The use of discussion forums and email lists of IST, hosted on IST’s IT resources, assumes that users adhere to ethical principles and common sense typically expected in such spaces. Therefore, the following types of articles will not be allowed:
- Injurious to IST or any individual, particularly to faculty and former faculty, students and former students, which does not exclude articles with criticism and the expression of negative opinions.
- Whose sole purpose is to provoke the anger of readers.
- Of a racist, xenophobic, or any other discriminatory nature.
- Improperly labeled or with an incorrect title, i.e., the article is about a subject that is inconsistent with the title or label it carries.
- Of a commercial nature. According to IST’s general rules, the use of these forums for commercial purposes or advertising is strictly prohibited.
- Offering, whether for free or not, illegal access to documents, software, and documentation protected by Copyright.
- Poorly written or unclear content. In such cases, the author may be asked to resubmit the article with the corrected text.
- Users are generally asked to follow internationally accepted etiquette rules for sending emails and posting in portals and newsgroups (RFC 1855 Netiquette Guidelines).
In the event of a violation of these rules, the user’s access to the forum may be restricted by its moderators. The affected user will be notified of this restriction via email, with a message sent by the moderator, indicating the reason for the restriction and including a reference or link to this document. It is important to note that, in these cases, using loopholes to bypass the restriction, such as registering on the forum under a new identity, is strictly prohibited and will be treated as a serious violation of the IST network usage rules, subject to disciplinary action.
Users who feel aggrieved by any decision regarding access restriction may appeal the decision to the IT Services (DSI) in the case of forums hosted on IT resources managed by DSI, or to the Department Head (or their delegate) in the case of forums hosted on IT resources managed directly by the Departments.