Code of Conduct

ASCE Collaborate Code of Conduct

ASCE Collaborate is an interactive web-based forum intended to be a significant benefit for members. In ASCE Collaborate, members share their experience, discuss technical or career-based issues, ask professional questions and receive feedback from the entire ASCE community.

To ensure the best possible experience for all ASCE members, we have established some basic guidelines and recommendations for participation in ASCE Collaborate. The purpose of these guidelines is to ensure the best possible experience of all who participate in the forum. By joining and using the community discussions, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines.

As with any professional public forum, ASCE reserves the right to remove content, suspend or terminate participation on all lists for members who violate the Code of Conduct. You can view the Violation Policy here. The Code of Conduct is a common sense set of rules, firmly grounded in the ASCE Code of Ethics.

Ask Questions

  • The more focused and specific your question the better the response.
  • Avoid asking multiple questions in one post.
  • Opinions on engineering subjects are welcome if they are identified as opinions, but you should not present an opinion solely to promote contention.
  • We recommend posts be three paragraphs or shorter. Provide context for the question or topic and then ask your question or discussion topic.
  •  An example of a good question post is shown below:

Bring Value to the Community

  • Share best practices.
  • Don’t distract or redirect conversations. If your response brings in a different topic, consider starting a new thread on that topic.
  • Posts that include business promotion, affiliate links, links to purchase a product, or other items that provide the poster with financial gain are not permitted.
  • An example of a post that brings value to the forum:

Contribute to the Conversation

  • Be a generous contributor.
  • Decide which platform is best for your message. If you are just sharing a link, you may want to post on social media.
  • Make a conscious effort to share your expertise with those who ask questions.
  • Don’t post comments with no value. Please direct “thank you” notes as private messages.
  •  An example of a good contribution post:

Share Community-Focused Resources

  • If you are sharing a post as a resource, a question (see #1) that will encourage discussion of the resource must be included with the post.
  • Share profession-defining learnings, questions, and resources.
  • Include context around why you're sharing resources with the community.
  • Do not post self-serving material such as research papers, webinars, articles, resumes, job postings, conventions, or conferences which would financially benefit yourself or your business, unless they are strictly applicable to the conversation at hand and are being posted as a ”public service announcement”. The ASCE Collaborate Editorial Board reserves the right, at their discretion, not to post these items, particularly if you have demonstrated a history of posting self-promoting materials and/or only contribute to the forum when you have a self-serving item to post.
  • An example of a post that shares community-based resources:

Honor the ASCE Code of Ethics

  • Post in a truthful and objective manner.
  • Don’t comment in areas outside of your competence without acknowledging publicly that you are not an expert in the field. See example below:


  • Don’t comment in discussions where you have a conflict of interest without explicitly stating your involvement.
  • Respectful, professional disagreement is encouraged in the community. Do not disparage another engineer in your comments.
  • Posts should not share client-confidential items. Client names, including but not limited to government agencies, should never be used.
  • Respect those of different backgrounds, ethnicities, ages, and genders to your own, especially when you disagree with a comment. Do not disparage another’s experience because it does not match your own. For example, posts against minority-owned firms or programs, comments that perpetuate stereotypes, and comments painting entire generations in a negative light are not permitted.

Disagree, but do so with respect

  • Disagree with respect in the desire to help – not to injure, defame or criticize others.
  • Challenge the idea and engage in thoughtful debate.
  • An example of a post that challenges a post with a different perspective:

Do not use the forum to handle disputes

  • Address any grievances with another ASCE member, staff person, or entity directly with a personal communication, not by publicly airing the grievance on the forum.
  • All conversations need to be constructive conversations to improve the profession.
  • Contact ASCE leadership directly if you have any concerns with ASCE policy.
  • An example of a constructive post:

Engage in a conversational manner

  • Post discussions in a constructive, conversational manner. Please connect and engage with those around you.
  • Choose the appropriate forums and discussions for the topics you would like to discuss.
  • Don’t make comments that are not relevant to the current topic.
  • Another example of an appropriate post that can help others in the same situation:

Maintain privacy

  • The Collaborate forum is open to all ASCE members. Your current and future boss or subordinates can read your posts and responses. Do not post anything you would not want them to see.
  • Do not use names of people and firms in posts.
  • This forum is provided as a benefit for the members of American Society of Civil Engineers. Members may not reproduce or re-post any other person’s post externally or on any other forum without explicit written permission from that poster. While the poster owns the content ASCE has permission to reproduce as explained in the fourth point of the Terms and Conditions (See Below).

Terms & Conditions

All posts will be monitored and approved by ASCE staff and Editorial Board to ensure that these guidelines are being followed.

Terms & Conditions
  • Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials.
  • Be courteous. Please ask participants for permission to republish their words elsewhere (especially if elsewhere would be a publicly viewable setting).
  • When citing ASCE Collaborate discussions, please include a link back to the original discussion or to the Collaborate homepage.
  • Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants American Society of Civil Engineers and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.
  • Do not post any messages that could be interpreted as enabling or encouraging members to agree on: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; decisions to deal with other businesses or professionals; selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers; or any other matter that could potentially raise risk to ASCE of antitrust liability.
  • This site is provided as a benefit for the members of American Society of Civil Engineers. American Society of Civil Engineers is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by American Society of Civil Engineers or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. Any individual who acts in reliance on any information obtained from this site does so at the individual’s sole risk and liability. In no event shall American Society of Civil Engineers be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits in connection with this access or inability to access this site, or in any manner arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site.

American Society of Civil Engineers reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.

Privacy Policy

The ASCE organizational Privacy Policy can be viewed at the following link. http://www.asce.org/privacy/
For any other information please contact us using the Contact Us page.