Member Guidelines

LuminaNET’s mission is to amplify the collective knowledge base of the global off-grid lighting community by supporting the sharing of experiences from the field, discussion of emerging technologies and business models, and joint problem-solving.  We see the value of this network in its focus - off-grid lighting.  There are of course many, many other important themes under the broader heading of "energy access" or "sustainability", and we encourage you to take those to other social networks where they are the focus.

There is no cost for membership.

This community is focused on non-commercial interaction, except as expressly provided below.

All Members can post and comment on others' content. Visitors can read all the content, but must become Members to comment or post. Anyone with an interest in off-grid lighting can become a member.

Following are some guidelines for engaging with the community. Membership can be suspended at any time for non-adherence with these guidelines or Terms of Service. Posts that do not honor these guidelines or are off-topic will be deleted without notice.  As a service to members, we may correct grammar, punctuation, or spelling errors in posts.

PLEASE DO ….

1. Fill out your Profile. Post a picture, or other non-commercial Profile image. Smile!

2. Join the conversation. Create your own blog. Share your ideas with the community. But, please stay on the topic of off-grid lighting.

3. Post, read and add comments to other blogs, forums, discussions, and member pages.

4. Join groups and start new ones related to your specialty.

5. Post photos, videos, and news about upcoming events.

6. Invite others to join LuminaNET.

7. Be generous and give back. Comment on others' content.

8. Check out the profile of other members. Get to know them.

9. Treat others with respect.

10. You may quote copyrighted work but the quote should involve an excerpt, not the whole article. Make sure to always give attribution and a link to the source.

PLEASE DON'T …

1. Try to sell your wares/company/product/etc., except as expressly provided for below.

2. Promote your event too much - post it once on the events calendar and that will get the word out. You can use the "Invite to Event" feature to spread the word.

3. Spam people (i.e., posting the same message to multiple people or groups).

4. Defame, name-call, inflame discussions, stalk, harass, or excessively criticize an idea/person. Hateful language toward others' race/ethnicity, religion, gender, nationality or political beliefs will result in immediate loss of privileges to participate in LuminaNET.

5. Post inaccurate, inappropriate, or off-topic content.

6. Feel like you must respond to every comment on your posts.

7. Employ a false identity or impersonate another member.

We've support commerce in a few specialized ways. Limit your commercial posts to these areas:

• Your personal Profile page: Feel free to include business-related information in your Profile page.  This can be done through the Profile questions answered during sign-up and by using the Text Box on your page.
• Marketplace: Consider this a virtual directory of businesses, products, services, and jobs serving the off-grid lighting space. Create a post for your company and incorporate whatever content you’d like, including links to your full website. Create only one post per category, and adjust it as you have new information to share.  Multiple posts will be treated as spam.
• Events: Please post info about training, conferences, webinars, or other events here.

Do not post advertisements to the Photos or Videos area, or use use a product or company logo, product image, name, etc. in place of a Profile Photo. Embed them instead in your Marketplace entries. Do not use the chat for any form of promotion, including promotion of events, services, products and research.

If you post elsewhere about a product in which you have a direct financial interest, you must disclose that in your post.

Below are some additional principles that guide our approach to community management:

• We encourage and support content that fits with the mission of LuminaNET.
• We reserve the right to remove any post without prior notice. We reserve the right to move or de-emphasize content that does not fit into a certain part of the site. We may delete an inactive group.
• We encourage members to report content that does not meet these guidelines and misleading technical information.
• No one can pay to be featured on LuminaNET.
• LuminaNET will not sell our member list.

The opinions, views, and ideas expressed within this community are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the sponsors. Information provided by LuminaNET members may not be appropriate for solving readers' specific problems. Readers should consult vetted experts before making important decisions.

Thank you for being a member of LuminaNET!