DCBA Participation Policy

Club Participation Guidelines

No one “owns” beekeeping, and no one ever will.
The bees predate us and our conflicts, and collaboration will help them survive. Members here are asked to participate with kindness, respect and curiosity, every time to everyone.

We will not be perfect, but we ask your patience in friendship. Discussions in person (meetings, classes, outreach activities and online) should focus on local questions, needs and information not covered elsewhere. There are national and international fora dealing with every format and approach and tool for beekeeping, and those debates can take place there.

These guidelines will adapt from time to time. Club leaders ask that same kindness, respect and friendship as we try to help these precious conversations to continue.

Membership and Content Matter Emphasis for this Association
This club is focused specifically on beekeeping in the Washington, DC, area, with discussions and education limited to areas of promise and concern for beekeepers in DC, Prince Georges, Montgomery, NoVa, and "near in" parts of counties ringing the Beltway.

Additional contributors are recognized experts, urban beekeeping leaders, or beekeepers from elsewhere who personally, physically participate in activities in DC.

Policy regarding commercial activities
While we do not officially endorse or promote any businesses, we are willing to provide a limited forum for our members to connect their services and business ventures. We realize that all beekeepers, small and large, are trying to not lose money. At the same time, members of our community have varied expertise that is of value to others in the community. We are open to members posting occasional items for sale, trade, or free (as well as those who are in search of items to buy or borrow). This includes selling gear or supplies, bees, nucs, queens, and such.

For those who regularly sell bee-related products or services, we are glad to know about it! However, we don’t want our channels to become a marketplace at the expense of crowding out the conversation. Fortunately, this has not been the case up to now.

As volume increases, we are considering ways to contain this type of information so that it is both limited in terms of the space it takes up on in our communications, and so that it is accessible to members. This includes everything from classes, hive products, commercial sale of equipment and gear, and bee services (concierge beekeeping or cut-outs, eg).
 

Statements, posts or other material containing the following will be removed from the group. Participants contributing such materials will be removed.

• Profane, defamatory, offensive or violent language
• “Trolling”, or posting deliberately disruptive statements meant to hijack comment threads or throw discussions off-track
• Attacks on specific groups or any comments meant to harass, threaten or abuse an individual
• Hateful or discriminatory comments regarding race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation or political beliefs
• Links or comments containing sexually explicit content material
• Discussion of illegal activity
• Spam, link baiting or files containing viruses that could damage the operation of other people’s computers or mobile devices
• Content determined to be inappropriate, in poor taste, or otherwise contrary to the purposes of the forum