Political Hardball
Terms of Service
We are going to lean over backwards to try to keep our board open and free to all posters. However, there are limits to open posting and disclaimers required by law for our own protection that we must make by adopting a Terms of Service (TOS) message for our board. Our rules are actually pretty simple and can be followed by using common sense. Just don't say anything that you wouldn't say if you were face to face with another poster in a public setting. We will never delete a post because we disagree with it politically. If you use common sense, you will never have a problem posting here.
These Terms of Service are effective immediately. The BBS reserves the right to alter, amend, rescind or supplement this TOS at any time without prior notice. It is the User's obligation to regularly check the TOS link on our Bulletin Boards for changes.
Political Hardball, (hereinafter referred to as the "BBS"), requires that users of its bulletin board be subject to the following terms and conditions of use. By using the BBS, you agree to the following terms and conditions:
1. Reservation of Rights - We reserve the right to ban and/or temporarily suspend the posting privileges of any posters in violation of these Terms of Service and to delete any post for any reason. Messages posted are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the forum owner, administrators, any other posters, or any persons associated with the BBS. We are not looking to ban anyone and hope that we never have to do that. Bans will be used only under the most extreme circumstances. Generally, posts that violate our TOS will simply be deleted without comment.
2. Decorum - Posters shall not make posts that in the sole opinion and discretion of the BBS are personally offensive or threatening. Posts containing vulgarity in the subject field shall be subject to immediate deletion. Vulgarity in post Messages may be deleted at the sole discretion of BBS Administration. Additionally, no poster shall post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, or indecent information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law.
You may not post personal attacks or engage in name-calling against other members of this board. Certainly we expect that there will be some heated exchanges on the board, but all reasonable posters should realize that there are limits beyond which we will be forced to delete posts.
You may not post racist, sexist, homophobic, ethnic, or religious slurs.
If you think someone is a disruptor or a post violates our rules, please notify a moderator by using the
Alert feature in the bottom left of the offensive post.
3. Disruption and Inappropriate Postings -
You may not send email, snail mail, phone, fax, or other messages to anyone who has posted on our board if your intent is to threaten or harass.
You may not make jokes that could be construed as advocating harm or death to the president, or any other public figure.
You may not post personal information about any other person, even if that
information is publicly available. You may post the public contact
information for public figures, but you may not post anyone's private
information without that person’s consent.
You may not commit or incite criminal acts in a post.
You may not impersonate any other person in a post.
You may not post commercial messages or collect member names for any form of
unsolicited communication in
any form.
Posters who repeatedly post with no content inside their posts shall be subject
to deletion.
You may not spam the board with junk posts.
4. Complaints about board Administration - If you wish to object about
deletions or any other operations or administrative actions or decisions by the BBS,
or make recommendations for changes, please do so on the Ask the Administrators
board found in the lobby (Top) level of the board. Such issues should NOT be
posted on the main General Discussion board and if they are they will be
deleted.
5. Monikers - Any registrations or guest posts using the moniker/Author name of another poster known to the Administrators of this BBS or substantially similar thereto shall be deleted on sight. Any monikers registered that are in the sole opinion of Administration profane, vulgar or otherwise objectionable shall be deleted.
6. Guests - We encourage our posters to treat guests with the same dignity and respect as our registered posters.
7. Copyright Laws - No poster shall post or transmit any information, software or other material which violates or infringes upon the rights of others, including material which is an invasion of privacy or publicity rights or which is protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right, or derivative works with respect thereto, without first obtaining permission from the owner or right holder. Along with your comments, you are welcome to include links to sites relevant to the subjects under discussion and include a brief excerpt of articles or works under discussion or criticism, but the reproduction of entire proprietary information will be removed. As a suggestion, we recommend that you post no more than 4 paragraphs of an article and then refer readers to the entire article with a link to it.
No Waiver - The failure of the BBS to insist on the strict performance of any of the terms of service or conditions stated herein shall not constitute a waiver thereof.
Enforcement - We will attempt to be as even handed as possible in the enforcement of our TOS. Warnings will be given for violations when appropriate together with suspensions of varying lengths in the sole discretion of Administration when appropriate, but again, we do not anticipate doing that except in extreme circumstances.
The Terms of Service as expressed herein are the sole property of Political Hardball. Any reproduction or use of the Terms of Service as stated herein without the express written consent of Political Hardball is prohibited.
Copyright 2005 - Political Hardball
Thank you for your anticipated cooperation!