1. Definitions

Forums (message boards) are virtual environments for users to establish communication through a web interface, to share files and/or to get informed about the latest announcements. They operate on the basis of membership. The messages sent to forums by forum members are displayed on the web interface. The administrator of the forum service can control all the functions in all the sections of the forum system such as granting permission, authorization, restricting a user, creating member groups etc. Every forum has a moderator who is responsible from the membership procedures and from the healthy operation of the forum in technical/administrative terms.

2. METU Forum Service The forums opened on the METU forum service can be used both as a discussion environment and a communication medium. It can also be used only to be informed about official announcements. According to the need, the forum can be specified and opened as one direction (only the forum administrator can send messages) or double direction (all the members can send messages), moderated (every message posted to the forum is firstly received by the forum administrator and if the forum administrator approves it, the message is then sent to the forum), non-moderated (the messages are sent directly to the forum without being handled by a moderator mechanism). Moreover, the forums can be opened as open or closed forums, which can be accessed by everyone, and which can be accessed only by the members respectively. METU users can make use of forum service within the context of these settings and in accordance with METU Information Technology Resources Use Policy.

The categories defined according to main user groups are as follows on the METU forum system:

• METU All - Bütün ODTÜ
• METU staff - ODTÜ personeli
• METU students - ODTÜ öğrencileri
• Departments and units - Bölümler ve Birimler
• METU forum - ODTÜ forumu

3. The role of people on forum service

The role of people on METU Forum service can be classified chiefly in two groups. A person can be the "administrator" or the "member" of a forum:

3.1. Forum administrator

• Being a "forum administrator" to a group is a personal choice and it is defined during the opening process of the forum. People, who would like to be the administrator of a forum, submit their requests to the administrator during the application for the opening of the forum. If their request is deemed appropriate, they are defined as forum administrators. One should be a METU personnel, to be a forum administrator. The only exception to this is that the students who are members of students groups can also be forum administrators only after the academic advisor of the group approves such apointment.
• When the circumstances necessitate that the forum administrator should be changed, the administrator of the forum service should be informed about it.
• If need be, the special rules pertaining to the forum and specific sanctions are specified by the forum administrator. These rules and sanctions shall not override the specifications mentioned in METU Information Technology Resources Use Policy. The forum administrator is to take care that the forum rules are duely observed and not violated.
• Being a member of a forum, which demands membership to be able to use it, is a personal decision. Nobody would be included in the membership of any forum service without his/her own consent and will be it he/she is a member of METU or not.

3.2. Members

• The members of the forum service shall agree to abide by the rules of this document as additional to the rules and specifications mentioned in METU Information Technology Resources Use Policy.
• In addition to this the members should be careful to abide by the standards and principles that are not documented, but rather endorsed and expressed by the general public. Members should essentially be attentive and careful about the following conducts:

  • The messages should not be irrelevant to the subject matter of the forum.
  • It should be kept in mind that the forum is being used by more than one people. Therefore, the forum should be considered as an arena that is "open to public" and one should behave according to the code of conducts of a publicly open space.
  • The messages whose content show disrespect or speak insultingly toward someone are prohibited. If a member is doubtful about whether the message he/she will send contains such disrespectful language or content, he/she should not send it.
  • If a member decides to unsubscribe from a forum that requires membership, this request of the member should not be sent directly to the forum. The member should directly contact with forum administrator.
  • Technical questions pertaining to the forum service or messages that test a situation should not be sent to the forum. Such messages that aim to test a condition should be sent to "Test" forum.

Any person who has access to the Internet can use forum service by visiting the forum web interface available at http://forum.metu.edu.tr/. However, one must register him/herself and be a member of the forums to be able to access such rights as to send and reply messages. People can only subscribe to METU forum service if they own a valid e-mail address with metu.edu.tr extension.

Those forum members whose membership has not been activated after their registration should contact with forumadmmetu.edu.tr.

5. Opening of the new forums

Within the confines of the categories defined above, various forums can be opened according to the needs and demands of the METU members. One should fill out the Application Form and submit it to be able to start the forum opening procedure for the forum that is requested to be opened. If the information provided on the application form is deemed appropriate and sufficient, if the information provided is in conformity with rules presented in this documentation, and if the request for the opening of the forum, when compared with other interactive services, is believed to meet the needs of the users; the forum administrator will be notified that the forum is going to be opened. In the case of the student groups which request the opening of a forum, the academic advisor of the group should apply to start the procedure.

6. Supervision of the forums and the termination procedure

METU-CC conducts annual examining of the forums and surveys the usage statistics of forums. To start the closing procedure for the forums that remain idle, a contact with the forum administrator is established. If the forum administrator approves the starting of the closing procedure for the forum, that forum shall be closed. Moreover, the requests of the forum administrators to start the closing procedure for the forums are also evaluated and the procedure is then started.

If a forum is found out to be used in a manner that violates the METU Information Technology Resources Use Policy, a warning shall be announced to the forum administrator. If the improper/unacceptable use persists, the sanctions of the METU Information Technology Resources Use Policy shall be implemented.

7. The conveniences provided by the forum service

• In addition to the means of sending messages to the forum members, the members can share the files they would like on the forum environment. In the course of time, for concerns such as security, filtering settings on the executable files may be done and/or restrictions on the size of the files may be implemented.
• The members can send their messages in html format. (they can set color, font, size etc. by this way.)
• One of the features of the forum system is archiving. All the messages sent to the forums are archived and the archives willl be accessible to any member at any time.
• For inquiries about the other conveniences and for your general questions/problems, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Forum Service section.