Web terms and policies
The waterrats.ca website and connected social media accounts are platforms for club members and followers to interact with each other and access information from the Water Rats Sailing Club in Toronto.
The following proposed web terms of use and policies are under discussion and may change. Your feedback is wanted. They are written to let you know how we manage information, protect your personal data and what we expect from you.
See also our membership rules which help ensure that principles of fairness and equality apply to membership.Privacy and data policy
Water Rats is dedicated to maintaining both a high standard of privacy and a high standard of data protection in all of our activities. Our board members ensure that thorough security measures and strong passwords are in effect in the systems we manage.
We only collect information necessary for managing club membership and administration. Water Rats, our members, board members or contractors do not share, rent or sell your membership information with anyone unless required by law.
Personally identifiable information from web use is not collected without your knowledge. Water Rats' website uses cookies to chart web usage trends. See Wild Apricot and Google to learn what's collected and how it's managed.
Social media guidelines
When posting on this site and related social networks let's engage, help others, and give constructive criticism. Let’s commit to building and strengthening relationships based on ongoing dialogue and mutual respect. When we chat online let's do it as if we're at one of our BBQs with all the norms of behaviour expected there. Please be legal, respectful, relevant and aware.
1) Be legal. Do not post comments or images that are libelous, defamatory, obscene, abusive or contain otherwise illegal content. Postings are subject to all applicable legislation, and by social media sites used. This includes, but is not limited, to the Criminal Code of Canada and the Ontario Human Rights Code which covers age, ancestry, colour, race, citizenship, ethnic origin, place of origin, creed, disability, family status, marital status, gender identity, gender expression, sex and sexual orientation. Water Rats will not ignore or condone discrimination, harassment or reprisals outlined in the Code.
2) Be respectful. You should not make others feel unsafe or unwelcome. Please don't share negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. We want the members of our community to feel safe and build connections that are empathetic, communicative and flexible in mind. On a related note, when taking and sharing photos of a person it's always nice to ask first even though it's legal. If you don't want your image captured please ask those using image devices to not include you.
3) Be relevant. Your posts should be on-topic, relating to Water Rats or the Outer Harbour and not be self-promoting (unless that’s the set topic).
4) Be aware. This site and related social media accounts are not monitored 24/7. Posts may be moderated and decisions should be considered final. Please be aware of the community standards and terms agreements applicable to behaviour in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube.
Accessibility and usability
We each will have a disability one day even if it's just from the effects of getting older. In line with Ontario’s Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), these pages are being constructed to “transform gracefully”, in other words, they:
1) Separate structure from presentation. They use Cascading Style Sheets to control much of the presentation.
2) All content is provided as text; when images, audio or video files are used, they are given equivalent alternatives.
3) Documents do not rely on one type of hardware. Users can access the site with a variety of browser technologies, mobile devices, screen resolutions and settings, with or without mice, etc.
4) All attempts have been made to ensure that the content is understandable and navigable. There is a standardized site menu that indicates where you are within the site structure.
Copyright
Please email us your intention to use content elsewhere. All content in this website falls under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Canada License.You are free to: 1) Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose. 2) Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material. You must give appropriate credit and link to the original content and to the license.