Terms and Conditions

In accordance with the privilege of using this Forum granted you by Organic-ese.com, we request that you abide by these terms of use and conditions and our Rules of Conduct when using the Forum. We reserve the right to change the Rules of Conduct at any time. Such changes will be announced only on this page in the last sentence of the first paragraph of this page.

Terms of Use and Service:

In an effort to maintain the integrity of this site and its owners and to provide a comfortable environment for all to communicate as freely as possible, we ask that you please follow the Guidelines established in this Agreement here whenever posting in the forum or in commenting on this site. These guidelines are global and apply to all areas of this site. Administrators may choose to enact specific guidelines for individual forums, which are to be taken as an extension to the global terms and guidelines when posting and visiting that specific forum. These specific guidelines are usually sticky topics placed at the top of the specified forum.

Application and interpretation of these Guidelines is subject to the discretion of Organic-ese or its Forum moderators. Violations of these Guidelines are routinely and summarily removed without notice. At all times, Organic-ese.com reserves the right to close the accounts of persistent violators of these Rules of Conduct at any time and without warning. All messages express the views of the author of the respective post or threads, and neither the owners of this Forum, nor its developers, nor its parent company AvidMind LLC ("the company"), nor its subsidiaries, agents, heirs, or third-parties associated with the company will be held responsible for the content of any message.

Brief Summary: Practice common sense, decorum befitting an academic environment, and courtesy. Other special guidelines are the following:
 We wish to discuss mainstream science with others in an open-minded fashion. That means only topics that can be found in textbooks, mentioned during courses at accredited institutions or that have been published in reputable journals.
 Homework must be posted in the Homework Help Page, the Upload Assignment Page; and in the Question and Answer Forum, a serious attempt must always be provided if you wish your question to be considered. Furthermore, one must use the homework template when operative.
 Full solutions on a homework problem should not be given Question and Answer Forum. Only hints and explanations are allowed on the Question and Answer Forum.
 When posting a new topic do not use typography using CAPS lock (all-CAPS), bold, oversized (over 12), non-standard, or brightly colored fonts, or any combination thereof. They are hard to read and are considered as shouting and puerile. When replying in an existing topic it is fine to use CAPS or bold to highlight main points.

Mission Statement: The mission of the forum and comment sections is to provide a place for individuals, whether students, professional chemists. scientists or others interested in chemistry, to learn and discuss organic chemistry as it is currently understood and practiced by the professional scientific community. As our name suggests, our main focus is on Organic Chemistry but we may include forums for other academic areas when or if those pages are published (engineering, social sciences, business, etc.). Those will be the only venue for questions in their respective areas.

General Guidelines: When posting a new topic, please select the forum that best relates to the subject matter of your topic. If you are unsure, contact an administrator or moderator.

Language: All posts must be in standard written English. Posts in other languages will not be translated for you—they will be deleted. This means, pay attention to the rules of standard written English communication mandated at every institution of higher learning. This includes the use of proper grammatical syntax, punctuation, capitalization, spacing, and spelling. In particular, the pronoun "I" is capitalized, there's a space after (but not before) any comma or semicolon, two after a colon, one or two when consistently adhered, following a period, and all other punctuation standards. Multiple exclamation marks are useless. SMS (text) messaging shorthand ("text-message-pseudo-speak"), such as using "u" for "you", "plz" for "please", or "wanna" for "want to" is neither desirable nor acceptable. We will not edit forum posts, for grammar spelling or any other reason. It will simply vanish.

Multiple Posting: Posting the same topic (or homework question) across multiple forums or multiple threads is considered spamming and is prohibited. (No cross-posting.)
 Thread hijacks and off-topic posts:Do not hijack an existing forum thread with off-topic comments or questions—please start a new thread. Any off-topic posts will be deleted or moved to an appropriate forum per administrator or mentor discretion.

Reopening a Locked Thread: Do not re-post comments from a locked thread without explicit permission of an administrator.

Bumping or Pegging: Do not "bump" or "peg" one of your threads to the top of a forum's thread list by posting a basically empty message to it, until at least 24 hours have passed since the latest post in the thread; and then do it only once per thread.

Replying to Posts: When replying to a post, please use the correct button. If you wish to quote a previous post in your reply, use the "Quote" button; if you do not, use the "New Reply" button. Do not use the "Report" button to reply to a post; this sends a message to the Mentors (moderators), and is normally used only to report spam or other posts that appear in violation of these Guidelines.

Quoting a Post: When you quote a person's post, please include only the sections directly relevant to your response, to make reading easier. Do not distort, embellish, or add meaning to the original post in the process. You may add colors or change the font of words or phrases for emphasis but not their size, provided that you state explicitly that you have done so with the label such as [my emphasis] or [emphasis added]. Other forms of purposeful misquoting are dishonest and are not permitted.

General Content Guidelines: Please clearly state what you wish to discuss. In general, one should attempt to flesh out questions and arguments adequately enough that readers will have a good understanding of the issue under discussion.

Personal Information: Refrain from disclosing personal information about yourself or any third parties, information such as hometown, real name, email address. The staff may edit out or remove the entire post if such information is posted at any time. Also, do not post personal communications, such as emails, text message, social media conversations with any third party.

Non-mainstream theories: Generally, in the forums we do not allow the following: Discussion of theories that appear only on personal web sites, self-published books, or that violate copyright law etc. Challenges to mainstream theories (Gravity, Relativity, Evolution, the Big Bang, etc.) that go beyond current professional discussion.
 Attempts to promote or resuscitate theories that have been discredited or superseded (e.g. phlogiston; Lorentz ether theory, there is no ether of the universe); this does not exclude discussion of those theories in a purely historical context. Personal theories or speculations that go beyond or counter to generally-accepted science. If you have a hypothesis of your own, clearly identify it as such. Mixing science and religion, e.g. using religious doctrine or ideas in support of scientific arguments or vice versa.
 Links to web sites that fall in the categories listed above will be removed.

Acceptable Sources: Generally, discussion topics should be traceable to standard textbook editions or to peer-reviewed scientific literature. Usually, we accept references from journals that are listed here:

Acceptable references are listed on the following page: .
 Recently, there has been an increasing number of "fringe" and Internet-only journals that appear to have lax or absent reviewing standards. We do not accept references from such journals. We also do not accept as references, private party, e.g. YouTube or similar website content, including but not limited to Khan Academy, Udemy, or organic chemistry video posts by individual parties as relevant or acceptable. None of that content is peer-reviewed or edited.

Speculative or Personal Theories:  Organic-ese Forums are not intended as an alternative to the usual professional venues for discussion and review of new ideas. If you have a new theory or idea, this is not the place to look for feedback on it or help in making it acceptable to the community.

Language and Attitude:  Foul, profane, or hostile language will not be tolerated on Organic-ese Forums. This includes profanity, obscenity, or obvious indecent language; direct personal attacks or insults; snide remarks or phrases that appear to be an attempt to "put down" another member; and other indirect attacks on a member's character, motives, or intelligence.
 Please treat all members with respect, especially if you do not agree with them. If you feel that you have been attacked, and the moderators haven't seen it yet, please report it using the "Report" button. If you choose to post a response, address only the substantive content, constructively, and ignore any personal remarks.
 We follow a "no sass or harass" policy. Initiating a confrontation or posting non-constructive arguments is not allowed.

Attachments and Links:  Images, material or links to images and or material whether real, satirical or implied depicting obscene, indecent, lewd, pornographic, violent, abusive, insulting, or could be construed as threatening in nature are not permitted anywhere. This includes GIFs or cartoons.

Religious Discussion:  Discussions that assert the a priori truth or falsity of religious dogma and/or other belief systems, or value judgments stemming from such religious belief systems, will not be tolerated. This is not a forum for such things. As a rule of thumb, some topics pertaining to religion might be permissible if they are discussed in such a way so as to remain neutral on the truth of, or value judgments stemming from, religious belief systems. However, it is essential to use good judgment whenever discussing religious matters (nor is it acceptable to denigrate any specific sect of religion) to ensure that the discussion does not degenerate into nonsense. If in doubt, err on the side of caution.
 Discuss religious matters at your own risk: Administrators retain the right to lock or delete any religious thread or post at any time without warning or explanation.Because of the complexity and ambiguity of this subject matter, there are no hard and fast moderation rules that apply over all possible cases. Ultimately, it is up to the moderator/administrator to decide what is appropriate and what is not on a case-by-case basis.  All administrator action taken with regard to religious discussions will be final and are not subject to negotiation or dispute.

Illegal & Dangerous Activities: Explicit "how to" discussions of illegal, clandestine and/or dangerous activities, or posts or links advocating or the instruction of such activities, are prohibited; such as: how to make explosives, manufacture controlled substances, distribute links to pirated materials like textbooks and other similarly trademark, patented, or protected intellectual property. You assume total liability for such posts. We are not a law-enforcement agency nor do we expect to play detective here. Realize though that you may face potential prosecution from unaffiliated government agencies for doing so (or on any website on the internet).
 Many organic compounds are considered illicit or illegal by the government and scheduled as such, however that does not prohibit the academic discussion of them as natural products or targets of retrosynthetic analysis. Synthesis on paper is acceptable and even expected in many college courses (however, no actual laboratory procedures with specifics, sources of precursors, or instructions for doing so will be tolerated). Natural products are a valid academic subject of inquiry and posts that relate to their chemical synthesis, and not regarding their distribution or manufacture are acceptable. When in doubt, see the laws in your state.

Copyright Violations: Copyright infringement is illegal. Organic-ese will adhere to the law to the best of its ability. Never post an article in its entirety without the author's permission. Until we have that permission in writing, please do not attempt it. When posting copyrighted material, please use small sections or link to the article with full attribution in ACS format. When posting copyrighted material please give credit where credit is due. Solicitations for copyrighted materials of any form are not permitted. Posting links to unauthorized downloads of copyrighted material will not be permitted. Advertisement of locations or addresses where copyrighted materials may be obtained is prohibited.

Soliciting: Soliciting or posting personal services whether belonging to you or any other entity; or offering financial payment for any reason is strictly prohibited.

Unauthorized Advertising is Spam: Advertising for personal gain of any kind is not permitted in any forum. Commercial spam or endorsements for any outside party will result in an immediate and irreversible ban of your IP address. Posting non-profit science website links will be permitted occasionally, but will be dealt with on a case by case basis.
 Homework Guidelines: Submit Homework questions on the upload files page. Any presentation of homework or assigned work is a violation. Such Posts Belong in the Questions Forum Only. Any and all high school and undergraduate homework assignments or textbook style exercises for which you are seeking assistance are to be uploaded to us directly or posted appropriately by the terms in this agreement in the forum of our Questions Area—not in visitor messages, private messages, or the main technical forums. This should be done whether the problem is part of one's assigned coursework or independent study. Since graduate level assignments and graduate level questions will be allowed in the relevant part of the main section of Organic-ese posts or news, provided that said graduate student attempts the problem and shows all of his original work including a line of reasoning in words.

Attempts are mandatory: You MUST show that you have attempted to answer your question in order to receive help from anyone. You MUST make use of the homework template when it is available, and which should automatically appear when a new topic is created in the Question forums. Once your question or problem has been responded to, you may not go back and delete, edit or add anything to your original post.
 Cheating:

We do not support cheating in any form: Do not ask for solution manuals, answers to exams, quizzes or instructor's manuals or for links for same. Every school and instructor has their own policies or Honor Code on what constitutes cheating, and it is up to the individual student to adhere to those policies when seeking help here. If you are in doubt as to whether you are permitted to seek help in the form you present, ask for help and clarify with your institution first.

Giving Full Answers: On helping with questions from members: Any and all assistance given to homework assignments or textbook style exercises should be given only after the questioner has shown some effort in solving the problem. If no attempt is made then the questioner should be asked to provide one before any assistance is given. Under no circumstances should complete solutions be provided to a questioner, whether or not an attempt has been made.

Moderating and Disciplinary Actions: The Organic-ese Online Community is moderated by volunteers on a regular basis and we ask that you please respect their efforts.

Reporting Violations:  If you witness a posting that violates these guidelines, please click the "Report" button, which can be found on the bottom left of the post. This will send a message to the Admin, who will take action as deemed appropriate. Organic-ese cannot guarantee that any action will be taken as a result of your request. Please refer to this Disclaimer page, first paragraph, from time to time for any updates that are made to it.

Contacting Administration:When contacting the owner or admin, please make use of our contact page or email us. Do not post a topic in a forum regarding your situation. If you have a question or comment about how a specific thread or post has been moderated, please use the "Report" button. If you have more general questions or comments about Physics Forums' moderation policies, it may also be appropriate to start a thread in the Feedback & Announcement forum. Please refrain from posting questions or comments about Organic-ese moderation policies and actions in any other forum.

Disciplinary Action/Termination: A member may be issued either a notice of warning or an infraction if deemed warranted by an Organic-ese administrator/moderator for a period of 14 days. If a member receives any infraction after having returned from a temporary ban, that member will then be banned permanently. Obvious, incorrigible spamming or trouble making will be met with a permanent ban and no notice.

Appealing an Infraction: If you feel an infraction is undeserved you may click the "Report" button on the infraction notice and explain why you do not feel the infraction was deserved. This will bring the issue before the moderators who will discuss the matter internally and respond appropriately, which may include an action or message which is not visible to you. Organic-ese decisions are final. Hostility, insults, or other rule-violations in the Report may result in additional infractions.

Miscellaneous: All messages express the views of the author, not necessarily the views of the forum owner, Organic-ese.com. Members grant Organic-ese the non-exclusive rights for their posted content. The owners and moderators of Organic-ese reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason. This is a manual process, however, so please realize that we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately. This policy goes for member profile information as well.

Alternative Status Members: Certain categories of members (gold members, moderators, etc.) may use automatic signatures that can be set via the member's control panel. These cannot contain images, must be no longer than four lines, must not conflict with Organic-ese rules for content, and must not connect to any website that conflicts with those terms of service. Other members must not use signatures, including manually-appended ones.

Deleting Accounts: Please do not ask us to delete your account. If you no longer want to participate in Organic-ese, simply stop posting. If you need to be restrained from posting here, we can ban you, but this will not remove your posts or your profile.

Deleting Posts: Normally, we remove or edit posts only if they violate these Guidelines. You should consider your posts and threads as permanently available to everyone (in the world). If you want us to make an exception (e.g. a question that has not yet received any responses, or a post that contains personal identifying information), you may use the Report button on the post to request action.

Multiple Accounts: We allow only one account/username per person. Multiple accounts are not allowed. Similarly, only one person may use each account/username. Do not share accounts and never exchange login information with anyone.

Site Advertising: Google Ads may be used throughout the website as a means to generate revenue. Please do not abuse the ads and only click on them if you are genuinely interested. Organic-ese does not support or endorse any of the Google Ads that may appear nor are we in control of or responsible for their content. We encourage members to report inappropriate ads to a staff member.

Private Messages (PMs): If exclusively personal contact is needed, use the Private Message system. PMs are NOT to be used to seek assistance with homework assignments or textbook exercises--post such questions in the appropriate forum in our Questions area. The administrator reserves the right to, and can, view all private messages.
 Use of this site and its forum and your comments is not a right, but a privilege granted you by Organic-ese.com only under the terms of this terms of service agreement and which can be revoked at any time with or without warning.

Thank you for visiting Organic-ese.com. We are happy to have you with us. We hope you both enjoy and benefit from being a member our Online Community.

Terms of Service and Acceptable Conduct