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NAMIC Connections Policies and Procedures

Updated February 2026 

Welcome to the NAMIC Connections online communities (“communities”). In order to keep these communities professional, valuable, and useful for members, NAMIC has established the following policies and guidelines (“policies”). By posting or submitting for posting any content you agree to be bound by the terms of these policies, as well as our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, which are incorporated herein by reference, and all as may be updated from time to time at our discretion and effective when posted. 

You may submit information, such as comments, reviews, etc., to be published or displayed (“posted”) on the communities (“content”). Your content is posted and transmitted to others at your own risk. We cannot control the actions of other users of the site with whom you may choose to share your content. 

By posting content, you warrant and represent that you own all intellectual property and other rights with respect to such content or have received permission from the copyright owner. By posting any content or submitting content for posting, you agree to and do hereby grant us and our licensors, affiliates, partners, successors, and assignees, a nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sublicensable, transferrable, royalty-free right and license to use, store, display, publish, transmit, transfer, distribute, reproduce, rearrange, edit, redact, modify, aggregate, summarize, adapt, create derivative works of, and perform the content that you post or otherwise submit to us, for any purpose, in any form, medium, or technology now known or later developed (“Right to Use”).  

We pre-screen all content posted by users in the communities to avoid violation of antitrust laws as well as our terms of use. Furthermore, we reserve the right to monitor any and all information transmitted or received through the communities. We, in our sole discretion and without further notice to you, may prohibit the transmission or receipt of any information that we deem inappropriate or that we determine violates this policy. We have the right to delete or edit any content you submit prior to or after posting.  

Unacceptable Posting 

You agree not to post or submit for posting any content that: 

  • Is off topic, false, inaccurate, misleading, defamatory, libelous, stalking, threatening, obscene, pornographic, indecent, vulgar, offensive, which contains unlawful material or information, or which otherwise violate the legal rights – such as rights of privacy and publicity – of others; 
  • Harasses, degrades, intimidates, or is hateful toward an individual or group of individuals on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation or identity, race, ethnicity, age, or disability; 
  • Is not your own original creation, or you do not have permission to use or that infringes or violates the copyright, trademark, patent, or other proprietary right, or privacy or publicity right, of any person or entity, or that is used without the permission of the owner; 
  • Is intended to or may reasonably be construed to provide professional advice, including but not limited to, the provision of medical treatment, or legal, financial, or investment advice; 
  • Promotes or provides instructional information about illegal or illicit activities, including illegal drugs, gambling, pornography, prostitution, child pornography, robbery, spreading computer viruses, cracking into private computer forums, software infringement, trafficking in credit card codes, identity theft, or other crimes; 
  • Purports to be from any person or entity, including, but not limited to, one of our employees, or falsely states or otherwise misrepresents your affiliation with a person or entity; 
  • Includes personal or identifying information about another person without that person's explicit consent or is doxxing – i.e., sharing an individual’s private information or aggregating their public information for the purpose of intimidating them through harassment; 
  • Contains software code of any kind, including code that contains viruses, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs designed to or that may interrupt, lock up, destroy, damage, or limit the operation of another person's computer, network, or telecommunications equipment; 
  • Disrupts the normal flow of dialogue with an excessive number of messages (flooding attack) to the website, or that otherwise negatively affects the ability of others to use the website; 
  • Intentionally misrepresents yourself, conceals your identity, or consists of anonymous postings; 
  • You know or believe to be inaccurate (including “fake news”). 

Do not use any NAMIC Connections community for conducting private business or commercial activity without the prior express written permission of NAMIC. Commercial activities include, but are not limited to, promotional announcements, product-related press releases, and advertising. Should such messages appear in the Connections, NAMIC will not be held liable either directly or indirectly for damages that result from the use of this information. Such messages should immediately be brought to the attention of NAMIC. 

Do not use the Connections to communicate with competitors about prices, terms of service, or otherwise communicate in a way that may violate antitrust laws. NAMIC Connections communications constitute an ongoing "meeting" of participants; such meetings may involve competitors. The same rules against illegal agreements in restraint of trade that apply at NAMIC members' in-person or virtual meetings, telephone or video conferences, webinars, or other gatherings of NAMIC members also apply to Connections communications. In fact, because Connections communications may be downloaded without the knowledge of the sender(s), users should be both fully informed about antitrust laws regarding communication and agreements among competitors and act on the Connections in strict conformity with those laws. See NAMIC's Antitrust Policy here.  

Replies to a post should be appropriate for the intended audience. Please do not engage in discussions on whether a topic is appropriate or inappropriate for a community. Such discussions take up valuable space and distract users from meaningful discussions. If inappropriate postings or violations of the Connections are noticed, users should bring this information to the community’s moderator.  

Etiquette 

Please respect other NAMIC Connections users. Participants should feel free to express themselves but not do anything to injure or harm other individuals, organizations, or corporations. Users are expected to exercise common sense and courtesy in the messages they transmit over the Connections platform. Please do not use these communities to defame or disparage a member of NAMIC or any other person or organization. Such communication could lead to legal liability for those engaging in such conduct. Challenge ideas, don’t attack people. Please do not challenge or attack the opinions or information of others by "flaming." Differing opinions should be expressed in a professional manner. Please maintain a civil tone on the Connections communities at all times. 

Do not alter the content or source of a message that has originated from another person's computer with the intent to deceive. 

Stay on the topic of the thread. Remember that some Connections users only have a limited amount of time to read and reply to discussions. It will make everyone's life a lot easier if they can easily find the discussions that interest them and read and reply appropriately. 

If one conversation leads to another topic of discussion, either start a new thread or change the subject to appropriately describe the content of the discussion in progress. This is another way to help members find the information they are seeking quickly and efficiently. 

Please review replies already posted to a Connections thread prior to posting a reply of your own. You will want to make sure that you are not repeating an answer that has already been posted. This can cause frustration for other users and lengthen discussions. 

Professionalism, professionalism, professionalism. Remember that everyone given access to this platform is a business professional. You should treat this form of discussion just as you would a face-to-face conversation. Make sure to use good manners. There will be no tolerance for foul language, abusive attacks or threatening of members or moderators, or any other form of harassment. If this rule is broken, we have the right to immediately remove you from the Connections platform. Also remember that users will have different levels of experience with the Connections platform. Please show patience and do your best to help your peers. 

Use descriptive headings for all messages posted to the Connections communities. Files may be attached but use discretion as the content and size of the file. NAMIC reserves the right to delete any file attached to a message. 

Replies of a personal nature should not be posted as a reply to the group. NAMIC Connections may not be used to violate any rules of membership in NAMIC, NAMIC bylaws, or rules and regulations or standards of NAMIC. NAMIC reserves the right to modify or change the rules from time-to-time if it is determined to be in the best interests of association members. 

Cross-Posting. Cross-posting is posting the same message to multiple NAMIC Connections communities at the same time. This "shotgun approach” is considered rude. Please pick the community that is most appropriate for the topic at hand and post it there. If we see a post that is more appropriate for a forum other than the one in which it was initially posted, NAMIC reserves the right to move the post to the appropriate forum. 

Do not use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. Using all caps in written form is the equivalent of shouting. It is acceptable to capitalize a word or phrase for emphasis, but typing in ALL CAPS in other instances is not appropriate. 

Be careful when using humor or sarcasm. Humor is usually pretty easy to detect when you are face to face. Understand that people cannot see gestures, body language, or facial expressions in a virtual environment, and this can sometimes cause confusion. Sarcasm can be difficult to detect in face-to-face situations and should be avoided in a virtual environment. In order to convey emotion, many people now use emoticons; however, we discourage their use as some users may not be familiar with them. 

Dropped posts or threads. If a Connections moderator has declined your post, please drop that thread. If you have questions about the reasoning for the decline of your post, you may contact the moderator for an explanation.  

Antitrust Policy

Please keep in mind that numerous state and federal laws prohibit the exchange of information among competitors regarding price, refusals to deal, or agreements to proceed in certain anti-competitive respects, and that no such exchange of this information is either sanctioned by NAMIC or will be permitted during NAMIC meetings or in electronic discussion forums. This is a serious matter, and your cooperation is appreciated. 

Although Congress has given a limited exemption to the insurance industry from certain otherwise prohibited activities, by enactment of the McCarran-Ferguson Act, members should realize: 1) that NAMIC itself, as a trade association, has no such exemption; and 2) that the exemption provided companies has definite limits. Insurance company practices, your activities included, are exempt only if they: 

  • Involve the business of insurance; 
  • Are regulated by state law; and 
  • Do not constitute an agreement to boycott, coerce, and/or intimidate or an act to further any of the three. 

Please note that legislative activities are protected by the First Amendment and are generally not subject to anti-trust laws. 

Conviction upon violation of the anti-trust laws, Sherman Act, Clayton Act, FTC Act, and Robinson-Patman Act, will result in mandatory jail sentences, fines, or both, even for first-time offenders who are otherwise leaders in their communities. 

Beside discussions involving any possible insurance market boycott, coercion, and/or intimidation, which are never protected under any circumstances, here are some practices you should not initiate nor participate in as they may expose you, your company, and NAMIC to possible antitrust investigation and/or prosecution by the Federal Trade Commission or Justice Department: 

  • Discussing price, profits, commission, or any other cost components and elements; 
  • Discussing rates or the stabilizing of rates or other terms or conditions of any products to be offered for sale; 
  • Discussing underwriting criteria with an eye toward standardizing; 
  • Discussing a market division plan without a state law covering the plan, including discussions of type or products to be offered, customers to whom insurance products may be sold, or the territories in which they may be sold; 
  • Discussing matters that would adversely affect availability of insurance or services to the public; 
  • Discussing future rate plans, including actuarial projections; 
  • Discussing "fair" profit levels; 
  • Keeping access to NAMIC membership unduly restrictive or denying unique services of NAMIC to nonmembers; 
  • Developing "standards" for company operations; 
  • Trading information on bidding for office equipment and supplies or agreeing to collectively refrain from purchasing any equipment, services, or supplies from any supplier; 
  • Suggesting a certain credit policy; and 
  • Referring to any insurance company or agency by specific name in any example you may give as an illustration during our discussions. 

If any discussion forum thread is found to be in violation of this policy, it will not be approved for submission to the exchange.