GUIDELINES AND RULES

DELHI LINGUISTICS CIRCLE (DLC)

(Updated up to 22 June 2020)

­(c) Prof. (Dr.) Prasannanshu

Here is a compilation of rules, and information for providing general guidelines to the members of DELHI LINGUISTICS CIRCLE (DLC): 

1.      The membership of this group is free. 

2.      All members are expected to actively participate. 

3.      The members are invited to share their scholarly views, suggestions, interventions, help, etc.. 

Superfluous posts:

4.      Members’ discretion is requested so that no one is inconvenienced or inundated with unwanted information. 

5.      'Good Morning', 'New Year', Congratulatory messages, etc. are not welcome. Please send personal messages on personal ID only, only if you know someone personally.

6.      This group is a professional, International, multicultural multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi- in many conceivable ways. In view of this posts on local, religious, national festivals and events that have no relation to language and Linguistics must be avoided. Potentially many peoples' expectations from the group are challenged when such content is posted in place of an intellectual linguistic discussion.

7.      Kindly remember that this is a Linguistics’ forum only for members’ professional and scholarly expression, and development. 

8.      Please avoid posting advertisements of your personal/local/institutional webinars or other events, and/or sharing regular/periodic reminders of the same. Ideally, all such post should be routed through the administrators. It is to be borne in mind that this is a national forum with a good international presence, and aspiring ultimately, to be truly international, hence trivial or local news should not be posted, until and unless it is a pathbreaking development. 

9.      You are requested not to directly post notifications of other forums, and forwarded messages. The administrators have been forced in the past to suspend / terminate the membership of defaulting members.

10.  Please do not post newspapers, viral videos, jokes, or any superfluous content in this group. All posts must have a direct, demonstrable link to the professional interests of this group. 

11.  No unverified, misleading, inflammatory, or plagiarized content should be posted in the group. The sole responsibility for such posts shall lie with the person who posts such content. 

Mischievous content:

12.  It is expected that no illegal, immoral, or unethical behaviour shall be demonstrated by any of the members. E.g. content that is against the constitutional ideals of India, or is casteist, communal, crass, crude, defamatory, derogatory, discriminatory, inflammatory, insensitive, obscene, politically motivated, racist, sectarian, superfluous, tasteless, vulgar, etc. must not be posted in the group. 

Awareness of rules:

1.      All members of the group have a responsibility to access (or request for), read, understand, and comply with the objectives and rules of the group. Please apprise yourself with the rules of the group as notified from time to time. By joining and remaining a member of this group you affirm that you are aware of the current and updated rules, guidelines, and instructions of the Delhi Linguistics Circle (DLC), and agree to abide by them. 

2.      Any member who wants a copy of the rules is requested to visit the web-page by clicking here, or by pasting this link in your browser  à https://sites.google.com/view/prasannanshu/linguistics/delhi-linguistics-circle?authuser=0. You may also request it on linguisticscircle@gmail.com

3.      To join this group please send an email with your Name, WhatsApp/cell phone number, Contact Details, photograph and a brief introduction of around 200-250 words, including education, specialization, affiliations, professional highlights, and interests to linguisticscircle@gmail.com, so that your candidature may be considered. This information, may also be shared with the members of DLC, especially as an introductory/welcome post, so please specifically indicate if some parts of the information is/are to be kept confidential. 

4.      Your request for joining would mean that you are aware of, and agree with the rules of the group. For Rules, pictures, and other information please visit the web-page by clicking here, or by pasting this link in your browser’s address bar  à https://sites.google.com/view/prasannanshu/linguistics/delhi-linguistics-circle?authuser=0

Suspension and Termination of membership:

13.  Termination of the membership of the group should not be taken personally against anyone, and one can join again in most of the cases after they ensure that they are aware of the rules of this group, and assure the administrators of the same, and fulfil the requirements, if any. 

a.       In case of an oversight or first transgression a polite reminder may be issued in the group or individually, by the administrators, or other concerned members. 

b.      The expected response to such a reminder is removal of a post and/or mentioning the inadvertence, or oversight, and an assurance of not repeating the mistake. If such a reminder is ignored the following steps may be applied. 

c.       In the first instance of not keeping the rules of the group: suspension of membership for ten days.

d.      In the second instance of not keeping the rules of the group: suspension of membership for twenty days. 

e.       In the third instance of not keeping the rules of the group: suspension of membership for a month.

f.        In the fourth instance of not keeping the rules of the group: termination of membership may be recommended and executed by the admins.

14.  All these cases of suspension and termination may be reviewed and revoked by the admins. Further, it is not necessary for the administrator(s) to go by the abovementioned steps in a strict sequence, some or all the steps may be skipped based upon individual assessment of a particular situation. This process is only a general guideline, in exceptional cases suspension, termination, or revocation may be implemented. 

Leaving the group:

15.  No one is forced to stay in this group, rather many people consider it a privilege to be a part of this group. However, some people leave the group abruptly, it raises questions in the minds of others. Hence, in case you have to leave, kindly drop a polite line in the group, or take the admins into confidence. However, in many cases there is an accidental exit. To avoid such incidents the members who leave, or the admins can communicate with each other and find out about the causes. That will improve communication, and we can avoid accidental exits.

Disclaimer and Indemnity: 

16.  Dr. Prasannanshu, or any of the other administrators cannot be held responsible for the content not posted directly by them. As administrators of the WhatsApp Group they have the limited power of condemning, criticizing, dissociating themselves, and expunging offending matter in words, from the group. Administrators are not allowed by WhatsApp to remove any content. Only the person who posts can remove it up to some time after posting. 

17.  Please be sure of the copyright, and other rights regarding the books and materials that you share on this group/platform. Please share only open source materials. Dr. Prasannanshu, and other administrators, neither promote sharing, distribution, or passing on of copyrighted or restricted materials on this group, nor approve, or bear responsibility for the same. The person who shares such a material(s) bears the full responsibility.

18.  Members who post offensive, mischievous, or plagiarized content must indemnify Dr. Prasannanshu, and other administrators, in case of legal consequences or costs, as a consequence of such posts. 

Prof. (Dr.) Prasannanshu