Policies

    We try to keep the red tape to a minimum, but over the last few years we’ve found that a few simple rules help keep everything on track.

    1. Users and team leaders are expected to become familiar with this document. If you are a team leader, you’ll also want to get familiar with the Team admin page – there will be a link on your version of the Portal page. You can use the online support link on the portal and most telescope pages to get assistance with operational questions. Please use the forum for general questions and to look for help with non-immediate issues.

    2. Students are expected to behave themselves. This means no swear words for usernames/passwords; showing up on time for a telescope reservation; avoid excessive reservations; Avoid excessive ad hoc logins, and so on. Students who don’t show common courtesy will typically have their account suspended – they won’t be able to use the telescopes while suspended. We always send email explaining the problem to the student and the teacher; it is usually up to the teacher to confirm if/when the problem is fixed and then re-instate the student by changing their clearance level back to what it was before the suspension.

    3. User accounts must be for real people. In the case of a teacher and students, this is simple to comply with. If you need user accounts for demonstrations, teams, etc., please create a new account under your name with a different username/password as required. For example, in addition to your personal team leader account, you might need to create accounts with usernames team001, team002, and team003. You would use your own first name and last name for these accounts so we know how to contact you if there are any problems. The goal here is to make every user accountable and reachable by Tzec Maun staff.

    4. The telescopes are a shared resource, so everyone is expected to show courtesy with respect to reservations. The following rules are intended to provide equitable access to the telescopes:

    • The maximum number of hours that anyone can reserve in a 30-day window is 20.
    • The maximum total number of reservations for any individual is 40.
    • We monitor ad hoc logins (logins with a reservation). We will send our warnings for over-use of ad hoc logins. Please be reasonable about jumping on otherwise unused time – scopes are a shared resource, and not simply for first-come, first served.
    • You should log into only one telescope at a time unless you have special requirements.
    • If you have a specific project which requires more time, or need to use more than one telescope at a time, send us an email with complete details of the project as far in advance as is practical, and an explanation of why and how much extra time is required.

    Team leaders are not official representatives of the foundation unless we specifically set up that kind of relationship with you. We enjoy working with formal ambassadors who help sign up new teams, but not every team leader wants to work in that role, or has the time and energy to become fully qualified for that role.Of course anyone is free to direct any interested parties to our web site (www.tzecmaun.org) any time. We’ll take care of answering questions and signing up new users and teams.

    If you’d like to take a more active role, you need to contact us and discuss what’s involved. The goal here is that we’d like to be aware of how the Foundation is being represented publicly. As a non-profit, we are required to follow certain rules, and anyone officially representing us has to know what those rules are and to follow them carefully.

    Note: we also have volunteers who work with specific students or teams, and this section does not apply to those volunteers. It applies to those who wish to recruit new teams or students to use Tzec Maun Telescopes.

    5. We purge student accounts sometime in August in preparation for the new school year. If team leaders have any students who need to carry over form year to year, they will need to recreate their account following the purge. We send out an email when this occurs.