"Talk Green to Us" Discussion Forum Rules

Online forums are community places, and like any community places, they are subjected to rules. Here are the rules for participating in our online discussion. Users who do not adhere to these rules may have privileges removed.

Be polite. Like your mother said, if you don't have something nice to say, don't say it. As with all dialogue, we may not agree all the time, but please disagree without being disagreeable. Personal attacks, libel, defamation, hate speech, and name calling will not be tolerated. Neither will comments that could be interpreted as obscene, racist, homophobic, sexist, pornographic, bullying or threatening.

Comments and ideas that are deemed offensive may be removed by the City of Vancouver's moderators. The Talk Green To Us user community can help to report offensive behaviour by clicking the "report" button beside the comment.

Don't use obscenities. Our goal is to create a discussion forum where everyone feels welcome to participate. Obscenities will not be tolerated. Comments containing obscenities will either be edited before posting or will be removed.

Please stay on topic. Through this forum, the City of Vancouver is asking for ideas on how we can become the greenest city in the world by 2020. Each category on the forum represents a Greenest City 2020 target. Ideas that fall outside the scope of these targets will be moved to an "off topic" category.

In some instances, great ideas may be submitted, but the idea fall outside the jurisdiction of what the City of Vancouver can do. For example, an idea that proposed rewriting the Income Tax Act may be great, but it would fall outside the legal authority of the City. In these instances, ideas will be moved to the "off topic" category.

Ideas that fall into the "off topic" category will not be considered in the Greenest City implementation plan.

Respect people's privacy. Please do not post personal information about other people (including their contact information) on the public forum or associated social media sites. This includes information about any individuals, including City Staff and elected officials.

Refrain from advertising, promoting, recruiting, campaigning, lobbying or soliciting. This is a forum for the discussion of ideas, not a forum for promoting an organization's products or services. It is also not the place to recruit followers for a campaign or readers to your website. So although a particular service, product, or campaign may help the City achieve a Greenest City 2020 target, there is a fine line between suggesting an idea and actively promoting a product or service. Comments and ideas that misuse the forum in this way may be edited or removed, as will repeated links to personal websites. Please use your discretion when posting and we will use ours.

You are responsible for the content you post. Content posted by third parties on the Greenest City online forum do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the City of Vancouver. The City of Vancouver is in no way responsible for the content posted here or obligated to act on the ideas posted. Ideas submitted are for discussion purposes only.

Play nice. Our goal is to have an engaging dialogue around how Vancouver can be a global leader in urban sustainability. Users who repetitively abuse the rules for this forum will be contacted about their behaviour. In extreme conditions, users may be banned from participating. To avoid that from happening, please respect these rules.

Stay informed. Tell your friends. Becoming the greenest city in the world will take a coordinated effort between the City, the business community, advocates, academia, and most importantly the public. Please encourage your networks to participate in this important dialogue and stay informed of our process. Follow us on Twitter, befriend us on Facebook, or add your name to our listserv by emailing greenestcity@vancouver.ca.

Please note that this is a moderated forum. Moderators from the City of Vancouver review comments and ideas to ensure they adhere to the rules. Our intent is not to stifle conversation, remove controversial ideas or comments that are critical, but to create a civil space for dialogue that can inform the Greenest City 2020 implementation planning process.