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Here we explain our reasons for banning or suspending a member of the Research Cooperative.

The Research Cooperative welcomes people from all walks of life, but only those with genuine interests in the aims of the Cooperative.

Occasionally, people or businesses have joined in order to use the site for irrelevant business promotion or self-promotion. The most common form of this is link spamming - using the profile page and messages to add links to unrelated websites.

Spammers are usually indicated by (1) use of quickly-typed, random letters and words in the profile page, (for example, the location name might be something like: "kdsjndkf"), (2) answers given only for the mandatory ("required") profile questions, (3) a lack of any meaningful self-description in the profile, (4) the use of a profile image that is obviously an advertisement for purposes unrelated to research, and (5) addition of links to websites that advertise people, products, and services that are not related to research or research communication.

Research Cooperative administrators have been asked to immediately ban or suspend members who are likely to have no actual interest in the Cooperative. This will be done without attempting to contact member the member concerned. If a member is suspended, he or she can contact the Administration to ask for full membership again.

An executive decision to ban or suspend a member might sometimes exclude a person who does have a genuine interest in the Research Cooperative.

If you are such a person, we apologise in advance, and we apologise again if you have been upset by our action.

If you have been completely banned, but would like to join again, please try using a different email address, and provide more details in your profile page.

Thank you.

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