[Admin Note] Apnea Board Rules

[SuperSleeper]

Apnea Board Registration Agreement and Rules

By registering and participating on Apnea Board Forums, you acknowledge, understand and agree to the following:

1. You agree to accept the entire Apnea Board Legal Statement, Privacy Policy, Copyright Agreement and any other rules or policies that the Administrator specifies.  You must be 18 years of age or older to create or use a forum account. ^†† Individuals are prohibited from registering more than one forum account.


2.  You will not post any material which is knowingly false, inaccurate, abusive, disruptive, inappropriate, harassing, sexually oriented, vulgar, threatening, or invasive of a person's privacy, or any other material which may violate any applicable laws. ^{1 & 2}  Ad hominem attacks against forum members are prohibited. (Definition: Ad hominem)  In order for Apnea Board to remain compliant with U.S. Copyright Law, you will not attach or post a link to any CPAP Clinician Manual (also known as a "Provider Manual" or "Setup Manual").  Instead, please direct members to the Clinician Setup Manuals Page where they can request a manual via private email.


3.  No member may use their forum account to offer, mediate or solicit the sale, trade, or transfer of any prescription-required items (such as CPAP machines, CPAP humidifiers, CPAP masks, CPAP hoses or the individual parts that make up such items).*   Offering, mediating, soliciting or facilitating the sale, trade, or transfer of commercially-sold or pirated computer software packages or digital media is also prohibited.   Members using a forum account for promoting spam of any kind will be banned.

4.  All posts must be made in the English language.


5.   Links to sites owned or operated by a Durable Medical Equipment provider (DME) are not allowed.  Links to web pages that sell prescription-required items directly to patients are not allowed.  This rule applies to forum posts, member signatures and user profiles. †

†  Prohibited links would include redirects, scam sites, blind links, sites owned or operated by a DME, or any web page, document or video that is designed to sell prescription-required products directly to end-users.   It is not acceptable to bypass this rule by spelling out all or part of a DME web address like "Please visit my-cpap-store-dot-com".  Such links are prohibited on the forums in order to maintain Apnea Board's educational status. This status allows us to legally distribute copyrighted Clinician Setup Manuals under the "Fair Use" sections of U.S. Copyright Law.

While such DME links are prohibited, a member may name any DME company in posts as long as no part of a link or website address is used.  Instead of posting external DME links, members are free to copy and paste non-commercial informational text or graphics directly into forum posts, thereby avoiding DME links altogether [see "Other Information" section below for more information] ‡

A member may post a direct link to a CPAP equipment manufacturer website in any forum, as long as the manufacturer does not sell equipment directly to patients on the same website domain.



6.  Any information you provide on these forums will not be disclosed to any third party without your complete consent, although the staff cannot be held liable for any hacking attempt in which your data is compromised.


7.  You agree that we have the ability and right to remove, edit, or lock any account or message at any time should the Administrator deem it necessary.


8.  Staff members' instructions and decisions are to be followed. They are human volunteers trying to keep Apnea Board operating smoothly; please be patient and respectful. If you disagree with their decisions, please discuss the issue via the Private Message (PM) system.


9.  You understand that your IP Address is recorded with each post you make on Apnea Board and is retrievable by the forum staff if necessary.


10.  You agree that any information you enter on Apnea Board is stored in a database, and that "cookies" are stored on your computer to save your login information.


11.  Information contained on this website and forums should not be considered as medical advice. Always seek the advice of a qualified physician before seeking treatment for any medical condition, including Sleep Apnea. Always seek the advice of a qualified physician before changing pressure or other settings on any medical device, including CPAP machines.

12.  Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate content is strictly prohibited anywhere on Apnea Board.  The only exception to this rule is when discussing AI technology in the Off Topic Forum, as long as the phrase "Artificial Intelligence" (or simply "AI") is used in the thread title.  For disclosure purposes, any AI-generated content in those thread posts must include the notice "START of AI content" immediately before the content and "END of AI content" immediately after it.

13.  Some of our forums have additional rules and instructions that apply to that forum only. Please click on the following titles for more information:

-- Product Review Forums - Rules & Instructions

-- Off-Topic Forum - Rules & Instructions

-- Commercial Posts Forum - Rules & Instructions

-- Forum Account Help - Instructions



The CPAP 'Supplier List'


If a member wishes to refer to an online CPAP supplier (also known as a Durable Medical Equipment provider or "DME"), first check our CPAP 'Supplier List' (link at the top of every page of forums). This list enables a member to make reference to a specific DME supplier within their post without making a direct link or reference to the DME's website address. Example: "I got a good price on filters from 'Supplier #3' on the Supplier List".

If a DME supplier is not on the list, a member may use the name of the supplier as long as the name is not also its link. Such as if CPAPFiltersDotCom supplier is located at cpapfilters.com. The member would have to say "I got my filter at the CPAPFilters website."

To refer to an item, simply suggest the appropriate Google search term. "Just Google Filter AH456B and it should come up."

For questionable links (or links that fall outside the scope of these rules), a determination of acceptability will be made by the Apnea Board Administrator(s) whose decision shall be final.

Because of the proliferation of spammers, brand new members are prevented from posting links.



‡ Other Information:

The PM (Private Message) system should not be used to initiate, discuss or solicit private consultations or therapy advice.  Neither should members use their forum account to initiate or solicit private off-site consultations.  ³

Internet links sometimes change or are lost over time.  When posting a link to an off-site article, we encourage members to copy or quote either the full text or the relevant portions of that article into forum posts. Apnea Board is an educational website and re-posting the text of articles, news and information is deemed "Fair Use" under U.S. copyright law.

By registering for a forum account, you agree that Apnea Board may send you infrequent emails from the Administrator, forum staff or other parties from whom you have chosen to receive emails during the registration process. During registration, you will have the option of opting-in or opting-out of bulk emails sent from Apnea Board or from various notifications sent out via email. In addition, members who wish to unsubscribe from bulk emails will have the option of following the unsubscribe directions contained in each email, or they may email the administrator to be removed from the list.

* Apnea Board is based in the U.S. and must comply with U.S. regulations and laws regarding prescription-required items, regardless of where our members are physically located.

Failure to comply with these rules may result in account suspension or termination.

Links to policies and clarifications:

Footnote # 1 - Drug Policy
Footnote #2 - Policy on unsolicited educational studies, research tests & crowd-funding
Footnote #3 - Policy concerning off-site advice & advice given via Private Message system
Apnea Board Legal Statement
Apnea Board Privacy Policy
Copyright Agreement