CFA Program Level I Candidates

Effective as of July 2025

Thank you for being part of our community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation.  
 
By joining and using a Virtual Community ("Community"), you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions, shared files and content that are best suited to the medium. This is a great medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation.

The Virtual Community groups are not the appropriate place for Society inquiries or assistance requests, and CFA Society San Francisco Staff will not see requests made there. Questions should be directed to our Staff via the Contact Us link on this site by phone M-F 9:00 am – 5:00 pm PT, (415) 814-7902. 
 
Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. If you have questions, contact our Staff. In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these rules.  

We reserve the right to modify these Terms whenever necessary. If we make changes, we will post the updated Terms online and update the Effective Date above. We may also notify you either by (1) sending an email to the address associated with your Account or (2) by otherwise providing notice through our online member forum. Your continued access or use of the Community on or after the Effective Date of the revised Terms, shall be deemed an acceptance of the modification(s). If you do not agree to the revised Terms, you must stop accessing the Community. 

General Rules for All Communities

1. Hate speech in any form is not permitted on CFA Society San Francisco Communities. Hate speech is anything that attacks, harms or offensively generalizes a group of people or population, based on what are known as their protected characteristics — which are race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, serious disability or disease. We’re committed to removing hate speech any time we become aware of it. Use the ”Report Discussion” function to bring hate speech to our attention.    
2. CFA Society San Francisco prohibits any form of harassment, sexual or otherwise. This includes speech or behavior that is not welcome or that is determined to be a personal attack. Harassment includes stalking and unwelcome attention**. Report harassment here.***  
3. To protect minors and other sensitive viewers, we may reject sensitive content at our discretion. We define sensitive content as posts or messages that could be potentially upsetting or inappropriate, including sexually suggestive or violent content.   
4. Remember, the best way to bring inappropriate posts or comments to staff attention is to use the “Report Discussion” function for staff to review. These inappropriate comments may be deleted by the Society Community Monitors at our sole discretion. Inappropriate* posts can include anything that may be viewed as defamatory, libelous, antagonistic, off-topic, or even be considered an invasion of privacy or violation of the rights of another user, person or party.  
5. Respect others. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them, to provide a safe space for everyone to share their ideas. We encourage engagement and friendly discourse but do not condone disrespectful or seemingly offensive language and/or images including links or memes.   
6. Respect the purpose of the community, which is to foster dialogue and the exchange of ideas. Use the community to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions and goals.  
7. Do not use the community to advertise or solicit business for a product or service you provide, even if it is free. This includes any third-party product or services.   
8. Be cautious to remember that personal or contact information posted in your signature or on your profile, in the discussion groups is available for all Community Members to see, and comments are subject to defamation and antitrust laws.  
9. All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, illegal or materials that do not align with the CFA Society San Francisco Community Mission and Vision are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.  
10. Do not wrongfully represent yourself; for example, by claiming certain qualifications or degrees that you have not obtained. If you are found to be wrongfully representing yourself, your comments will be deleted or potentially banned from the CFA Society San Francisco Community. Do not impersonate, speak for, or claim to represent another user, person, or party. In other words, do not post on the behalf of someone else.  
11. Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.  
12. When posting items in our collaborative environment, please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. It’s also advisable to contact the owner of any material if you would like to reuse it.  
13. Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."  
14. Do not disrupt healthy, productive discussion. This means do: stay on topic, state your question or statement once and then move on. This means do not: repeat your question or statement in a combative manner, post comments unrelated to the topic or interrupt the discussion’s flow.  
15. Please note, there may be monitoring or moderation that happens behind the scenes on CFA Society San Francisco Communities. Society Staff may reach out to a member one-on-one through private messaging or place the member on moderation if an issue is brought to staff’s attention. Report issues here.  

*Inappropriate: can include anything that may be viewed as defamatory, libelous, antagonistic, off-topic, or even be considered an invasion of privacy or violation of the rights of another user, person or party.  

 **Unwelcome attention: any communication that continues after the recipient has asked you to stop.  

 ***Harassment: conduct which annoys, threatens, intimidates, alarms, or puts a person in fear of their safety.  

Moderation and Reporting

The CFA Society San Francisco Member Communities are Self-Moderated Communities (Community Monitors will review and act on posts that are flagged by Members, Society leadership, and volunteer council members using the "Report Discussion" function.

Please Note: Society Staff review of comments may take up to 3 business days, and CFA Society San Francisco Community Monitors may reject any comment at their discretion. Keep in mind that strict moderation is not always possible. We do our best to enforce our guidelines, but we may miss some violations. You can help by using the "Report Discussion" function to flag comments. 

1. State concisely and clearly the topic of your post in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject. If your post does not have a concise or clear subject, you may be advised by a Society Community Monitor to update the subject before it can be posted. Do not include another member’s name in your subject line.  

2. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer guests and members; there’s no such thing as a stupid question.  
3. Refrain from sending administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list,” to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new email address. Simply change your settings. For tips on how to change your settings, visit our FAQ or Contact Us.  
4. Is it okay to post on old threads on the Community? Yes! This type of commenting, sometimes known as “necroposting”, refers to commenting or replying on a thread that has been inactive for some time. Adding to an older thread with information that no one else has mentioned, and especially if the topic is still relevant or unresolved, may help spark new discussion and “breathe” new life into an important discussion!