Community Guidelines

Community Protocol & Etiquette, Terms and Conditions, and Privacy Guidelines

Thank you for being part of the Daughters Online Community (DOC). To ensure the best possible experience for all DOC users, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (“NSDAR”) has established some basic guidelines for participation.

By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve this platform for the discussions and sharing of files and content for which it is best suited. This is a great platform on which to connect with fellow Daughters, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation about our service in the DAR mission areas of historic preservation, education and patriotism. In some cases, however, it may be advisable to direct your questions to your Chapter Regent, a committee chair, or your State Regent, as appropriate. Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. If you have questions about the community guidelines, contact community@nsdar.org. In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these rules.

Community Protocol

    • Respect others and be kind. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer members; there’s no such thing as a stupid question.

    • Respect other users’ personal preferences regarding which contact requests they choose to accept and which profile information they choose to include. Users have varying levels of comfort with accepting contact requests from those they do not know in real life or with how much information they choose to include in their user profile. Please refrain from sending repeated contact requests.

    • In compliance with NSDAR Standing Rules A1 and A2, the Daughters Online Community member Directory is not to be released except for official DAR business, and no member of the Daughters Online Community may use the community to “issue circulars about the National Society or state organization or the organization of chapters without the approval of the National Board of Management.” The Daughters Online Community Directory is referenced in the 2025 update to the Circularization Policy, which states in part: ”All membership data, including but not limited to those in eMembership, directories of DAR members, and chapter, state and national yearbooks, are entrusted to members exclusively for official use. For purposes of NSDAR, official use’ means use that has been expressly approved, endorsed or authorized by the National Society. State organizations, chapters and individual members are prohibited from releasing or distributing any membership data outside of the DAR, except upon express approval by the National Board of Management. The National Society expressly prohibits the use of member data, such as those in eMembership or directories and yearbooks, for any purpose, including but not limited to personal, commercial, political, or promotional purposes. No member data, such as that in eMembership or in directories or yearbooks of members, may be downloaded, republished, distributed, shared, sold, or duplicated, in whole or in part, for any of these purposes, or for any purpose other than one related to official DAR duties, tasks, or responsibilities, or for any purpose that is calculated to disturb the harmony of the National Society, to injure its reputation, or to hamper it in its work.”

    • Additionally, the DAR Handbook states, “Members are prohibited from harassing or abusing other members in any forum or manner, including cyberbullying and doxxing; using offensive, insulting or debasing language; and/or deliberate intimidation or threats of violence.” 

    • For a full explanation of the Circularization policy, please review the DAR Handbook.

    • Repetitive messaging that utilizes the inbox function, which is determined to be harassing, offensive or abusive, will be considered a violation of both the Community Guidelines and the Circularization Policy. 

    • Respect the purpose of the community: strengthening our DAR ties of service and friendship. Use the community to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals.

    • Sales of merchandise, business advertising, resale of items (e.g., pins), and coordination of group orders are expressly prohibited. No activity that encourages or facilitates financial transactions between DOC users is allowed. Only official NSDAR products may be promoted on the DOC. Linking to products for sale on other websites is prohibited.

    • Promotion of personal, chapter, or state fundraising campaigns is expressly prohibited. This includes links to such campaigns within posts and other flyers or presentations included in posts or attachments.

    Use caution when discussing products or services your chapter may use in fulfilling the DAR mission. The information posted on the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.

    • All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive or illegal content and materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you. Just as we follow DAR protocol in our attire and behavior at in-person events, we should follow DAR protocol in our behavior in the online community. Choose profile photos, complete your online bio, and post information accordingly.

    • Content that is political in nature is strictly prohibited. As stated in the NSDAR Handbook: “The NSDAR is nonpolitical. It maintains no lobby at national, state, or local government levels; contributes to no political party nor to candidates in any way; initiates no legislation; and does not have a legislative chair. The DAR is interested in preserving and maintaining our constitutional republic and urges its members, as good American citizens, to be informed and to exercise their right to vote. Each member, chapter, and state society is cautioned to refrain from any activity performed in the name of DAR, that might be construed as political. Such activities are prohibited.” Examples of political activity include, but are not limited to, endorsing political candidates or ballot propositions, promoting attendance at rallies, or soliciting participation in letter-writing or petition-signing campaigns.

    • Campaigning for a candidate for a national or state DAR office is strictly prohibited.

    • Discussion of or politicking for or against proposed National Society bylaws amendments is strictly prohibited. Questions about business up for consideration by voting delegates should be directed to your State Regent or asked during the official forum(s) publicized on the Continental Congress schedule.

    • Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator. NSDAR is not liable for any alleged or actual infringement or misappropriation of any proprietary right in your submission. NSDAR may, at its discretion, remove content or content that appears to infringe the proprietary rights of others. If you believe that your copyright has been violated by materials posted to this DOC site, please contact NSDAR at community@nsdar.org.

    • When posting items in our collaborative environment, please indicate if the item is not available for use. It’s also advisable to contact the owner of any material if you would like to reuse it.

    • Understand that any questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback, or other information posted to this DOC site (“submissions”) are non-confidential. As such, do not share sensitive personal information, including your national numbers, or proprietary information from any DAR system.

    • Recognize that the DOC is administered by a team of volunteer moderators. The DOC volunteer support team strives to respond within 24 to 48 hours. Should your post be moderated, please recognize that the person reviewing it is a volunteer.

    Discussion Group Etiquette and Best Practices

    • State concisely and clearly the topic of your post in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.

    • Send messages such as "Thanks for the information" or "Me, too" to individuals, not to the entire list. Do this by using the "Reply to Sender" link in every digest message or reply privately from the community.

    • Do not send administrative messages, such as “Remove me from the list,” to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new email address. Simply change your settings.

    • Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."

    • Do not solicit community members for participation in academic research or non-DAR-approved surveys without the express written consent of the President General.

    DOC Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer. This DOC site is provided as a service for the members of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (“NSDAR”). The opinions of DOC administrators, moderators, posters, and commentators are their own and not necessarily those of NSDAR. NSDAR is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. NSDAR disclaims all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by a member, DOC user, or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall NSDAR, including its officers, directors, volunteers, employees, or agents, be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use of this DOC site or any information posted on this site.

    Warranty by DOC Users. By posting content and materials to this DOC site, you agree to abide by the Community Protocol and Discussion Group Etiquette set forth above and warrant that your posting does not contain any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials, or any information or other material that may infringe upon the proprietary or privacy rights of others.

    License Grant to NSDAR. The posting party grants NSDAR and users of this DOC site the nonexclusive right and a worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material in any way and in any medium for any purposes deemed appropriate by NSDAR.

    Administrative Authority and Account Suspension Policy. NSDAR does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. However, to ensure the DOC remains a welcoming forum for productive discussion that furthers the DAR mission, the DOC operates under the above-listed Community Protocol and Discussion Group Etiquette and Best Practices (the “Community Guidelines”). Individual communities are moderated by Daughters invited to serve in such capacity by the current Administration.  In addition, any user at any time may flag a post as “inappropriate” to request that a moderator review the content. 

    Should a DOC user violate one or more of the Community Guidelines, the moderator for the respective community will generally take the following steps before terminating a DOC user’s account or suspending the user’s posting privileges: 

    1. First violation: The moderator will move the post to the moderation queue. The moderator will email the user with a prewritten first warning, referencing the Community Guidelines, and copy the respective community’s National Chair and community@nsdar.org. The post will be deleted, and the user's name will be added to a monitored list for future violations.

    2. Second violation: The moderator will move the post to the moderation queue. The moderator will email the user a pre-written second warning, referencing the Community Guidelines and the date of the first violation, and copy the respective community’s National Chair and community@nsdar.org. The post will be deleted, and the user's name will be added to a monitored list for future violations.

    3. Third violation: The moderator will move the post to the moderation queue. The moderator will alert the community’s respective National Chair and community@nsdar.org. The associated National Chair will contact her executive liaison and the National Chair of the Daughters Online Community. The National Chair of the Daughters Online Community (DOC) will review the three violations and contact her executive liaison and the President General. Following consultation with the Executives and National Chairs concerned, the DOC National Chair will email the member a pre-written email listing the dates of the first, second, and third violations, stating that the user’s account will be suspended or terminated. The National Chair of the Daughters Online Community will take steps to terminate the account.

    Notwithstanding the foregoing, NSDAR reserves the right to delete or disable access to the offending posts, suspend or terminate the user account, and take all appropriate action based on NSDAR’s sole discretion without notice. As the Community Guidelines state: “All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive or illegal content and materials are strictly prohibited.” Should a user’s community behavior violate this guideline, NSDAR reserves the right to proceed directly to user suspension or termination, subject to the approval of the President General.

    DOC Privacy Policy

    Information We Collect, Purposes.

    If you wish to participate in the DOC site, you will be asked to log in to your account using your eMembership credentials, which include your National Number. The type of personal information NSDAR collects to set up the log-in account includes your name, membership number, and email address. You may also create a profile on the DOC site. When you create a profile, NSDAR will collect the information that you elect to upload to your profile, such as your biography, education, job history, and volunteer experience. Other registered DOC users may also view your profile information. You should carefully consider whether you wish to submit personal information and tailor any content you submit appropriately.

    How We Share and Disclose Information

    Any personal information you voluntarily provide to us to use on the DOC site, including and similar to your name, address, telephone number, and email address, will not be released, sold, or rented to any entities or individuals outside of our organization except as noted below.

    Our Contracted Service Providers

    We may share your personal information with companies (including our affiliates) that perform services on our behalf. Our service providers are required by contract to protect the confidentiality of the personal information we share with them and to use it only to provide specific services on our behalf.

    Business Transfers

    Your personal information may be transferred to another entity (either an affiliated entity or an unrelated third party) in connection with a merger, reorganization, dissolution, or similar corporate event. If such a transfer were ever to occur, the acquiring entity’s use of your personal information will still be subject to this Privacy Policy.

    Government and Legal Disclosures

    We may disclose the personal information we collect through this Site, when we, in good faith, believe disclosure is appropriate to comply with the law (or court order or subpoena); to prevent or investigate a possible crime, such as fraud or identity theft; to enforce our Terms and Conditions or other agreements that govern your use of this Site; or to protect the rights, property or safety of our company, our users, or others.

    External Sites

    We are not responsible for the content of external internet sites. You are advised to read the privacy policy of external sites before disclosing any personal information.

    Cookies

    A "cookie" is a small data text file that is placed in your browser, allowing us to recognize you each time you visit this site (for personalization, etc.). Cookies may also be used by third-party content providers, such as news feeds. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer. However, if the user declines the attachment of any cookie, the user may not have access to the full benefits of the site.

    Security Measures and Safeguards to Protect Personal Information

    NSDAR will maintain reasonable and appropriate administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect the security, confidentiality, and integrity of member data submitted through the DOC site to NSDAR. Those safeguards will include, but will not be limited to: (i) measures designed to prevent unauthorized access to or disclosure of member data (other than by member or authorized users), (ii) implementing and maintaining systems and procedures for detecting, preventing and responding to attacks, intrusions, or other systems failures and regularly testing or otherwise monitoring the effectiveness of such systems, and procedures (i.e. vulnerability scans and penetration tests conducted by selected vendors), and (iii) identifying internal and external risks and assessing the sufficiency of any systems and procedures in place to control these risks.

    Notwithstanding the foregoing, when you submit information through the DOC site to NSDAR, please be aware that your data is transmitted across the Internet and that no method of transmission over the Internet is entirely secure. Although we maintain reasonable safeguards and take reasonable security measures to protect your information when we receive it, you also need to ensure you take appropriate steps to protect your information. Additionally, other Internet sites or services accessible through our site may have separate data and privacy practices that are independent of ours. Therefore, we disclaim any responsibility or liability for their policies or actions. Please contact those vendors and others directly if you have any questions about their privacy policies. For any other information, please contact us at community@nsdar.org

    How to Access, Correct, and Delete Information

    You can access, update, or delete your profile information by logging in to your DOC account and using the settings function, or by contacting us at community@nsdar.org. Certain demographic information is imported from eMembership. Please see our FAQ section for more details. We may ask you to provide sufficient evidence of your identity for your own protection so we can ensure that information is being released to the correct person. We will respond to your request to access your information within 30 days. In some cases, our business requirements and legal obligations may prevent us from deleting your information. If we are unable to delete your information, we will notify you and provide the reason why.

    International Website Access and Cross-Border Data Transfers

    Our principal place of business is in the United States. If you access the DOC site from outside the United States, your information will be transferred, stored, and processed in the United States, where our servers are located and NSDAR is based. In addition, information that NSDAR collects may be stored, processed, and transferred between any of the countries in which NSDAR operates to enable the use of the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. You agree to such cross-border transfers of personal information.

    Amendments and Updates

    NSDAR will occasionally update this Privacy Policy. Any changes to our Privacy Policy will be posted here, so users will be aware of the information we collect, how we may use it, and whether we will disclose it to others. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices and this Privacy Policy.

    Effective Date: September 9, 2025