BARK About Healthcare – Missouri gives community organizations and caregivers a place where they can share ideas and raise awareness about resources that, if you’re down on your luck, can help you improve your quality of life. It also provides you with a place to join in discussion and share your thoughts on healthcare and broader socio-economic concerns.

BARK Blog Participation Guidelines

We encourage guest comments and invite you to join in discussing the topics presented on BARK. Of course, we will review comments before they are posted and those that are off-topic or otherwise inappropriate will not make the cut. We expect a high level of civility at all times. Polite disagreements are fine, but mutual respect is a must, and profanity or abusive language is completely out-of-bounds. More specific rules can be found in our detailed BARK Blog Policy (see below).

Please remember that when you post comments to BARK, you are publishing them for the whole world to see. For your own privacy and that of your family, you should consider carefully how much detailed personal information linked to your name you want published on the Internet.

The main thing to remember about blogs is that the same basic policies apply in these spaces as in other areas of your lives. These guidelines and the BARK Blog policy are intended to help you understand the standards that we hope to set for the BARK Blog so you can participate with confidence.

BARK Blog Policy

BY POSTING TO THE BARK BLOG, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS WITHOUT LIMITATION OR QUALIFICATION. If you do not agree to the terms of this policy, you may not view or post any content to the BARK Blog. Your use of the BARK Blog constitutes acceptance of this policy and has the same effect as if you had actually signed a written agreement.

1. You acknowledge that the BARK Blog is managed/maintained by a consortium of non-profit and for-profit organizations that contribute content and set blog policies and participation guidelines.
2. You agree that you will not post any unsolicited or unauthorized advertisements, promotional materials, junk mail, spam, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or any other form of solicitation of business.
3. You agree that you will not post material that is threatening, obscene, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, hateful, or racially or ethnically objectionable as determined at the sole discretion of members of the BARK Blog consortium.
4. You agree that you will not post material that infringes on the rights of any third party, including any intellectual property, privacy, or publicity rights.
5. You may not post any content that is personal health information, including but not limited to images. You also may not use the BARK Blog to provide specific medical advice or medical commentary.
6. You agree that you will not impersonate any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.
7. You agree that you will not allow any other person or entity to use your identification for posting or viewing comments.
8. The consortium of organizations that manages the BARK Blog reserves the right to monitor, prohibit, restrict, block, suspend, terminate, delete, or discontinue your access to the blog at any time, without notice and for any reason and in its sole discretion. The consortium may remove, delete, block, filter or restrict by any other means any materials in its sole discretion. You understand and agree that the consortium may disclose your communications and activities with the consortium and the BARK Blog in response to lawful requests by governmental authorities, including Patriot Act requests, judicial orders, warrants, or subpoenas, or for the protection of the consortium’s rights and those of its member organizations. You agree that in the event that the consortium exercises any of its rights hereunder for any reason, the consortium will have no liability to you.
9. By posting any content on the BARK Blog, you grant to the consortium the irrevocable right to reproduce, distribute, publish, or display such content and the right to create derivative works from your content, edit or modify such content, and use such content for any purpose agreed to by the members of the consortium.
10. You agree that you will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the consortium, its member organizations, their corporate subsidiaries and affiliates and their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, successors and assigns from and against any and all losses, claims, damages, settlements, costs, and liabilities of any nature whatsoever (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) to which any of them may become subject arising out of, based upon, as a result of your posting of any content to the BARK Blog, any third party claims of infringement, or any breach of this policy.
11. You agree that any claim or dispute relating to your posting of any content on the BARK Blog shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Missouri without regard to its conflict of laws provisions and you agree to be bound and shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the local, state or federal courts located in St. Louis, Missouri.
12. You may not provide any content to the BARK Blog that contains any product or service endorsements or any content that may be construed as political lobbying, solicitations, or contributions.
13. You may not use the BARK Blog to link to any sites of political candidates or parties or use the BARK Blog to discuss political campaigns, issues, or for taking a position on any legislation or law.
14. THIS POLICY MAY BE UPDATED AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE AND EACH TIME A USER ACCESSES THE BARK BLOG THE NEW POLICY WILL GOVERN USAGE EFFECTIVE UPON POSTING. To remain in compliance, the consortium suggests that you review the policy at regular intervals. By continuing to post any content after such new terms are posted, you accept and agree to any and all such modifications to this policy.

The views expressed on this BARK Blog are those of individual bloggers and do not reflect the views of the BARK Blog consortium or the organizations that are its members.