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Guiding Principles
- Be civil – Civil and constructive dialogue is expected from everyone. We’ll remove anything that is inappropriate, inaccurate, profane or defamatory. Spam will not be tolerated. Ideas will be approved by the FCC moderator prior to posting – expect 1 – 2 business days for your post to show up on the site. Votes and comments are posted in real time. FCC expects that the community members flag any inappropriate comments and notify FCC for removal.
- Be relevant – The Vision Community is dedicated to the discussion of ideas and improvements related to FCC’s products and services. That does not mean any topic or issue related to FCC. The Vision Community is not the appropriate channel to inquire about your FCC loan. If you have such inquiries, please call 1-888-332-3301 and an FCC representative can help you.
- Be yourself – The goal of The Vision Community is to encourage the sharing and discussion of individual ideas, comments and solutions. We hope you will contribute your own ideas and comments. Please, no pitching for commercial interests.
- Be interesting – Ultimately, the value of this site is in the ideas presented and the level of discourse. All users should foster a creative and valuable exchange of ideas.
- Be honest and ethical – Users should follow basic legal and ethical principles, including for example, not infringing on any patent or copyright or sharing any confidential or personal information.
Our Commitments
- Moderation – Ideas will be approved by the FCC moderator prior to posting – expect 1 – 2 business days for your post to show up on the site. Comments, however, will not be actively moderated by FCC - users can and should flag any materials that don’t fit the site guidelines. The site manager also will retroactively remove postings that violate the rules of engagement. We will do our best to respond to comments – where appropriate – in a reasonable timeframe. We expect users to provide their own input and responses, as this site is a forum for ideas and is not designed for Q&A with FCC or responses to specific customer questions.
- Topics – We will not hesitate to address tough issues or challenging topics, but will do so in a measured, thoughtful fashion. There are some topics, however, that are not appropriate for The Vision Community and will not be maintained on the site – political issues, sensitive financial matters and topics unrelated to our business and industry, for example.
- Due Diligence – We will consider the most popular ideas, as selected by users, and review the suggestions for their business potential and viability.
- Conduct – Our corporate values and policies will guide what we say – and how we say it. In line with our FCC Code of Conduct and Ethics, we are committed to acting in a professional, transparent, accurate and ethical manner in all situations – with our customers, business partners and neighbors. All comments and interactions on The Vision Community by FCC representatives will follow these guidelines, and FCC has the discretion to remove posts by others that are not in line with these guidelines. If you would like a copy of the Codes, please email fccvision@fcc-fac.ca to request a copy.
- Privacy – We are committed to the confidentiality of personal information, and your privacy will be respected. Information collected for registration will remain strictly confidential.
Terms of Service
These Terms of Use and Guiding Principles [“Terms of Service”], together with FCC’s Security and Privacy Policies and Electronic Access Agreement govern your use of the FCC Vision Community [“The Vision Community”]. Please familiarize yourself with all of these documents. These terms are not exhaustive and FCC reserves the right to modify them at any time, effective upon posting. By registering as a user or using The Vision Community, you agree to abide by these terms. Any violation of these Terms of Service may result in the suspension or termination of your right to access The Vision Community. The Vision Community is a valuable place for people to exchange information and ideas and learn from one another. Like any community, The Vision Community is most valuable when everyone follows certain basic guidelines and rules of conduct. These Terms of Service and the Guiding Principles detail what is expected of you and what you can expect from other participants when using the site.
Registration
In order to access the community, post an idea to the message boards, comment on an idea, or vote for an idea, you must create an account by hitting the Register button in the Login section on the right hand side of the screen.
In order to have the ability to create an account, you must be a member of Vision– FCC’s research advisory panel and the largest agricultural research panel in Canada. When you type in your email address, it will check the system to confirm you are a Vision member. If you are a Vision member, you will be able to create your Vision Community account by creating a username and password. If you are not currently a Vision member, you will be prompted to fill out a short questionnaire. Once you have completed the questionnaire, you will be a Vision member (click here to see what it means to be a Vision member) and have the ability to create a Vision Community account and help FCC shape the future of Canadian agriculture by sharing your ideas!
The username you choose will be displayed along with the ideas and comments you have posted on the site. Ensure that your username does not impersonate another person, belong to another person, violate the intellectual property or other rights of any person, or is vulgar or offensive. FCC retains the right to block or prohibit usernames that violate these specifications.
Site Management
The Vision Community is not intended as a way for visitors to get answers from FCC on any issue; it is intended as a means to exchange ideas and propose solutions. Unless the person is a site manager or otherwise authorized to speak on behalf of FCC, the views and statements of FCC employees are theirs alone and do not represent an official company position.
License
You grant to FCC and its designees a perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive fully-paid up and royalty free license to use any ideas, expression of ideas or other materials you submit (collectively, “Materials”) to FCC without restrictions of any kind and without any payment or other consideration of any kind, or permission or notification, to you or any third party. The license shall include, without limitation, the irrevocable right to reproduce, prepare derivative works, combine with other works, alter, translate, distribute copies, display, perform, license the Materials, and all rights therein, in the name of FCC, or its designees in perpetuity in any and all media now or hereafter known.
The license shall also permit FCC and its designees to use portions of the Materials you submit, rerecord or modify any audio tracks or visual images you provide, rewrite any Materials you submit, and/or incorporate other materials, either created by FCC and its designees or licensed from third parties, with the Materials you submit. Any such works shall be deemed Materials owned by FCC and shall not be subject to your approval or payment by FCC of any compensation to you.
You agree that the Materials you submit: (i) are original and created by you and that they are accurate, and (ii) do not violate and will not violate the rights of any third party or any local, provincial, federal or foreign law, including any right of publicity, right of privacy or any other proprietary right.
By making a submission, you acknowledge and agree that FCC and its designees may create on their own or obtain many submissions that may be similar or identical to the Materials you submit through The Vision Community or other channels and means. You hereby waive any and all claims you may have had, may have, and/or may have in the future, that the Materials accepted, reviewed and/or used by FCC and its designees may be similar to your Materials.
General Release
You hereby release and hold harmless FCC, its affiliated entities, employees, directors, officers, licensees and assigns and each of their respective designees (“FCC Entities”) with respect to any claims, damages, costs, losses and expenses, including reasonable lawyers’ fees, due to or arising out of content you submit, post, transmit or make available through The Vision Community, the use of such content by the FCC Entities for any purpose, your use of The Vision Community, your violation of these Terms of Service or the Electronic Access Agreement, or the violation by you or the FCC Entities of yours or any third party’s rights including, without limitation, intellectual property or other proprietary rights, rights of privacy and publicity, rights of attribution, or any other liability, direct or indirect, vicarious, contributory, or otherwise.
Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability
Most of the content posted to The Vision Community is provided by third parties like you. Such third-party content is the sole responsibility of the person originating that content. FCC does not control, and is not responsible for this third-party content. FCC does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, reliability, completeness, usefulness, non-infringement of intellectual property rights, or quality of any content on The Vision Community regardless of who originates that content. You expressly understand and agree that you bear all risks associated with using or relying on that content. FCC will not be liable or responsible in any way for any content posted on or linked from The Vision Community including, but not limited to, any errors or omissions in content, or for any losses or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of or reliance on any content. This disclaimer and limitation on liability is in addition to the disclaimers and limitations contained in the Electronic Access Agreement that apply to all of FCC's websites.
Links
The Vision Community allows users to post hypertext links to content hosted and maintained by third parties. Links are subject to treatment like any other type of content posted to The Vision Community. You may not include a link that directs users to any content or information that, if posted in The Vision Community, would constitute a violation of these Terms of Service. The linked sites and content are not moderated by FCC, are not under FCC's control, responsibility or endorsement and your access to any linked site is at your own risk. When leaving The Vision Community using any link provided by a user, you should be aware that FCC's terms and policies no longer govern, and you should review the terms and policies, including privacy and data gathering practices, of that particular site. If you access a linked site and find materials to be in violation of these Terms of Service, you may report the link.
Enforcement
FCC pre-screens all ideas prior to posting. If an idea is submitted that is viewed by FCC to be inappropriate, irrelevant, offensive, etc., FCC will not post the idea. FCC generally does not pre-screen, verify or edit the comments posted by users in The Vision Community. However, FCC and its agents reserve the right to do so and investigate any violation of the FCC Electronic Access Agreement and these Terms of Service and to take appropriate remedial action. FCC has absolute discretion to enforce the terms of these documents, including, but not limited to, warning users of violations, disabling or suspending The Vision Community access, deleting, screening or editing any content, or prohibiting any behavior that does not comply with these Terms of Service, or which is otherwise inappropriate for The Vision Community. Deliberate attempts by users or someone on their behalf to evade or circumvent their suspension or termination of rights to use The Vision Community violates these Terms of Service, constitutes an unlawful trespass to FCC's equipment and systems, and may result in legal action.
FCC also may release information concerning your use of The Vision Community (including posted content, registration information, and network records) when FCC believes release is appropriate to comply with the law; to enforce or apply FCC's Electronic Access Agreement and these Terms of Service; to protect FCC's rights or property, or to protect FCC's users from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful use of The Vision Community; or if FCC reasonably believes that an emergency involving immediate danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure of communications or justifies disclosure of records.
Content
By participating in The Vision Community, including the posting of content and commentary, you agree that you will not upload, post, or otherwise transmit any content (including text, links, communications, software, images, sounds, data, or other information) that:
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1. Is not consistent with the permissible uses outlined by the Terms of Service, including, but not limited to, content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, vulgar, profane, sexually explicit, obscene, racially or ethnically offensive or otherwise objectionable;
2. Infringes on any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other proprietary rights of any party;
3. Constitutes advertising or promotion, junk mail, "spamming," chain letters, or any other form of unauthorized solicitation. Links that connect to commercial websites will not be considered unauthorized solicitations unless the link or the website content appears to be intended as a means of solicitation as determined by FCC in its sole discretion;
4. Contains software viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots or any other computer code or files that are designed to disrupt, damage, or limit the functioning of any software or hardware;
5. Provides any non-public information about FCC or any other company or person without the proper authorization to do so. This includes providing the names, addresses and extension numbers of FCC employees and The Vision Community participants;
6. Intentionally interferes with the operation of The Vision Community or with a fellow user's message box, without limitation, mail or "post" bombing, news bombing, other flooding techniques, deliberate attempts to overload a system and broadcast attacks, or attempts to avoid messaging blocking;
7. Impersonates any person or entity, including a FCC employee. This prohibition does not include the use of aliases or anonymous remailers; or,
8. Attacks or insults directed at another user or site manager;
9. Suggests or encourages illegal activity.
10. Impairs the effective and efficient operation of The Vision Community website. |
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