Jurify Community Guidelines

Jurify is a dynamic and vibrant legal community. The lifeblood of our amazing community is our steadfast commitment to transparency, accessibility and collaboration. In pursuit of these ideals, every member of the Jurify community is expected to demonstrate the highest level of professionalism, courtesy and ethical conduct. Members are also encouraged to engage and contribute however they see fit to advance our mission of transforming the way people connect with the law.

With that in mind, in addition to complying with our Terms and Conditions, please comply with these Community Guidelines at all times while you share the law.

Care

What you do here matters. The law touches everyone's life—for many of us it is our life—yet it has remained abstruse and inaccessible, a fossilized remnant of the way things used to be before our lives were transformed by the social Web. But, with your help, Jurify will change that. Whether you're a senior partner or a 1L, whether you're in the board room or in the coat room, whoever you are, we want you here, and we want you to engage. Read, write, ask, post, rate, watch, achieve, click, connect, follow or comment. However you want to participate, just do it. The more you engage, the richer the experience becomes for all of us.

Lawyers: showcase your talent

You know you're an amazing lawyer. Jurify is your chance to show the world. Whatever your talent, you can showcase it here and earn the recognition you deserve. Are you an experienced public speaker? Share videos of your presentations. A master draftsman? Upload your forms. Know the federal securities laws off the top of your head? Answer questions in our discussion forums. Show us what makes you great!

Of course, don't directly solicit clients through your contributions. Not only is that just tacky, it may violate rules of professional conduct and will almost certainly get you downvoted. Save the sales pitch for your profiles.

Lawyers: comply with professional rules

Every attorney member of Jurify is responsible for his or her own compliance with all applicable rules of professional conduct, including those concerning the unauthorized practice of law and those regulating the form, manner or content of communications with clients, advertising and other matters. We have no responsibility for your compliance with these rules.

Contribution Dos and Don'ts

In making contributions, please do ...

• Post reliable legal resources from credible sources. Consider the reputation of the source or whether the resource seems opinionated or biased. Does the resource site to primary authority?
• Consider the age of the resource. The older it is, the less likely it is to reflect current law.
• Consider the influence, reputation and professional and educational background of the author of secondary resources. Does he or she appear to be an expert in the subject matter? Is the author followed by industry leaders? With what law firms or law schools is the author affiliated?
• Consider the substantive quality of the resource and its potential utility to experts and knowledgeable clients. Is the resource sophisticated, authoritative and dependable? Does it cite to credible primary and secondary authorities? Is it well-written (considering syntax, vocabulary, structure, logical flow and readability)? Is it thorough?
• Tag accurately, precisely and comprehensively. An "accurate" tag properly characterizes a material portion of the content. To be "precise," it should be immediately obvious why the tag was assigned. For tagging to be "comprehensive," the tagging should reflect substantially all tags that properly characterize any material portion of the resource's content.
• Keep your submission titles factual and opinion-free.
• Use proper grammar and spelling. Intelligent discourse requires a standard system of communication. Non-native English speakers appreciate gentle corrections.
• Look for the original source of content and submit that. Often, a blog will reference another blog, which references another, and so on with everyone displaying ads along the way. Dig through those references and submit a link to the creator, who actually deserves the traffic.
• Try not to post duplicative resources.
• Link to the direct version of a media file when the page it was found on doesn't add any value.
• Link to canonical and persistent URLs where possible, not temporary pages that might disappear. In particular, use the "permalink" for blog entries, not the blog's index page.
• By all means post links to your own content. However, if it usually gets downvoted, you should probably stop.
• Submit links as links. If your post is in reference to a website, put that URL in the link field rather than linking to it from a text post. This makes it easier for people to see what you are trying to share.

In making contributions, please do not:

• Engage in illegal activity.
• Violate any party's copyright or other intellectual property rights.
• Post any links that would violate any third party's terms of use or service or similar restrictions on distribution or sharing.
• Post anything that does not relate to the law, including any sexual, violent, exploitative, shocking, hateful, predatory, threatening or harassing materials.
• Spam our community.
• Post someone's personal information, or post links to personal information. You are encouraged, however, to post your own professional contact and biographical information in your profiles.
• Plead for upvotes in the title of your submission.
• Conduct polls using the title of your submission.
• Use the word "BREAKING" or other time sensitive words in your submissions. By the time your post reaches the front page, it probably won't be 'breaking' anymore.
• Send out IMs, tweets or any other message asking people to upvote your submission — or comply when other people ask you. Do not otherwise engage in any coordinated action to upvote or downvote any submissions. Submissions should get credit for being good, not because the submitter is part of a voting clique.
• Ask for upvotes in exchange for gifts or prizes.
• Linkjack stories: linking to stories via blog posts that add nothing extra.
• Post hoaxes.
• Write titles in ALL CAPS.
• Editorialize or sensationalize your submission title.
• Link with TinyURL or similar services. There are few reasons to hide what you're linking to, and most of them are sneaky.

Voting and Commenting Dos and Don'ts

Please do ...

• Vote and vote often. The thumbs up / thumbs down buttons are your tools to make Jurify what you want it to be. If you think something benefits our community, upvote it. Otherwise, downvote it.
• Comment prolifically, particularly when you have something substantive to add to the legal discussion.
• Consider posting constructive criticism / an explanation when you downvote something, but only if you really think it might help the contributor improve.
• Report any spam you find.
• Actually read or view a post before you vote on it (as opposed to just basing your vote on the title).

Please do not ...

• Mass-downvote someone else's posts. If it really is the content you have a problem with (as opposed to the person), by all means vote it down when you come upon it, but don't go out of your way to seek out a competitor's or someone else's posts to downvote them.
• Make comments that lack substance. Saying, "This is great ...", "Not so good ..." or things of that nature aren't helpful. On the other hand, comments that help our community understand what is good or bad about a resource are encouraged. Even simple statements, such as "Great treatment of [case name] ...", "Too long and verbose ...", "Outdated ...", "Good as introductory material ..." and the like help other users make informed decisions.
• Make comments that do not relate to the law, including any sexual, violent, exploitative, shocking, hateful, predatory, threatening or harassing statements.
• Announce your votes to the world.
• Complain about too many resources on a particular topic.
• Complain when a duplicate contribution finds more success than the original. Posting a link to the original is okay because earlier comments may be of interest.
• Complain about downvotes on your posts.
• Complain about not receiving upvotes, especially by making a submission voicing your complaint.
• Complain or make a post about another user, even if it is praising his or her contributions to Jurify.
• Be rude when someone doesn't follow these Guidelines. Just point them here politely.
• Conduct personal attacks on anyone. Ad hominem and other distracting attacks do not add anything to the conversation.