send administrative messages, such as ‘Remove me’ from the list. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing e-mail addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new e-mail address. Simply change your settings.
Local User Group Participation Guidelines
To create a positive, solicitation-free environment where the community can come to learn and share with one another freely, we ask all local user group participants to follow the guidelines below.
- Register for the Local User Group meeting in advance.
- Promote Local User Group meetings with your customers as appropriate. If attending, accompany your customer, if possible, but this is not a requirement for participation and attendance.
- We encourage participants to present educational content as requested by the Local User Group Leader. We ask all presenters to:
- Deliver content using the provided User Group PowerPoint template. Paid Annual Local User Group Sponsors may use their own template for partner showcases as part of their sponsor benefit.
- Limit company information to one slide
- Ensure content is educational in nature. Marketing and/or sales messages are not allowed.
- If highlighting a customer, it provides increased value if they participate in the presentation
- Engage in conversation by sharing knowledge of the software and subject matter expertise.
- Refrain from marketing and/or sales-oriented discussions at the meetings. This includes, but is not limited to, the promotion of products or services.
- Refrain from distributing handouts or promotional items unless formally approved in advance by the User Group; or unless approved as part of a paid sponsorship program authorized by Dynamic Communities.
- Refrain from requesting contact information from other Users at meetings for the purposes of solicitation. Refrain from copying or accessing any information from meeting rosters.
The Legal Stuff
This site is provided by Dynamic Communities as a service for the members of Microsoft Dynamics and Microsoft Power Platform. Dynamic Communities is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. We disclaim all warranties regarding information posted on this site, whether posted by Dynamic Communities or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall Dynamic Communities be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site.
Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials. Abide by copyright, trademark, and licensing laws and regulations regarding software, patents, copyrights, license agreements, and other property rights. Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants Dynamic Communities and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.
Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another’s business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.
Dynamic Communities will monitor the site for inappropriate postings; however, we do not undertake editorial control of postings. Community participants should help monitor the content posted on the site and report to us via the Contact Us link any inappropriate content or postings. If any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of Dynamic Communities, we will take all appropriate action.
Dynamic Communities reserves the right to review membership at their discretion at any time. Membership in the User Groups is not guaranteed and may be subject to additional due diligence. In addition, membership may be subject to further review and adjudication by Dynamic Communities staff and/or the Board of Advisors. Violation of the Rules and Etiquette contained in this document may subject a member to action up to and including dismissal from the group and all related benefits.
Participation in the User Group online community includes a daily digest email subscription to the respective open discussion group(s) and, if applicable, your nearest Local User Group discussion group(s). To modify your community email subscriptions, visit Account > Email Preferences.
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