Community Guidelines

Our Commitment to Our Members

Black Applied Behavior Analysts, Inc. (BABA) is committed to providing a safe online environment to our members. We want our members to engage in appropriate conversations, network with other members, and take advantage of the benefits provided to the community. The attached community guidelines outline the behaviors that should be observed and presented on our online community. BABA asks that all members read and accept the community guidelines as stated. These guidelines are subject to change and members will be updated accordingly.

Overview

The goals of this community are to:

To assist our BABA members in their personal and professional pursuits in the field of Behavior Analysis
To assist in the formation of networking connections of BABA members
To promote goodwill throughout the BABA community
To stimulate interest, enhancement, and involvement with the BABA community through increased opportunities for engagement

General Outline:

Membership
- Definition
- Tiers
- Member Account
  - Authenticity
  - Engagement
  - Connections
- BABA’s Right to Terminate Membership
Posts and Messaging
- Language
- Photos
- Spam
- Promotion of Products and Services
- Intellectual Property
Safety
- Coordination and Promotion of Harm and Crime
- Violent and Graphic Content
- Hate Speech
- Bullying and Harassment
- Fraud and Deception
- Account Integrity and Authentic Identity
- Minors
Ethical Standards and Privacy
- BACB
- HIPAA
- Privacy
- Website Security
Consequences
- Process
- Detecting Violations
- Reporting

Membership

Definition: Membership is defined as an individual paying for a specific tier offered through BABA. An active member of BABA means that membership has not expired, and the member is allowed to acquire specific benefits offered based on their paid tier. Membership expires 365 days after purchase. Membership costs are specific to each tier and subject to change at any time, for any reason. BABA is a charitable, nonprofit organization. All funds received through BABA are used for charitable purposes and to support the functioning operations of BABA.
Tiers:
- Professional Member – Black BCBA/BCaBA working in the field Applied Behavior Analysis for 2+ years
- Early Career Member – Black BCBA/BCaBA working in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis for less than 2 years
- Associate Member – Black professionals working in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis but are not certified as a BCBA/BCaBA
- Ally/Advocate Member – Open to all individuals who identify as allies and/or advocates for Black individuals working in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis, and the Black community as a whole
- Student Member – Black students currently enrolled in an educational institution
- Caregiver Member – Black parents or caregivers of a loved one impacted by Autism, or a similar developmental disorder
Member Account:
- Authenticity: At BABA, we believe that authenticity, and the representation of one’s true self in online spaces creates a meaningful and thoughtful experience for all who participate. Authenticity also helps to establish trust, and build relationships through authentic sharing and collaboration. We require all members to only post pictures and information that is true to self. Anyone impersonating someone else or committing fraud, is subject to disciplinary actions.
- Engagement: The online community serves to create engagement around ideas, perspectives, experiences, and theory relevant to the practice and dissemination of Applied Behavior Analysis within the Black community. Our BABA website encourages members to communicate across membership tiers, to create meaningful opportunities for networking, collaboration, and community. Members and members’ interests are central to the work of BABA. The intention is to create an online community for members that is safe, protected and accessible.
- Connections: BABA encourages members to utilize this online platform to network, connect and share. Members’ autonomy and willingness to form connections with other members is based on the individual, and choices about when/how connections are formed should be respected.
BABA’s Right to Terminate Membership: BABA reserves the right to terminate membership of any member who demonstrates conduct, which poses a threat to the safety of individuals or groups. In making the decision to terminate membership, BABA will do so on the grounds that the prevention of harm, and the protection of the dignity, identity and unique perspectives of our members is of paramount importance.

Posts and Messaging

Language:
In order to foster an enriching conversation among our community, we expect all participants to abide by the following terms: Our conversations will be free of hate speech regarding race, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, ability, religion, national origin, and socio-economic class or background. The use of slurs and epithets by either speakers or participants will not be tolerated and will result in removal.
Don’t post any content that demeans, defames, or promotes discrimination or violence on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status.
We prohibit malicious deception and deliberately spreading false information that causes harm, such as denying the existence of tragic events.
Photos:
You may not post or share intimate photos or videos of someone that were produced or distributed without their consent.
Don’t post any content that demeans, defames, or promotes discrimination or violence on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status.
Don’t post photos of gratuitous violence, including animal abuse
Spam: TBD

BABA prohibits spam and deceptive practices, including content that imitates BABA ad formats.

Promotion of products and services:
If you use your Page, group, or Event to announce or administer a promotion (a contest, giveaway, or sweepstakes) you must ensure that your promotion complies with applicable legal and regulatory requirements (ex: providing entrants a copy of the promotion’s official rules, disclosing offer terms and eligibility requirements, and registering your promotion with the relevant authorities). You must also require participants to (a) fully release and hold BABA harmless from liability, and (b) acknowledge that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with BABA. Your promotion must not require or incentivize participants to share, repost, tag others, or in any other way publicize your promotion. Note that BABA will not assist you in administering a promotion. Should you use our services to administer your promotion, you do so at your own risk.
Intellectual Property
- Members are in control of and own all of the content provided from their account. However, members must have the right to share any content that isn’t legally owned by them. Members must respect other people’s copyrights, trademarks, and legal rights of all intellectual property.

Safety

Coordination and Promotion of Harm and Crime
- BABA prohibits the coordination and promotion of crime on all levels. This includes harm that is targeting people, businesses, animals, property, etc. We encourage our members to have meaningful and positive conversations and/or debates surrounding the legality of criminal and harmful activities, as well as draw attention to harmful or criminal activity that they may witness or experience as long as they do not advocate for or coordinate harm in any way. We encourage our members to connect directly and safely conduct these conversations outside of the BABA online community.
- Members will not post, message or support any content surrounding the use of harm or a crime towards anyone or anything if the intent in the message/post is to promote harm or a crime to people, businesses, animals, and property. This involves the following:
  - Content that expose the identity or locations of anyone affiliated with any hate groups
  - Content that advocates or supports the use of harm or crime. This includes speaking positively about the content.
  - Encouraging or attempting to persuade others to promote the use of harm or crime.
  - Exposing the identity of clients, company associates, law enforcement officials, and other protected individuals.
  - Content that depicts any physical, verbal, emotional, sexual, etc. harm or may cause or promote any physical, verbal, emotional, sexual, etc. harm.
  - Content that depicts animal fights and abuse.
  - Vandalism.
  - Theft of property, including identity theft.
  - Posts that include individuals or situations that do not include or involve the poster, and without permission.
  - Posts that could and may pose harm, and/or are offensive to any marginalized group.
Violent and Graphic Content
- Members of the community are prohibited from posting any violent or graphic content, including realistic or fictional depictions. This includes, but not limited, content involving the following:
  - Murder
  - Assault with a deadly weapon
  - Accidents, which may result in death or severe injury
  - Suicide
  - Torture
  - Pornography
  - Sadistic remarks
  - Photos or videos of wounded or dead people or animals
Hate Speech
- Hate speech is defined as a direct attack against a person based on protected characteristics: race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity and disease. Members of the community are prohibited from engaging in any hate speech, which involves violent or dehumanizing speech, harmful stereotypes, statements of inferiority, expressions of contempt, disgust or dismissal, cursing and calls for exclusion or segregation. Members should not engage in the following:
  - Make posts or send messages to other members including any violent speech or make any statements that involve attacking another individual
  - Mock the concept, events or victims of hate crimes even if no real person is depicted in an image
  - Make generalizations that state inferiority
  - Make statements of support for an individual or organization that has engaged in the harming of others
Bullying and Harassment
- Members of the community are prohibited from engaging in any forms for bullying and harassment. Bullying and harassment includes, but not limited to, the following:
  - Repeatedly contacting someone in a manner that is:
    - Unwanted, or
    - Sexually harassing, or
    - Directed at a large number of individuals with no prior solicitation.
  - Attacking someone
  - Posting graphic and violent content
  - Making threats
  - Creating fake accounts with or without the intent to harass or bully
  - Targeted cursing
  - Making comparisons to animals or insects that are culturally perceived as intellectually or physically inferior or to an inanimate object (“cow,” “monkey” “potato”)
  - Making content that are aimed towards someone’s physical characteristics
  - Claims about romantic involvement, sexual orientation or gender identity
  - Coordination, advocacy or promotion of exclusion
  - Unwanted manipulated imagery
Fraud and Deception
- Members of the community are prohibited from engaging in any forms of fraudulent activity. Fraudulent activity includes, but is not limited to , the following:
  - Posting any content that willfully misrepresents, defrauds, exploits others for money or property;
  - Engaging and collaborating with others to fraudulently generate financial or personal benefit at a loss of a third party, such as people, businesses or organizations through:
    - Fake or forged documents or financial instruments by:
    - Purchase or selling of stolen information, goods, or services
    - Credit card fraud and goods or property purchases with stolen financial information
    - Betting manipulation (for example match fixing).
    - Manipulation of measuring devices such as electricity or water meters in order to bypass their authorized or legal use.
  - Deceiving others to generate a financial or personal benefit to the detriment of a third party or entity through:
    - Investment or financial scams
    - Inauthentic identity scams
    - Product or rewards scams
Account Integrity and Authentic Identity
- In order to foster a safe environment and empower free expression, we have developed processes for removal of accounts that are harmful to the community, including those that compromise the security of other accounts.
  - Members of the community are prohibited from creating an account that misrepresents their identity in order to mislead or deceive others. Misrepresentation of identity includes, but is not limited to , the following:
    - Impersonating other members or non-members
    - Posting misleading profile information
    - Using stock imagery or stolen photos
    - Providing a false date of birth
    - Creating a single account that represents or is used by more than one person
Minors
- Members of the community must be at least 18 years of age. Any account that poses or appears to represent a minor is subject to removal.
- Members of the community should refrain from posting content created for the purpose of identifying a minor.

Ethical Standards and Privacy

BACB
- The code of ethics per the BACB, are a set of standards and expectations provided for behavior analysts who are certified and practicing with a completed application to the BACB
- Members of the community will abide by the ethical standards set forth by the BACB. If an individual is found to be practicing outside of the scope of ethical guidelines set by the BACB, BABA will follow the appropriate steps of informing and correcting.
- BABA does not offer mentorship toward ethical concerns involving the BACB.
HIPAA
- The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal law that requires the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.
- In this case, sharing any client/provider information, sharing pictures of services provided, relaying age, gender or any other identifying information is prohibited.
- Any posts or messages that violate these standards may result in the removal of the post or message, and/or the member’s account.
Privacy
- Privacy and the protection of personal information are fundamentally important values for BABA. We work hard to safeguard your personal identity and information and we do not allow people to post personal or confidential information about yourself or of others.
- We remove content that shares, offers or solicits personally identifiable information or other private information that could lead to physical or financial harm, including financial, residential, and medical information, as well as private information obtained from illegal sources.
- We also recognize that private information may become publicly available through news coverage, court filings, press releases, or other sources. When that happens, we may allow the information to be posted.
- We also provide people ways to report imagery that they believe to be in violation of their privacy rights.
- Privacy and protection of personal information shall also include those that you or your organization is servicing.
- Members should not post:
  - Content that shares or solicits any of the following private information, either on BABA or through external links:
    - National identification number (for example Social Security Number (SSN), Passport Number, National Insurance/Health Service Number, Personal Public Service Number (PPS), Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)).
    - Government IDs of law enforcement, military, or security personnel.
    - Personal information: directly identifying an individual, by indicating the ID number or registration information and the individual’s name.
    - Records or official documentation of civil registry information (marriage, birth, death, name change or gender recognition, and so on).
    - Immigration and work status documents (for example, green cards, work permits, visas, or immigration papers).
    - Driver’s licenses or license plates, except when license plates are shared to facilitate finding missing people or animals.
    - Credit Privacy Number (CPN).
    - Email addresses with passwords.
    - Passwords, pins or codes to access private information.
    - Personal contact information of others such as phone numbers, addresses and email addresses, except when shared or solicited to promote charitable causes, or contact business service providers.
    - Financial information.
    - Residential information
    - Medical information
    - Information obtained from hacked sources.

Consequences

We will take action when we see someone violating these guidelines. Sometimes that just means giving someone a warning; other times it means revoking certain privileges or accounts entirely and forfeiting your membership fees.

Detecting Violations: all active members will be able to alert for any community violations. Pleasee what will be considered a violation below:
Reporting:
- Due to members being allowed to report other members in violations with these guidelines, once a member has been reported 5 times, will automatically be suspended. BABA Leadership
- We request that all BABA community members report behavior that violates our guidelines to membership@babainfo.org