Terms & Conditions for The Lab Discussion Forum
Romance Writing Lab LLC is a story- and writing-craft focused website offering information, classes, & personalized trainings & coaching to help writers become better storytellers.
“The Lab” is a private, invitation-only discussion forum for writers & storytellers.
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
Romance Writing Lab, LLC never sells or shares your information except as required by the software needed to provide essential services (ex: newsletter providers when you sign up for a newsletter). We don’t want your personal info; we want you to tell great stories. Our full Privacy Policy is here: https://romancewritinglab.com/privacy-policy/
The platform we use for Romance Writing Lab’s community/discussion forum, “The Lab” is Tribe (sorry. yes, I hate the name.) Here is their GDPR/Privacy statement: https://community.tribe.so/tribe-general-information/post/5c7ea9373b7af8580ac331e9#!
The forum is password protected & run on a secure network but digital life is digital life, and humans tend to be human. Don’t share anything that would make you uncomfortable if Anonymous hacked into The Lab (hahaha…but still). Consider before posting anything deeply identifying. Real names are not required; first names &/or nicknames are encouraged.
Rules for The Lab Discussion Forum
The rules are simple:
- Be supportive!
- Be generally kind! That means in how you share ideas, & how you receive them. If you’re posting, the intent should be to help–or be helped. Not everything will work for every person, but come in with the spirit of helping & being helped, and it’ll all go smoother
- Be someone people are happy to see show up in the conversation
- Things shared in the Lab stay in the Lab. We’re Vegas, baby. Don’t share outside the group. You can talk about general concepts & strategies that we discuss, of course, or insights you got. But no sharing or co-opting of other people’s words or ideas as yours, and no names.
- No racism. No promotion or sharing of conspiracy theories
- No self-promotion. Of course we’re going to be talking about our books here! But no “buy my book,” “review my books,” or “tell other people about my book” type posts. You can certainly (& should!) list your website &/or books (with links) in your profile.
- Full, real names are not required. First name &/or nicknames are encouraged
The forum is moderated. Members who engage in behavior that doesn’t convey a supportive, craft-focused, democracy-forward environment may be removed at any time, including posts that forward extremist views. Shutting that down is not antithetical to democracy; it’s how you save it.
Media
If you upload images to our private discussion forum “The Lab” (provided through Tribe), we strongly encourage you to avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included.
There is free & paid software available that can strip EXIF metadata from images. Romance Writing Lab, LLC strongly suggests you use it.
Cookies
Romance Writing Lab, LLC’s discussion forum “The Lab” is hosted by Tribe. It uses cookies for its basic functioning. We suggest you allow only necessary cookies by clicking the blue button when logging in.
Romance Writing Lab, LLC never uses or sees these cookies, and they are removed when you clear your cache or after 7 days. (fyi, each time you clear your cache, you’ll have to re-accept cookies the next time since it won’t remember your choice anymore).
You can see Romance Writing Lab’s full Privacy & cookie policy here.
You accept the use of cookies on “The Lab” discussion forum by closing or dismissing the cookie notice, by clicking any link or button, or by continuing to browse.
You can clear the cookies & cache stored in your browser(s) at any time. Romance Writing Lab, LLC strongly encourages this. There are simple tutorials available online for how clear your cache & cookies on different browsers. Be aware: if you do this, you will be logged out of sites, and need to log back in each time, but you will also reduce tracking & profiling.
Our contact information
contact@romancewritinglab.com
Additional information
How we protect your data
Your data is protected via the security protocols & data breach procedures handled by the premium software used to deliver Romance Writing Lab, LLC’s discussion forum, Tribe.
