Oregon Bear Events Oregon Bear Photos Shop for Oregon Bear stuff Become a member About the Oregon Bears Beartown Contact the Oregon Bears

Home > Media Submission Policy

Media and Submission Policy

(Adopted by Oregon Bears as official policy for newsletter, website, email newsgroups and all other club communication 9/29/01.)

Thank you for your interest in the Oregon Bears Media Policies

The Oregon Bears Media Committee developed a set of Media policies and Guidelines and those policies have been approved by the Oregon Bears Board of Directors.

The intent of the polices is to:

  • Increase community outreach by making more venue space available to publicize Community Events and share Community News in real time through our web site, the Web Cave, www.oregonbears.org

  • Establish consistent policies on submissions and content

  • Respect our Membership’s wishes that target Member emails on Orbearsannounce be kept to a minimum and be Club focused

  • Give members the option to access on an active basis at any time Mem-Bear amd Community events/news without overloading their email accounts

  • Distinguish Oregon Bears events from other events as having been Reviewed by the Board of Directors, Sponsored by the Club, Benefiting Club Operations and our Local Community Charity focus

  • Continue to provide Members with publicity for their own no-charge Mem-Bear events by active Members which have not been reviewed by the Board while providing a consistent presentation so Members are aware they are not Club Sanctioned

  • Reach out to the Community by using the Web site with it’s much increased space capabilities to promote Community Events which may charge a fee or donation as well as Community News which have not been reviewed by the Board and but which may be of general interest to the Membership


OREGON BEARS
SUBMISSION POLICIES AND GUIDELINES FOR: NEWSLETTER, WEB SITE, ORBEARSANNOUNCE

OREGON BEARS PUBLICATION VALUES STATEMENT

Oregon Bears publications, e-groups and web site are run for the benefit of the Oregon Bears Membership.  Policies and Guidelines are designed to ensure these vehicles promote Bear values of acceptance and non-discrimination.  Decisions about publishing articles, submissions and requests for publicity first take into account the general interests of the Bear Membership. 

Decisions about publishing and promoting other community events and groups will be made, space permitting, at the sole discretion of the Officers of the Board of the Oregon Bears and Venue Editors acting on behalf of the Board.  The Board of Directors has not reviewed the content of submissions of events and community news for accuracy of facts and does not represent them as sponsored by the Club, or as the opinions of the Oregon Bears Club or its Membership.  Publicizing this information is done as a community service, and the Venue Editors and Board reserve the right to accept, reject, and edit for brevity submissions within the club policies.  Events, publicity, submissions, news items and letters which do not meet our PUBLICATION VALUES STATEMENT will NOT be published.

In order to respect our membership, publication content, graphics and photos will be measured against the following criteria.  Editors and Web Master’s will bring issues of concern to the Media Committee for consensus, and the Committee if in doubt will raise them to a Board Vote. The following will not  be considered as appropriate photos, graphics or content in Oregon Bears publications / web sites / e-groups:

  • Photos, graphics showing full frontal or rear nudity
  • Photos, graphics or articles of/about members which would have the potential to risk job security or cause community embarrassment
  • Criticisms of members by other members such as flaming in e-groups
  • Purely commercial content, or Spam, unless in paid advertisements as allowed by Board Policies
  • Explicit and graphic sexual content or advertisements

All guidelines which follow are governed by these standards, which can be reviewed and amended by the Board of Directors.

OREGON BEARS EVENTS & CLUB MEDIA VENUES  

The primary focus of the Oregon Bears media venues are to provide members with information on upcoming events sanctioned by the Club for the benefit the members and the Oregon Bears charities. 

The Oregon Bears Calendar in Paw Prints, E-Group venues such as Orbearsannounce and the Oregon Bear Web Cave Upcoming Events page will primarily promote Oregon Bears Club sanctioned events.

Space permitting, events hosted by Oregon Bears Members, hereafter referred to as Mem-Bear Events, as well as Community Events, those of general community interest and those oriented to the Bear Community but which charge a fee, will be publicized under categories of Mem-Bear Events and Community Events respectively.

The Oregon Bears does not recommend, review or sanction Mem-Bear and Community events, but does reserve the right to not publish events which do not meet the Club Publication Values policies.

COMMUNITY & MEMBER RELATIONS

In the interest of member and community relations, additional space will be provided as noted below.

MEM-BEAR & COMMUNITY EVENTS

MEM-BEAR EVENTS

Events which are hosted by active Oregon Bears Members in good standing, and in accordance with the above Values Statement, which are open to all Oregon Bears Members and which do not charge a fee, will be considered for promotion on Club Web Page and Newsletter forums and will be titled MEM-BEAR EVENTS.  These events have not been sanctioned by the Oregon Bears but are of general Bear interest and have not been shown to be in violations of any club policies.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Events within the gay community of general interest, and those which are promoted with a fee or donation for admission, whether hosted by Oregon Bear Members or not, but which are of general interest to the Bear Community will be considered for inclusion in Oregon Bears media venues based on relevance to the membership and space permitting.  Purely commercial events and promotions will only be considered if they have clear relevance to the Bear Community, and on a space permitting basis.  These events will be titled COMMUNITY EVENTS.

COMMUNITY NEWS

News items, which are of general interest to the membership of the Oregon Bears, will be published, space permitting, at the discretion of the Venue Editors, acting on behalf of the Board of Directors.

Primarily, in the interest of timeliness, the Oregon Bears will utilize the Web Cave, on a web link from the Oregon Bears Web Cave called Community News to publish relevant news items.  Publicizing this information is done as a community service, and the Venue Editors and Board reserve the right to accept, reject, and edit for brevity submissions within the club policies.

The Board of Directors has not reviewed the content of submissions for accuracy of facts and does not represent them as the opinion of the Oregon Bears or its Membership.

MEDIA OUTLET SUBMISSION PROCESS AND POLICIES

OREGON BEARS PAW PRINTS NEWSLETTER

Articles may be submitted and considered for publication by the Editor.  They must meet Values guidelines and be submitted within deadlines for consideration.  Decisions on issue content and timing will be at the discretion of the Editor and the Oregon Bears Media Committee acting on behalf of the Oregon Bears Board of Director. Space permitting, additional areas for MEM-BEAR & COMMUNITY EVENTS of general interest to Bear Members will be provided. 

Decisions to reject items will be made in consultation with the Board of Directors based on the OREGON BEARS PUBLICATION VALUES STATEMENT, space, deadlines and content. 

Contact the Paw Prints Editor at paweditor@oregonbears.org to submit events and community news items to those pages.

OREGON BEARS WEB  PAGE

A web page menu for COMMUNITY EVENTS of general interest to Bear Members and space permitting to the Gay community will be provided.  For space considerations, the Web Master, acting on behalf of the Oregon Bears Board of Directors, reserves the right to edit for space and brevity.

Contact the Webmaster at webmaster@oregonbears.org to submit events and community news items to those pages.

ORBEARSANNOUNCE GROUP AND OTHER E-GROUP ANNOUNCE GROUPS

The primary purpose of the Orbearsannounce group is to publicize upcoming Oregon Bears events sanctioned by the Club.  These E-Groups are designed to facilitate communication to the Oregon Bear Membership.  When there are important club announcements from the President and Board Members of general member interest, additional E-Announcements will be published on an as needed basis.  The Oregon Bears may establish additional E-Groups for the sole use of its membership and the activities of the Board of Directors as required.

E-Announcements will be edited for content and brevity.  Announcements will go out Thursdays of each week in a digest form, with instructions for Club Members on how to access event information at any time. 

Postings to ORBEARSANNOUNCE are made to a moderator, and the posting process and information on other venues will be published on the announcements regularly.  You can contact the E-Group Administrator for questions at admin@oregonbears.org   . 

Since our members have made it clear that they do not wish to see multiple postings, postings of a purely commercial nature, spamming or flaming the decision was made to condense this venue to only Oregon Bears sponsored events and important Club announcements. 

Alternate venues on the Oregon Bears website, the Web Cave, allow space for publicizing Mem-Bear and Community Events where members and the public can easily access non sponsored events as well as Club events.  Contact the Webmaster at webmaster@oregonbears.org to submit events to those pages.