The message boards of MarineParents.com are public. All posts are moderated by our trained volunteers prior to being released for public viewing. To maintain Operations Security (OpSEC), privacy and personal safety, the following guidelines are to be followed when writing a post for the message board communities of MarineParents.com. The same guidelines apply to conversations in the MarineParents.com chat rooms.
- Follow MarineParents.com, Inc. Mission Statement:
Within Operations Security, posts must follow our mission of informing, connecting, sharing, and supporting Marines and their family members. For additional information, please see "MP.com Mission Statement. Members are expected to be respectful of one another. Personal attacks are not allowed.
- Marine and Recruit Privacy and Safety
Personal information about Marines or recruits is not allowed, including but not limited to identifying information such as last names, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and addresses. This is a public message board and you should use discretion when posting any other personal information. Please respect the privacy of your Marine or recruit. Posts paraphrasing content of letters from your Marine or recruit are acceptable as long as his/her privacy is protected; entire letters and/or specific quotes from letters will not be allowed. We reserve the right to suggest author edits or delete posts of a private nature.
- Member Privacy and Safety:
Personal information about members is not allowed, including but not limited to identifying information such as last names, email addresses, phone numbers, and addresses. This is a public message board and you should use discretion when posting any other personal information. Please respect the privacy of others. We reserve the right to suggest author edits or delete posts of a private nature.
- USMC Personnel Privacy, Safety and Chain of Command:
Posting personal information about Marine Corps Personnel, Drill Instructors, or Family Readiness Officers is not allowed. Phone numbers for USMC personnel are not allowed, including office, cell or home numbers. Contact information for USMC personnel, when appropriate, will be published on the primary web site, MarineParents.com and the Unit Information Pages™ (UIPs). Complaints about the chain of command or the command of a Marine or recruit will not be allowed when the complaint is being posted by someone other than the person directly affected by the complaint.
Additional Information Regarding the Military Chain of Command: All branches of the military have a chain of command to follow for questions, complaints, inquiries and comments. Information your Marine or recruit may share with you regarding his/her command should be kept private out of respect for all Marines. Your Marine or recruit may ask you for assistance or you may feel it is necessary to offer assistance by contacting military personnel. Please verify with your Marine or recruit prior to taking any action or making any contacts on his/her behalf. This is your Marine's job. The Marine Corps is his/her employer. The Marine Corps is not obligated to discuss job performance or duties with anyone other than the Marine.
- No Politics:
Endorsement of candidates or mention of political positions or any other political statements, expressed or implied, are not allowed. Discussions of the political nature of current conflicts are not allowed. MarineParents.com is first and foremost a support community; political differences have potential to denigrate the support environment. Expressions of patriotism and supporting the troops are not considered political statements and may be posted by members.
- External Links and References to External Web Sites:
External links are not allowed. Link addresses and web site content have high potential to change without notice. We simply do not have the manpower to make corrections and updates in thousands of posts on the message boards.
The primary website, MarineParents.com and our Outreach Services websites, include links to information, resources, sponsors and advertisers. Links on the web site are updated by our web developers. References to the links on MarineParents.com are allowed on the message boards.
Members may suggest search terms for informational web sites that are a benefit to Marines and/or their families. However, suggestions for searches or links to the following types of web sites are not allowed: blogs, message board communities, social networking sites, and/or other sites of similar nature.
To make a suggestion for a link to be published on one of our websites, please see "Web Site Link Policy". We encourage vendors wanting to sell products or services to advertise with us. See "Advertising Rates" for more information.
- Calls to Action:
Posts that include a "Call to Action" or a suggestion for members to band together for the purpose of raising attention or awareness of a particular issue (no matter how "right" you may feel the call to action is) are not allowed. The MarineParents.com organization is first and foremost a support community. Differences of opinion on whether or not a "call to action" is a worthy cause has potential to denigrate the support environment.
- OpSEC (Operations Security):
OpSEC: All posts must conform to Operations Security (OpSEC) guidelines. Posting of TROOP: movement, missions, logistics, numbers, locations, homecoming windows or dates and morale are not allowed whether the battalion is state-side, in-country or deployed. Additional guidelines during deployment: posts identifying your Marine's specific billet and/or MOS will not be allowed. Regardless of location, identification of a high security billet will never be allowed. Remember, the enemy only needs to know that our troops are ready to defend and act.
Just because your Marine or recruit shared information with you, does not mean you should share it in a public message board community. These security measures should not be interpreted as intent to limit free speech or exercise editorial control. Freedom of speech does not include the right to endanger someone else's life or liberty. MarineParents.com is categorized as a military community and our troops are engaged. OpSEC will be followed with the strictest interpretation.
For additional information on Operations Security (OpSEC) please see:
http://www.marineparents.com/USMC/security-deployments.asp
- From or About the USMC and Recruit Training:
Posts containing information or references to information which your Marine or recruit may have shared with you about Marine Corps business, a recruit training situation, successes or failures of a unit in training and/or on missions, or specific scores or statistics will not be allowed. During recruit training, the successes of a platoon may be shared once the information has been made public. Posts specifically bashing the Marine Corps will not be allowed. We do not have the manpower to verify specific instances that may or may not be public knowledge and/or may or may not be factual information.
- Incidences and Casualties:
Posts containing information related to incidences or casualties incurred by Marines or recruits that have not yet been released to the general public will be held until official notification is received. All posts regarding KIA casualties (Killed in Action), unless posted by an immediate family member, MUST be accompanied by the DoD (Department of Defense) notification. We will not allow the risk of posting information without proper notification to family members. Casualty includes WIA, KIA, MIA, and/or DustWUN status.
- Photos:
To comply with OpSEC guidelines, photos that have NOT been released by the Marine Corps or DoD (Department of Defense) are not allowed. Links to photo-hosting web sites are not allowed. Links to photos from legitimate news sources may be allowed. Please use caution sharing photos on your social networking or personal photo websites. Photos of Marines in-country should never be shared. Photos of recruits in training should never be shared. If stated photos are on a personal website listed in your member profile, you will be asked to remove the link from your profile. Posts asking members to email you for links to stated photos will not be allowed.
- Copyright:
Posts containing text or writings that are not your original work, will need to be verified for permission from the author to be shared on the message boards. The post will be held pending verification from a trained moderator and/or volunteer.
- News Articles:
Links to legitimate news articles are allowed. To comply with copyright regulations, sources must be cited with any news article excerpt. Posts without sources will be held for the author to edit.
- Funeral Notices:
Posting of public funeral notices, dates, times and locations are allowed. Appropriate references should be included if at all possible. We reserve the right to hold posts pending verification of public information.
Please be responsible with your online communications. Our Marines and military personnel depend on you to maintain Operations Security. MarineParents.com encourages all military personnel and families to follow OpSEC guidelines and to practice safety and privacy in personal email as well as other online communities and environments which you participate in.
All text on this page is Copyright © to MarineParents.com, Inc. Copying or distributing for any other use is strictly forbidden without prior, written permission. For additional information on copyright and trademark use of MarineParents.com web site content, please see "MarineParents.com Copyright and Trademark Policy".
