Terms of Use

Terms of Use

pdxdog.com

Last update: April 16, 2008

Disclaimer

All the information, commentaries and reviews presented in pdxdog.com are meant as a reference only

Our Mission

The goal of pdxdog.com is to provide members with a space where they can exchange ideas and information and network with other people who love dogs in a comfortable and fun environment

Membership

People who love dogs are welcome with open arms.  

• It is OK to use your business name as your login ID
  
• It is OK to mention your business name or services on your member page
  
• It is OK to put your website address on your member page
  
• It is OK to network and communicate with other members respectfully (see guidelines)
• It is OK to post non-profit, short-term fundraiser's, links to appropriate petitions and donation information (pdxdog.com reserves the right to evaluate these on a case by case basis)

• It is Not OK to join this network simply to promote your business
  

• It is Not OK to simply or only promote your business or business name on your blog  
• It is Not OK to use your logo, phone number, business hours, classes, or pictures (such as store photos) to promote your business  
• It is Not OK to use this site to actively seek out new volunteers, or attendees for events
• It is Not OK to post a commercial event, group, blog, forum discussion, video or music (see copyright below)

If a member is solely a commercial company representative and/or a network marketer, this can be cause for being banned from the community. 

If someone becomes a member without a clear relationship to our purpose, is inappropriate to our site, or is in some way offensive, they will be banned from the network.

Advertising and Promotion

It is OK to share resources and talk about what you do on your member page and in the groups. We recognize there is a great temptation to use this site as a way to promote your business.  

There will be ample opportunity for you to advertise your business in our Marketplace for Goods and Services for a fee.  This network relies on commerce and advertising to exist as a resource to the community.

It is NOT OK to promote products or services without purchasing advertising space on the network.  We will control for quality and content.

You must be a member of the community to create an event, participate in groups, forum, events or any other parts of this site.  When in doubt ask.

pdxdog.com reserves the right to evaluate each posting to make sure it is in line with this term and judged to be non-commercial. 

Commercial events, sites and postings will (if appropriate) be offered an advertising rate. In certain cases a trade could take place. This is up to the network creator and administrator. Anyone putting up a commercial site, event or posting, without submitting a request will be deleted by the administrator.

SPAMMING

It is OK to make useful on-topic contributions to the site. It is not OK to send SPAM messages to members or post the same message repeatedly across the site.

Harassment and Insults

It is OK to disagree about topics of discussion: we embrace diversity. It is NOT OK to insult or harass others because you disagree with them. This includes racial or religious slurs. 

Please do not contact members to attend your event, volunteer for your cause or in any way use this site as a recruitment tool for business, volunteering, or any other solicitation. Some members experience this as annoying and intrusive.  We do recognize your excitement and appreciate it, but please be respectful of each members right to privacy.

Profanity and Obscenity

It is NOT OK to use profanity/obscenity in your posts, photos, videos or any other media posted on the site. Member contributions deemed to be offensive may be deleted without notice, including cases of abbreviations or quotes of dirty language.

Trolling and Flaming

Members attempting to bait other members into destructive dialogue are known as Trolls. Trolling and inflammatory posts will be treated on a case-by-case basis, and could be subject to deletion if they are deemed to disrupt the free flow of discussion or if the post may start a flame war.

User contributions deemed to be in violation of these terms of use, local, state or federal statutes, or judged otherwise unacceptable, may be moved, edited or deleted at the sole discretion of pdxdog.com without notice or explanation. Repeat violations of these terms of use may result in the violating member getting banned from the site.

However it is not necessary for a member to incur multiple violations of the Terms of Use to get banned.

Copyright

Content posted on the web site needs to comply with copyright laws. Not sure if you are violating copyright laws? Easy: a general rule of thumb is not to paste entire articles (you can paste a link to the article source with a little introductory blurb as an option) and not to post photos and videos that you don't own the rights to.

Any exceptions to this?  If the author/owner of the article, photo or video specifically states that the content posted can be reused elsewhere without asking for permission, then it is OK to do so. Otherwise, do not assume this is the case.

Items thought to be in violation of copyright can be removed from the site without notification.

License of Content

Members retain ownership of posted comments and any other contributions they make in pdxdog.com.

Content submitted to pdxdog.com may be selected to be reused in other formats (video, audio, print).

Privacy Policy

pdxdog.com is a network open to the public. As a result, when you post on any area of pdxdog.com, you do so understanding that your posts can be read by other members of pdxdog.com.

Additionally, the contributions you make may be picked up by search engines.

Because you may voluntarily disclose any Personal Data in these public areas, you should be careful about the information you choose to disclose. pdxdog.com does not control that disclosure, and is not liable in any way for anyone's use or misuse of the information in the disclosure.

In other words, use caution and judgment here: if you wouldn't want a piece of information to be read by others, do not post it.

Members understand that aggregated data about their use of the site, not individually-identifiable, will be analyzed to track trends to improve web site organization and content.

No private information (such as your email) will be disclosed or sold to third parties without the member's consent and knowledge.

Members may be contacted on a personal basis by pdxdog.com personnel via private messages.

Acceptable Use and Conduct

At the risk of sounding repetitive, you are solely responsible for your conduct and content on pdxdog.com

You also agree not to post, email, or otherwise make available any content that:

• Is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, or harms minors in any way
  
• Harasses, degrades, intimidates or is hateful toward an individual or group of individuals
  
• Impersonates a pdxdog.com employee or member 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
  
• Is false, deceptive, misleading, deceitful, or constitutes “bait and switch”
  
• Infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party, or Content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships
  
• Creates, sends, or enables anything that constitutes or contains “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or any advertisement that you are prohibited by law from sending
  
• Advertises any illegal services or the sale of any items the sale of which is prohibited or restricted by applicable law, including without limitation items the sale of which is prohibited or regulated by applicable law
  
• Contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment
  
• Disrupts the normal flow of dialogue with an excessive number of messages (flooding attack) to pdxdog.com, or that otherwise negatively affects other members ability to use pdxdog.com
  

Additionally, you agree not to:

• “Stalk” or otherwise harass anyone
  
• Collect personal data about other members for commercial or unlawful purposes
  

Acceptance of Terms

By using pdxdog.com, you agree that you have read, understand and agree to the terms of use detailed below.  If you do not agree with any of these, do not use pdxdog.com.

pdxdog.com reserves the right to modify the terms of use, with such modification being effective immediately upon posting of terms. 

Your continued use of pdxdog.com after the posting of any amended Terms of Use shall constitute your agreement to be bound by any such changes.

This agreement comprises the entire agreement and supersedes any previous agreements.