Policies Adopted by the CPN Board of Directors

• Co-Sponsorship of Non-Commercial Events
• Speaking on Behalf of CPN
• Hosting and Posting Announcements of CPN Events
• Non-CPN Events
• Reporting Violations at Events
• CPN Electronic Electronic Mailing List Rules
• Policy on Media Attendance at CPN Events
• Policy on Attendance at "Open" Events
• Policy on Member-Proposed Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
• Policy Regarding Promotion of Member-Sponsored Commercial Events
• Policy Regarding CPN Co-Sponsored Commercial Events

Policy on Co-Sponsorship of Non-Commercial Events

In order for CPN to be listed as an official event co-sponsor with other [non-profit] organizations, and for an event to be promoted to the CPN membership and on the CPN listserves as a "CPN Co-Sponsored Event," the following six conditions must be met:

1. The CPN Board must approve the event and the co-sponsor(s), after satisfying itself about the appropriateness of the event for co-sponsorship, CPN's ability to participate at the level anticipated by the co-sponsor(s), and the ability and willingness of any co-sponsor(s) to carry out their responsibilities regarding the event.
2. A representative of CPN approved by the CPN Programs Chair must be present at all co-sponsored events.
3. The co-sponsoring organization(s) must designate a person who will also be present at the event to serve as liaison to the CPN representative, and to represent the co-sponsoring organization(s) in carrying out the requirements of the co-sponsorship agreement.
4. The co-sponsoring organization(s) must agree to making visible and available to all attendees the CPN Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct. The co-sponsoring organization(s) agree(s), through their designated liaisons, to promptly notify the CPN representative present of any suspected violation of same. The co-sponsoring organization liaison and the CPN representative should then speak directly and promptly to the person(s) involved and seek to get a commitment either to observe the rules from that point on or to leave the event immediately. All details of the incident must then be promptly reported in writing to the CPN Programs Chair by the CPN representative in attendance.
5. All announcements of CPN events on the CPN listserves, including those co-sponsored with other organizations, must be approved in advance by the CPN Programs Chair. The announcement of a co-sponsored event MUST include the following statement:

CPN is happy to co-sponsor this event with (name of co-sponsor(s)) and hopes you find it a valuable addition to the CPN Schedule of Events. Please be assured that CPN will take all appropriate steps to see that a safe and respectful atmosphere is provided. However, please be aware that because the event is also being attended by people who are not members of CPN, it may not always be possible to enforce fully the CPN Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct with regard to the behavior of those non-CPN members present.

6. A sufficient quantity of CPN brochures must be placed where they are obvious and available to all those in attendance. These should be obtained by the CPN representative attending from the CPN Programs Chair.

Policy on Speaking on Behalf of CPN

Policy on Hosting CPN Events and on Posting Events to the CPN Listserves

(Address any questions to the about these guidelines to the Programs Chair

Members of CPN are welcomed and encouraged to propose and announce events that they wish to hold for the membership. This is a list of rules and guidelines for announcing your CPN event on the CPN email lists.

Non-CPN Events: If you wish to publicize a non-CPN event, see our guidelines for announcing non-CPN events below.

CPN Events: In order to host an official CPN event, you must get approval from the Programs Chair. This is so that calendar conflicts can be avoided, and to check that the contents of the event follow the CPN Rules of Conduct. The subject of social events does not have to be related to polyamory to be an official CPN event.

Who Can Come: Currently, attendance at CPN events are limited to CPN members and their guests, with the exception of "open" CPN events, such as the orientation and pot luck. Additionally, non-members are currently limited to three CPN events a year (with two exceptions: family of members, and friends of the sponsor).

Events Checklist

When you are preparing your event announcement, be sure to include an event description, the date, time, a listing of any adult activities, the city and state where the event will take place, and contact information for the host or sponsor. If the event is posted only on the Members' list, or is an approved CPN open event, or is a non-CPN event, you may also wish to include an address and directions. Note that to protect the privacy and safety of our hosts and guests, the address of CPN events other than open events should not be posted on the public list. Try to make your description sound tempting!

In addition, you should include any of the following items if they apply:

• RSVP, pre-registration or pre-approval requirements
• Admission or other charges, if any
• Other suggestions or requirements such as bringing food, materials or supplies, etc.
• Handicap accessibility (especially if the event is not accessible)
• Speaker or special guest name and qualifications
• Recommended dress (e.g. costume, black tie, swimsuits, etc.)
• Seating or attendance limitations
• Any special limitations on attendance (e.g. women or men only, couples/families only, active triads only, bisexuals only, certain age group only, etc.)
• Schedule information (e.g. meet at Mary's house at 5:00 PM, carpool at 6:00, plane leaves National at 8:00, arrive Paris 9:30 AM the following morning, brunch at the Caf? DuBerry at 11:00)

Adult Activities:

We have changed our previous classification system of calling events "permissive" or "non-permissive". In place of these terms, events are to be classified as general or as adult. Adult means *only* that anyone under 20 is not permitted to attend - nothing else is implied by the word. Events with sexual activities planned must be listed as "Adult Only." For other events with adult activities, the attendance of children may or may not be appropriate. If you are unsure if your event should be listed as "adult only," consult the Program Chair.

Below is a list of adult activities that may be permitted at an event. If any of these activities are allowed or expected the event, they must be listed on the event announcement under a section labeled "Adult activities".

Adult activities to be specified are:

• Alcohol - there may be alcoholic beverages served
• Nudity - there may be non-sexual nudity, such as at a hot tub party or non-sexual massage
• Mature Discussion - explicit discussion or lecture about sexual function
• Visual Eroticism - the showing of erotic movies, pictures, or attending erotic or non-vanilla entertainment
• Sexual Activity - physical sexual activity at the event

With sexual activities, only the most explicit activity needs to be mentioned in the announcement; for example, sexual activity would usually imply nudity.

The announcement should mention any boundaries on the adult activity to help people have a clear idea of what to expect. The idea is to avoid anyone coming to an event and being offended because they did not understand what was to take place.

Here are some examples of how this may look:

• Picnic. Open event - anyone may come. Children welcome. Adult activities: alcohol may be present.
• Hot Tub Party. Adult activities: nudity limited to hot tub. Parents welcome to bring children if they are comfortable with nudity.
• Sexual massage. Adult event - not open to those below age 20. Adult activities: nudity, sexual activity limited to manual massage.
• Party. Adult event - not open to those below age 20. Eating, drinking, having a good time. Adult activities: alcohol, nudity in hot tub, private sexual activity, upstairs only, possible but not planned (at least by us).
• Safer Sex Class. Adult event - not open to those below age 20. Adult activities: presentation/discussion of sexually-oriented materials related to STD's. /li>

How to Post CPN Events

When you have your event ready to go, send it to the Program Chair. After approval, it will be placed in the CPN online calendar. The deadline to make the calendar is the 20th of the preceding month.

We recommend that you also post a separate announcement a week or two before the event. You can post it to the CPN Public list at cpn@yahoogroups.com or to the Members' list at CPN_members@yahoogroups.com, depending upon how wide an audience you wish to reach. Remember that event addresses should not be posted on the Public list for CPN events other than approved open events. Responsibility for posting your event to the list is yours after approval is received.

Policy on Publicizing Non-CPN Events

1. Non-CPN events may only be publicized on the CPN Public list (cpn@yahoogroups.com), but not on the CPN Members' list. The CPN Members' list is for CPN business only! You must be a subscriber to the CPN Public list, sincerely interested in its content, in order to post non-CPN event announcements to that list.
2. Your privilege to use the CPN Public list to publicize non-CPN events is based upon your adherence to the list rules that you received when you joined the list - including no promotion of commercial events, no publicizing of illegal activities, etc. Your privilege is also based upon the judgment of the CPN list manager that the event(s) that you are publicizing would be of interest to CPN members and to those interested enough in polyamory to be subscribing to the CPN Public list.
3. Please be sure to include in your announcement all necessary information, (i.e., event title, day and date, time, activities, costs, who may attend, sponsoring individual or group, location, website, etc.) and be especially sure to include a contact for further information, so that the traffic on the mailing list asking for more details or clarification is minimal.
4. Your non-CPN event will not be listed on the CPN Calendar of Events. That is reserved for CPN events only.
5. You must include the following disclaimer at the bottom of your non-CPN event announcement on the CPN Public list:

   This event is not sponsored or endorsed by CPN. Therefore it is not subject to the CPN Rules of Conduct or the CPN Code of Ethics. Attendance may not be limited to CPN members. CPN allows this event to be announced here as a courtesy to the event's sponsor and assumes no liability for the contents nor the ethical standards of this event. Please use your own good judgment in determining the suitability of this event for yourself.

6. You must avoid any language that implies or indicates that the event you are publicizing is a CPN event.
7. You must begin your e-mail subject line with the words: "Non-CPN Event:"

Policy on Reporting Violations at Events

Adopted August 24, 2000

CPN Public Electronic Mailing List Rules

Sent to all list subscribers upon joining since July 19, 1998, reprinted here for ease of reference

The following are the CPN List Rules and Guidelines. In order to more closely guarantee a pleasant and productive discussion and environment on the CPN list, everyone is asked to abide by the following:

1. Solicitations.
   You may not make any offers for business, products, or services to the list without prior permission.
    
2. Harassment.
   If someone doesn't want mail from you, don't send it! If you meet someone on the list and you bother them after they have requested you stop, you will be removed from the list upon their request. Be nice, we're all in this together.
    
3. Flames.
   List members are expected to be polite and tolerant of others' diverging views. The members of our list have quite emphatically stated a desire to make the list a safe place where its members can meet and talk about very personal relationship issues. "Flaming" and disruption in a generally disrespectful way will not be tolerated. Those who cannot or will not cooperate in this regard will be be removed from the list. This policy is consistent with CPN's Code of Ethics, which requires that members treat each other with respect.
   
   Heated debate will inevitably arise and can be good, so long as it is done in a mature and respectful way. However, it is never good to respond to a post to the list while you are angry. Your tone will almost always be less inflammatory if you wait to respond until you are more calm.
   
   Remember, those are real people with real feelings you are addressing. If you wouldn't say it to their face, don't say it here.
    
4. Privacy.
   CPN takes matters of privacy seriously. In order to provide a safe environment where list members will feel comfortable posting their personal thoughts and experiences, we must insist that no one forward mail posted to the list to someone who is not a subscriber to it for any reason, any time, without the express permission of the poster.
    
5. Clarity.
   No one needs to be a great writer to post here, just do your best to write clearly so that your meaning comes through. Likewise, please give a list member the benefit of the doubt if it seems at all possible that their meaning could be misconstrued. The experts claim that in our daily interactions we only get 40% of the message from words. The other 60% comes from tone of voice, facial expression, body language, etc., and none of the factors are present in e-mail, (except for the use of emoticons, which helps a little).
    
6. Brevity and List Volume.
   Please do not quote excessive amounts of a post you are responding to. Snipping all but the applicable portions is considered good list etiquette on any list. You are certainly welcome to write as much and as often as you like. That being said, considering how little time many people have in their day-to-day lives, your posts are much more likely to be read in their entirety if you keep them fairly brief and to the point.
   
   At times the volume of mail from our list is quite high and difficult for many to handle. Please keep this in mind as you post. See also paragraphs 7, 8 and 9 in this regard.
    
7. Keep the Conversation on Topic.
   This discussion group is for matters polyamorous. Of course, this touches many aspects of life and philosophy which, when they come up in context, are fine. If such a sideline takes on a life of it's own, we may ask that it be "reined in". Of course, please refrain from introducing topics that are completely off topic.
    
8. Respond to Individuals Privately.
   This requires some attention on your part to notice where you are sending mail. If you click on "reply" in your mail program, your reply will always go to the list, and not to the individual. This is important, because it is so easy to miss, and posting privately to the list causes a lot of "noise". That being said, almost everyone does this accidentally, and it is not an unpardonable sin. In any event, please post messages of a private or individual nature to the individual and not the group.
    
9. "Me, too" Posts.
   Responses like, "Yeah, me too" do not need to go to the group. They contribute nothing of substance to the discussion and increase the noise level. Please resist the urge to "chime in" in this fashion.
    
10. Personal Ads.
    Please do not post personal ads on this list. This list is for discussion of issues related to polyamory, not for finding a partner. Check out Poly Match Maker or Poly Personals if you are looking for that.
     
11. Decisions of the List Manager are Final.
    Chesapeake Polyamory Network operates this list for free as a service to its members. As such, decisions on list matters, rules, etc. are ours alone. We are generally very hands off and let things go on their own as we can. We value feedback and suggestions. However, if changes are required or decisions need to be made, they are ours to make. In other words, if you have a problem with the list, please let us know instead of asking the list, and if you don't like something we change, please address us directly rather than complaining to the list. Write to the list manager with suggestions.
     
12. Please Do....
    • Share your polyamorous experiences, ask questions, seek answers and share resources that pertain to the polyamorous lifestyle with others on the list.
    • Have fun!

Policy on Media Attendance at CPN Events

Adopted May 7, 2001

Policy on Attendance at CPN "Open" Events

Adopted May 7, 2001

1. CPN members;
2. Non-CPN members, provided that they:
   • identify as polyamorous
   • identify as poly friendly or poly supportive or
   • are sincerely interested in exploring their own polyamory; and
3. Guests of individuals described in section (1) or (2). As used in this section, the term "guests" refers to natural guests, such as romantic partners and personal friends.

Policy on Member-Proposed Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

Adopted August 6, 2001

1. The purpose of the group is not inconsistent with the CPN Statement of Purpose and with our Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct; and
2. There is a member willing and, in the opinion of the Board, able to take responsibility for convening the event regularly and assuring that the Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct are observed.

CPN Policy Regarding Promotion Of Member-Sponsored Commercial Events

Adopted September 3, 2002

1. A Commercial Event is any event or activity intended to produce a financial profit (i.e., an amount in excess of the actual out-of-pocket costs to produce or conduct the event) for the CPN member who is the event’s host, sponsor, or creator, and which is clearly not an incidental activity of that member (e.g., a moving sale, looking for a roommate/housemate, selling a surplus personal vehicle, etc. in other words, not for commercial purposes).
2. As a benefit of membership, CPN members may post notices of such events to the CPN public list with prior approval of the Communications Chair and in compliance with this Policy.
3. Members are limited to two approved postings per month. CPN reserves the right to place further limits as necessary in order to prevent excessive list traffic of this kind.
4. Posting such events is a benefit of CPN membership; non-CPN members may not post notices of their events themselves under any circumstances.
5. No postings will be permitted for the sale of any goods, except as noted in item 1.
6. Only Commercial Events deemed sufficiently related to CPN's Purposes and Objectives (and therefore presumably of interest to the CPN list subscribership) will be allowed to be advertised. Unrelated events – for example, computer software training – are not appropriate and are therefore not acceptable. Decisions of the Communications Chair regarding the appropriateness of Commercial Events for posting are final.
7. Advertisers of Commercial Events agree to reciprocate the advertising by including a brief statement in any printed materials (not including space-limited materials such as calendar listings, classified advertising, etc.) for the program or event being advertised, as follows: "With gratitude to Chesapeake Polyamory Network for granting (name of event promoter) advertising privileges to its members."
8. Related events conducted by or on behalf of a nonprofit organization, where the proceeds accrue to that organization, are not considered Commercial Events.
9. Events where no direct financial benefit accrues to the Member or his/her immediate family are not considered Commercial Events (e.g., an announcement of a gathering at a restaurant, theater, or other commercial establishment, etc. even though a Member or Member’s family member may be employed by the establishment).
10. Sponsors must include the following disclaimer at the bottom of non-CPN Commercial Event announcements on the CPN Public list: "This event is not sponsored or endorsed by CPN. Therefore it is not subject to the CPN Rules of Conduct or the CPN Code of Ethics. Attendance may not be limited to CPN members. CPN allows this event to be announced here as a courtesy to the event's sponsor and assumes no liability for the contents nor the ethical standards of this event. Please use your own good judgment in determining the suitability of this event for yourself."

Policy Regarding CPN Co-Sponsored Commercial Events

Adopted September 3, 2002

1. Members wishing to co-sponsor a for-profit (commercial) event with CPN should contact the Programs Chair and make a request for co-sponsorship, providing a detailed description of the event and the fee being charged.
2. If accepted for co-sponsorship, CPN will include said event on its calendar of events. The member promoter may post reminders and announcements regarding the event at their discretion, so long as awareness is maintained of the importance of not "spamming" the list with too-frequent postings.
3. CPN will negotiate appropriate compensation for its involvement in support of the co-sponsored event.
4. Co-sponsored events must adhere to CPN’s Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct at all times. Organizers are responsible for being familiar with these and being willing to enforce them at the event if necessary.

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