We are truly fortunate to have a kind, thoughtful, and considerate community at the Academy. Very seldom do we need to reach out to people or take action because of behaviour that diminishes our learning experience. However, we have put this code of conduct in place so that we can clearly set expectations for members and also be clear regarding when we will take action.

Interacting with others at the CGCA Academy (summary)

  • Don’t post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech. Don’t harass or personally attack anyone. Treat each other with dignity and consideration in all interactions.
  • You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But remember to criticize ideas, not people. Avoid name-calling, ad hominem attacks, and responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content. 
  • Be clear and stay on topic. It’s hard to convey or read tone, and sarcasm is frequently misunderstood. Try to use clear language, and think about how it will be received by the other person. Posts should largely remain on the topic of classical guitar and the musical world. 
  • This applies to sharing links, as well. Any links shared in the Community Forum should be shared with the intent of providing relevant and appropriate information. Links should not be posted to simply drive traffic or attention to a site. Links should always be accompanied by a full explanation of the content and purpose of the link.
  • Please make an effort to post in the appropriate areas of the site and refrain from posting the same information or question in multiple places. 

Forming groups inside CGC

Perhaps you are working on a Grade and want to chat with other members working alongside you, or it might be that you want to start a discussion about a particular piece of repertoire. In these situations you can simply start a new forum topic and invite other members to join in the discussion.

If you are interested in a more formal group or addition to the forum, please reach out to the CGC team to discuss the idea. In general we want to keep our robust forum focused and easy to navigate but we are always open to ideas.

Forming groups outside of CGC.

  • Please email support@classicalguitarcorner.com if you would like to create a group.
  • Please do not post open invitations to form groups in the forum without first talking to a team member.
  • Please do not post zoom links (or any digital meeting room links) in the forum.
  • Please keep the communication for your event or group within your own personal email rather than on the CGC forum. 
  • Please do not use “CGC” or Classical Guitar Corner as part of your group name, as it might be confusing for some people just who is running the event.  
  • Please keep the groups small and do not reach out to large amounts of members to recruit for your group.

If you would like to connect with other members to meet up in person or online we ask that you first reach out to a team member at CGC. 

We are happy to facilitate connections between members as long as it respects privacy, has clarity and transparency regarding what to expect and who the organizer is, and clearly states that it is not an official CGC event. 

CGCA has live sessions for the entire Academy on a regular basis so we encourage you to form groups that have a more focused purpose. This might be geographic, timezone, or potentially a specific theme. We ask that groups have a clear focus on classical guitar and we cannot facilitate group formations that have non-classical guitar related themes. 

While it is not absolutely necessary, we would appreciate you notifying us about group activities from time to time. In the past we’ve been able to collaborate with different groups and events to include other members of the CGC community.

It is also appreciated, but not necessary, that, should your group prosper and expand over time CGC Academy is recognized as the starting point of your group. Finally, we would appreciate it if the event you organize is not in conflict with any regularly scheduled events at CGC. 

Community Calendar – Sharing Events

To facilitate the sharing of classical guitar-related events from our members we are trialing a community calendar. If you have a classical guitar event that you would like to share on the community calendar please visit https://classical.guitarcorneracademy.com/community-calendar/ and submit the form. We will update the calendar weekly.

We cannot list events that are in direct conflict with CGC events (such as the Summer School or Guitoberfest).

Direct Advertisements and Promotions

It is important that we keep a core focus on the learning experience here at the Academy. For that reason we try to keep distractions, advertisements, and off-topic subjects to a minimum. Please follow these rules when posting on the Academy site, and as always please feel free to email us if you are unclear on what to do.

  • An unsolicited post that promotes an event, product, service, or organization is not allowed in the CGC forum.
  • If you would like to post about a product or service to help answer a question or request by another member you may do so. However, we ask that you do not post repeatedly and or regularly about the same product, service, organization, or institution. 

Exceptions:

Promoting your own projects or affiliated projects in CGC

If you have an exciting announcement, perhaps a book you have published, a new recording, or a website, please reach out to the CGC team and communicate your desire to promote/share your project. In most cases it won’t be a problem at all because these posts are few and far between for an individual. It can be an issue, however, if you want to promote a regular publication like a podcast or blog posts, or the ongoing activities of an organization. In these cases we will discuss the best way forward in regards to your situation. 

Interacting with others at the CGC Academy (extended)

What is not Allowed :

  • Hate speech and discrimination. We do not tolerate speech that attacks a person or group of people on the basis of who they are. We expect our community members to be respectful when discussing sensitive topics.
  • Bullying and harassment. We do not tolerate bullying or harassment. This means any habitual badgering or intimidation targeted at a specific person or group of people.
  • Impersonation. You may not impersonate another person by copying their avatar, posting content under their email address, intentionally using a deceptively similar username, or otherwise posing as someone else. Impersonation is a form of harassment.
  • Protecting privacy. Don’t post other people’s personal information, such as phone numbers, private email addresses, or physical addresses. Sometimes you might want to get people in contact with one another or organize a meeting. Please use private email or private messages for communicating any personal information. 
  • Prurient/Sexually explicit content. The world of the arts has many depictions of the human body and various representations of sexuality. Within reason, these depictions and discussions are allowed at the academy. However, we draw the line at prurient or sexually explicit content. If you have any questions or concerns about something you want to post, feel free to reach out and ask beforehand.
  • Spam. Respect the CGCA forum. Don’t post advertisements, link to spammy websites, or otherwise vandalize the Community. This Community is meant for CGCA users to learn classical guitar – not for advertising or other spam-like content. Content that we deem spammy will be removed.
  • Threats of violence. You may not threaten violence towards others or use the site to organize, promote, or incite acts of real-world violence or terrorism. Think carefully about the words you use, the images you post, and how they may be interpreted by others. Even if you mean something as a joke, it might not be received that way. If you think that someone else might interpret the content you post as a threat, or as promoting violence or terrorism, stop. Don’t post it. In extraordinary cases, we may report threats of violence to law enforcement if we think there may be a genuine risk of physical harm or a threat to public safety.
  • Copyrighted or illegal content. This is a challenging topic in the digital age but we strive to respect copyright laws here at the Academy. Material created on or before January 1st 1925 (as of 2021) are in the public domain and can be shared freely. If something remains under copyright, however, we cannot use it on our site without permission. YouTube videos are allowed because the content is not hosted on our website and it has a system of royalty compensation. Posting of copyright scores is not permitted, nor are links to downloads of copyright scores. We will endeavour to make clear links to places where you can purchase scores and support the musical community. The laws of “fair use” allow small excerpts of content to be shared for educational use. This allows you to use 10 percent or less of a copyright work for educational purposes. In the forum this might serve to ask questions about a specific phrase or section of a score. You are responsible for what you post. If you post something you didn’t create yourself, you must have the right to post it. You may not post illegal content, including content illegal under copyright and trademark laws, links to illegal content, or methods for circumventing the law.
  • Anyone under the age of 13 may not post in the forum. Please have a parent or guardian post on your behalf. 

Enforcement

What CGC Community Forum Members Can Do

  • If you see bad behavior, you don’t need to reply or address the person yourself, just reach out to a member of the CGC team and we will look into the matter.

Our Responsibilities

There are a variety of actions that we may take in response to inappropriate behavior or content. It usually depends on the exact circumstances of a particular case. We recognize that sometimes people may say or do inappropriate things for any number of reasons. Perhaps they did not realize how their words would be perceived. Or maybe they just let their emotions get the best of them. 

Each case requires a different approach, and we try to tailor our response to meet the needs of the situation. We’ll review each situation on a case-by-case basis. 

Actions we may take in response to a breach of the code of conduct include, but are not limited to:

  • Content Removal
  • Account Suspension
  • Account Termination

Contacting the CGC Team

As you most likely already know, the CGC team is here to help you. If you have questions or concerns, or need to report something please reach out to support@classicalguitarcorner.com

Legal Notices

We have a Terms of Service and Privacy Statement describing your (and our) behavior and rights related to content, privacy, and laws. To use this service, you must agree to abide by our Terms of Service and the Privacy Statement.

This Code of Conduct does not modify our Terms of Service and is not intended to be a complete list. CGC retains full discretion under the Terms of Service to remove any content or terminate any accounts for activity that is “unlawful, offensive, threatening, libelous, defamatory, pornographic, obscene or otherwise objectionable or violates any party’s intellectual property or these Terms of Service.” This Code of Conduct describes when we will exercise that discretion.