Rules of Conduct (RoC) Update: Private Messages

[Pilots Of America Management]

The Management Council has updated the Rules of Conduct regarding private messages (aka "Conversations") to make it clear that discussing the contents of a PM without the consent of all parties is a violation of the RoC. The previous wording was vague as to whether or not the entire message had to be posted "verbatim".

The revised RoC contains this wording on that topic:

• Private Messages (aka 'Conversations') received on POA are considered to be private, and the contents of these, in whole, part, or paraphrased, may not be discussed publicly unless the other partipant(s) of the Private Message / Conversation agree in writing beforehand. 'In writing' can be as simple as a PM asking for and receiving said permission. The Management Council may ask to see this written agreement when investigating alleged violations of this rule, and participants agree to provide such proof to avoid sanctions or warnings for suspected violations of this rule.

What do we mean by "proof"? We can't read your PM's, so here's an example:

"Proof" would need to come from the parties themselves. Assume that parties A and B had a conversation, agreed to discuss it further in public, and Party B made a post about the PM. Subsequently, party C (a third party) reports it as a violation of the RoC. If both parties A and B inform the MC that yes, they agreed to discuss it in public, that would be sufficient proof for the MC to not pursue C's reported violation or to enforce a warning to Party B for revealing the contents of a private conversation.