Termination Policy and Procedure

Here at The Bacon we are thankful for each and every member we get. We don’t want to lose anybody, however, we do want membership to mean something. Nerd Bacon is not simply a collection of user-submitted content. We want viable, long-term contributors to be a part of the website. We want to get to know each other as a team and build the kind of environment where future collaboration and expansion is possible. In order to keep up a healthy member base, we do systematically purge those who seem disinterested, wildly unproductive, and those who are downright unresponsive.

Formal Nerd Bacon Termination Policy

Explanation / Definition of Rules
1. 2-Week Rule – New members must have at least one (1) published or pending article within two (2) weeks of receiving their registration email.
2. “P” Rule (Productivity Rule) – Members must produce a minimum of one (1) article per thirty-five (35) days of membership on average.
  1. We calculate this by dividing one’s length of membership, in days, by total published articles. The quotient represents the average number of days between articles.
  2. This does not supercede the following “I” Rule (section I.C.). For example, four (4) articles published in the space of one month will not guarantee four (4) months of membership with no further publications.
3. “I” Rule (Inactivity Rule) – Members are expected to go no longer than thirty (30) consecutive days between published or pending articles.
Warning Procedure
1. When and if the 2-Week Rule is broken, members may or may not be notified (via email) at the administration’s discretion.
2. When and if the P Rule or I Rule is broken, members will be notified by administration via the email account used for registration.
Grounds for Deletion
1. Members violating the 2-Week Rule may be deleted without notice upon the expiration of the two (2) week period stipulated in section I.A.
2. Members receiving warnings for any offenses – I.A, I.B, or I.C – are given five (5) days (from when the notice is issued) in which to either respond or submit and receive publication approval for an article.
  1. Members taking the time to respond respectfully (by email, to the administrator who notified said member) will be given an automatic seven (7) day extension to the aforementioned five (5) (for a total of twelve (12) days) in order to submit and receive publication approval for an article. See section V.C for exemptions regarding pending articles.
  2. Members who do not respond within five (5) days nor receive publication approval will be terminated. See section V.C for exemptions regarding pending articles.
  3. Members who have responded within five (5) days but have not received publication approval within twelve (12) days since issuance of notice will be deleted. See section V.C for exemptions regarding pending articles.
3. Warned members with unpublished articles (draft status) who fail to adhere to any schedule set forth (outlined in Section IV.D) will be deleted.
4. Members who fail to meet the exemption criteria set forth in section V.C.2 will be deleted.
Published Articles versus Draft Articles versus Pending Articles
1. Members in violation of any rule – I.A, I.B, or I.C – will be given special consideration for articles in draft status less than five (5) days old.
2. Should drafts exceed five (5) days of age (following a rule violation), members will be notified / warned accordingly as outlined in Section III.
3. Draft status does not provide exemption once a warning has been issued. It is the member’s responsibility to ensure that their article receives publication approval within the given time period once a warning has been issued.
4. Members who may be short on time but do plan to resubmit their article and bring it up to publication standards should email the notifying administrator at their earliest convenience and provide a fixed and appropriate time frame in which his or her article will be completed.
5. Members with articles in pending status will not be in violation of any rules that would normally apply during the same period.
  1. If the article is approved, the member will be effectively cleared of any possible violations which would otherwise arise during the article’s pending period.
  2. If the article is not approved, it will be changed to draft status and any possible violations will apply. If a violation is automatically incurred as soon as the article moves out of pending status, section IV.A is then applicable.
Exceptions and Exemptions
1. Some members are excluded from these stipulations including the administration and early members who did not join under these pretenses. These rules apply to all non-administrative members joining during or after December 2013. Please email the administration if you are unsure of your status.
2. Members facing availability and/or access issues such as vacations, periods without computer or internet access, or other extenuating circumstances who wish to remain involved should contact the administration at their earliest convenience and establish a reasonable estimate with regards to continued activity. If you will be unavailable for more than a week, it’s a good idea to touch base with the administration.
3. Articles in pending status (submitted but not yet reviewed by an administrator) beyond the expiration of a member’s warning will not constitute as immediate grounds for deletion.
  1. If the article is approved, the member is “cleared” of any outstanding violations.
  2. If the article is not approved, the member will be notified and given two (2) days to make any revisions deemed appropriate by the editor before resubmitting. This process will continue until the article is approved and the member is cleared or more than two (2) days elapse before the article is resubmitted, in which case the member will be deleted.
Retirement
1. Members leaving Nerd Bacon under amicable circumstances and who have made a significant contribution to the site (a factor to be determined by the administration) may receive special “retirement” status.
2. Retired members’ accounts are retained but frozen.
3. Personal details are changed to neutrally reflect that said member is no longer active.
4. Personal pages under “Meet the Writers” will be removed.
5. If said member is in possession of a domain email account, the account will be shut down.
6. Blogs of said member under “Bacon Bits” will be removed.
Reinstatement
1. If terminated, members are entitled to a single reinstatement.
2. Between termination and reinstatement, there is a mandatory one (1) month refractory period.
Content
1. All content created while logged into Nerd Bacon . com becomes the property of Nerd Bacon.
2. If your membership is terminated, Nerd Bacon maintains ownership over any work generated via the website, be it published or unpublished.
3. Generally speaking, we will continue to host published work from departed members indefinitely and in its final, published form. The work will remain credited to the original author under his or her alias (or real name if preferred).
4. Unpublished content left by departed members is typically deleted, though we reserve the right to use it as we see fit.

If you have any questions about the rules or your specific standing within the site, please email thecubist@nerdbacon.com and I’ll be happy to address any concerns or inquiries.

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