Community Guidelines

Last updated: August 5, 2026

These guidelines govern the members-only discussion forum on personalbrandingactivity.com. Posting means you accept them, alongside our Terms of Service.

They are short on purpose. The point of this forum is to help Indiana families, coaches, administrators and businesses work out what Rule 5-7 means for a real situation. Everything below serves that.

The single most important rule

Nothing posted here is legal, tax, financial, or compliance advice, and no post creates a professional relationship.

That applies to us, and it applies to every member — including members who are practising attorneys or CPAs. We do not verify anyone's credentials. A confident answer from a stranger on the internet is worth exactly what you paid for it, whatever letters follow their name.

Before acting on anything you read here, read the by-law yourself and speak to your school's athletic director and a locally licensed Indiana professional.

Protecting minors

Much of what gets discussed here concerns high school students, most of whom are under 18. That imposes a duty on everyone posting.

Do not post information identifying a specific minor. No names, no schools plus jersey numbers, no photographs, no "my daughter's teammate at [school]." Describe the situation, not the child. *"A junior in a fall sport was offered free equipment by a local retailer"* tells us everything we need to answer the question.

This applies to your own child as much as anyone else's. What you post is visible to every member and stays visible.

Accounts belong to adults. If a student uses this forum, it is through a parent or guardian's account, and that adult is responsible for what appears under it.

What belongs here

• Questions about how Rule 5-7 applies to a situation you are facing
• What your school actually asked you to do, and how the process worked
• How you handled a decision, and what you would do differently
• Corrections when we or another member get something wrong — these are welcome, and we would rather be corrected in public

What does not

• Soliciting business. No advertising your services, no "DM me and I'll look at your agreement," no recruiting clients. Attorneys, agents, CPAs and marketers are welcome to participate and unwelcome to prospect.
• Advice presented as authoritative. Share your reading and label it as yours. "My AD told us X" is useful. "X is the rule" is not, unless you cite the by-law.
• Naming and shaming. Do not name a school, coach, athletic director, business or student in order to criticise them. Take a real dispute to the people involved, not to a forum.
• Other schools' compliance documents, held up for comparison or critique. Where a summary differs from the by-law, the by-law governs. That is the whole answer.
• Anything unlawful, harassing, discriminatory, or sexually explicit. Obvious, and stated anyway.
• Spam, off-topic promotion, and posts written to rank in search results.

Personal information

Do not post anyone's contact details, financial information, or the terms of a specific identified agreement without their consent. Redact names and dollar figures if you want the substance discussed.

How moderation works

We read the forum. We will edit, move, lock, or delete posts that breach these guidelines, and we may suspend or remove accounts for repeated or serious breaches.

We will normally tell you why. We are not obliged to, and we do not run an appeals process — this is a small site, not a court. Every moderation action is recorded in an internal audit log.

Posts marked with a Staff badge come from us. Some discussions were started by the site to open a topic. Those are labelled. We do not post as members, we do not invent members, and no post here is written by anyone other than the account it appears under.

Reporting. Every post carries a report link. Use it rather than replying to argue.

Your content

You keep ownership of what you write. By posting you allow us to display it here as part of running the forum. If you close your account, your posts may remain visible unless you ask us to remove them.

Changes

We may update these guidelines. Material changes will be announced in the forum.

Contact

Questions about moderation or these guidelines go through our contact page.

Personal Branding Activity LLC Fort Wayne, Indiana

Educational and Illustrative Use Only

All resources, articles, forms, checklists, examples, scenarios, and guidance are provided solely for general informational, educational, example, and illustrative purposes. They are not legal, tax, accounting, financial, compliance, or other professional advice; do not create an attorney-client, accountant-client, or other professional relationship; may not reflect the law, rules, or facts applicable to a particular person, school, transaction, or jurisdiction; and should not be relied upon without review by an appropriately licensed local attorney and certified public accountant familiar with the user’s specific circumstances. Users remain responsible for obtaining individualized professional advice and confirming current requirements with applicable schools, governing bodies, and authorities.