These rules are disclosed to clarify the various responsibilities of all community members here on Star Micro Systems Discussion Forums. They shall be adhered to by everyone to ensure that our board runs smoothly and provides a fun and productive experience for all of our community members and visitors.
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TERMS OF SERVICE
Star Micro Systems, Michael Appell, (herein referred to as Star Micro Systems) provides its various forums (collectively, “Forum”) to you based on these Terms of Service (“Terms”). Use of the Forum denotes your acceptance of these Terms. Please read these Terms carefully.
CONTENT WITHIN AND POSTED TO THE FORUM
Whenever you publicly disclose information about yourself, that information could be collected and used by other users. Each time you post a message, the Forum will automatically display your message and registered member name as well as any information you include in your personal profile. You must carefully consider whether you want to disclose any information that can be used to identify or locate you.
If you choose to provide your e-mail address in a message, you understand that other users of the Forum will be able to view your e-mail address and may send you communications outside of the Forum. You understand and agree that Star Micro Systems has no control over how other users use your e-mail address or any other information you choose to disclose on the Forum. Star Micro Systems bears no responsibility for any action of any third parties who collect any information or content that you disclose on the Forum.
You agree that any information that you view on the Forum is the property of the person or entity that posted that information. The disclosure of information on the Forum by Star Micro Systems or a member of the Forum does not transfer rights in that information to you. However, by using the Forum, you grant Star Micro Systems an unlimited, perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use all content, code and other materials disclosed by you to the Forum. You hereby consent to Star Micro Systems (1) not attributing the authorship of any materials to its originator; (2) modifying the materials at Star Micro Systems discretion; and (3) doing any other act that may be inconsistent with any moral rights in the materials. By submitting any materials, you represent and warrant that the materials are original to you and do not infringe, misappropriate or violate the rights of any third parties.
You understand and agree that Star Micro Systems does not endorse nor is it responsible for any opinion, advice, information, statement, code or other content of any postings within the Forum. You agree that Star Micro Systems is not responsible for any errors or omissions in postings, incomplete postings, postings that are harmful to you or any third party, for hyperlinks embedded in messages or in a member profile, or for any results obtained from the use of that information. Under no circumstances will Star Micro Systems be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on any information obtained by or through the Forum.
You understand and agree that Star Micro Systems does not and cannot review every message posted by users in the Forum, and is not responsible for the content of these messages. However, Star Micro Systems reserves the right, but is not obligated to, delete, move or edit content, in whole or in part, submitted by you to the Forum for any reason. Re-posting deleted messages or portions thereof (yours or those of others) is considered a violation of these Terms. All determinations of what is "acceptable" and "unacceptable" content will be determined solely by Star Micro Systems and its designees.
You also understand and agree that Star Micro Systems reserves the right to disclose any content posted on the Forum and information about your account in order to protect Star Micro Systems and its members and to comply with legal obligations or governmental requests for information.
MEMBER CONDUCT
You agree that you will not use the Forum to perform any of the following actions:
Offensive Posting
Posts of a patently offensive nature are not allowed. This includes, without limitation:
Using vulgar, profane, or sexually explicit language.
Using race, religion, sexual orientation, culture, ethnicity, handicap, nationality, or gender as a means of insult.
Using threatening, harassing, defamatory, hate-speech, or libelous language.
Posting or requesting links to or material from pornographic, obscene, or hate-speech web sites.
Descriptions or details about any sexual act or sexual organs.
Insults of other board members, individually or as a group, directly or indirectly.
Illegal Activities
Posts that violate or incite others to violate the law are not allowed. This includes, without limitation, asking for or providing, in any way, shape, or form:
Illegal copies of copyrighted works, including, without limitation, counterfeit products, music, movies, videos, software or any other type of media.
Methods of circumventing copyright protection (e.g., cracks, No-CD Patches, CD Keys, mod chips).
Reprints of material from other web sites (pay or free).
Any content that infringes, violates or misappropriates any patent, trademark, trade identity right, trade secret, publicity right, privacy right, copyright or any other intellectual property or any other rights of any third party.
Advertising
Posts that advertise a service or product are not allowed. This includes, without limitation:
Commercial or personal advertisements.
Junk mail or spam.
For-Sale/For-Trade/For-Auction/Wanted notices.
Make money fast scams, chain letters, or pyramid schemes.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may post such notices if they concern computer consulting services related to Star Micro Systems software (A1-Law). Star Micro Systems will not be liable for any losses or damages for any products or services obtained within or outside of this forum.
Off-Topic Posting
Posting topics unrelated to Star Micro Systems/A1-Law topics are only allowed in the “General Discussion” section of the Forum.
Disruptive Posting
Making any posts that disrupt the message boards for other users, intentional or not, are prohibited. This includes, without limitation:
Message posts or topic titles that force browsers to scroll horizontally.
Large blank or content-free posts.
Bumping multiple older topics (posting in them well after the last post).
Posting multiple identical or near-identical messages or topics.
Intentionally hard-to-read topic titles (e.g., ALTeRnaTE cAPs, no spaces, no or excessive punctuation, 1337 speak).
Posting large ASCII art.
Announcing or inciting a "war" or any conflict with other Forum members.
Circumventing or attempting to circumvent any filtering software
Impersonation
Impersonating anyone or entity is prohibited, including, without limitation, other Forum users by creating or using a message board account with a name intended to impersonate, mock, or antagonize another user or person, or otherwise falsely claiming to be another Forum member or nay other person.
Harassment/Stalking/Privacy
Harassing behavior directed towards an individual or group that creates an intimidating, offensive, or hostile environment on the Forum, with or without use of explicit or implicit threats is prohibited. Posting confidential or private information about any individual or entity without the permission of the individual or entity is also prohibited.
Unauthorized Access
Accessing or attempting to access any user account not belonging to you without permission is prohibited.
Bugs and Exploits
Using exploits or tricks in the Forum’s or Star Micro Systems web site’s code to gain privileges, access, or abilities not intended by Star Micro Systems is prohibited. You are also prohibited from transmitting viruses, Trojan horses or other harmful, disruptive or destructive files or posting material that interferes with any party’s uninterrupted use and enjoyment of the Forum.
Robots and Automated Programs
Running a robot or other any other automated browsing or posting programs on any message board server at any time. Robots use huge amounts of server resources for the benefit of a single person. Users caught running robots may have all of their accounts revoked, and the abuse of resources reported to their ISP.
Star Micro Systems reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to immediately ban any user and any associated accounts for violating any of the above prohibitions.
PASSWORDS AND ACCESS TO THE MESSAGE BOARDS
You agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account and password and agree you will not sell, transfer or assign your membership or any membership rights. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password, if any, and for restricting access to your computer so that others may not access the Forum using your name in whole or in part. Star Micro Systems reserves the right to terminate membership and deny access to the Forum to any person in its sole discretion.
COPYRIGHTS AND COPYRIGHT AGENT
If you believe that your work has been copied on the Forum in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please promptly provide Star Micro System's Copyright Agent by email at appell@appellsoftware.com or at the following postal address: Star Micro Systems, 3188 Willow Canyon Street, Thousand Oaks, CA 91362 the following information:
(i) your name address, telephone number and email address;
(ii) a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
(iii) the URL or the web site and a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Forum;
(iv) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law;
(v) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are either the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf; and
(vi) an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest.
NO WARRANTIES/LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
THE FORUMS ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS,” “AS AVAILABLE,” “WITH ALL FAULTS” BASIS AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT OF ANY THIRD PARTY RIGHT, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THOSE ARISING BY STATUTE OR OTHERWISE IN LAW OR FROM A COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE OR USAGE OF TRADE. SOME STATES DO NOT PERMIT THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. YOU MAY HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY BY STATE.
Star Micro Systems makes no representation or warranty whatsoever regarding the completeness, accuracy, timeliness, availability, security or adequacy of the Forum or any information, facts, views, opinions, statements or recommendations contained within the Forum.
YOU AGREE THAT in no circumstances WILL Star Micro Systems be liable to YOU for any DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, economic loss, loss of profit, special, indirect, EXEMPLARY, incidental or consequential loss or damages arising out of THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF THE FORUM. In any case, Star Micro System’s entire liability RELATED TO THE FORUM AND under any provision of THESE TERMS will be limited to twenty dollars ($20.00). Some states do not allow the limitation or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages, or have legislation THAT restricts the limitation or exclusion of liability, so the above limitation may not apply to you. This limitation of liability will apply notwithstanding the failure of essential purpose of any limited remedy herein.
DISCLAIMERS
YOU AGREE THAT Star Micro Systems WILL NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, FOR ANY GOODS, SERVICES, RESOURCES OR CONTENT AVAILABLE THROUGH ANY THIRD PARTY DEALINGS OR COMMUNICATIONS, OR FOR ANY HARM RELATED THERETO, OR FOR ANY DAMAGE OR LOSS CAUSED OR ALLEGED TO BE CAUSED BY OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF OR RELIANCE ON THE CONTENT, ADVERTISING, OR BUSINESS PRACTICES OF ANY THIRD PARTY.
INDEMNITY
By using the Forum, you agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Star Micro Systems from and against any actual or alleged claims, demands, causes of action, judgments, damages, losses, liabilities, and all costs and expenses of defense (including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees and other legal fees) arising out of or relating to: (1) your violation of these Terms or any law, rule or regulation; (2) a claim that is based on your use of the Forum; or (3) any content uploaded by you or through your computer to the Forum or otherwise sent by you to Star Micro Systems, including, without limitation, claims that your content violates, misappropriates or infringes on any patent, copyright, trademark, service mark, trade secret or other proprietary right of any third party. You will cooperate as fully and reasonably as required by Star Micro Systems in the defense of any claim. Star Micro Systems reserves the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, and you will not in any event settle any claim without the prior written consent of Star Micro Systems.
GENERAL
If any part of these Terms is held to be illegal or unenforceable, the validity or enforceability of the remainder of these Terms will not be affected.
Failure by either party to exercise any right or remedy under these Terms does not signify acceptance of the event giving rise to that right or remedy and will not constitute a waiver of the right or remedy in any instance.
Nothing in these Terms will be construed as preventing Star Micro Systems from pursuing any remedy at law or in equity for any breach of these Terms by you. If Star Micro Systems takes any legal action against you relating to these Terms, Star Micro Systems will be entitled to recover all court costs, expenses and reasonable attorneys’ fees from you.
GOVERNING LAW / VENUE / VIOLATIONS
Star Micro Systems may, in its absolute discretion, determine whether or not to allow you access to the Forum and may at any time terminate or restrict your access to all or part of the Forum based on your violation of these Terms (such violation to be determined by Star Micro Systems and Star Micro Systems alone) or any other reason. These Terms will be construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to its conflicts of law principles, and specifically will not be governed by the United Nations Conventions on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, if otherwise applicable.
Violations of these Terms are cause for the banning of your account and turning over any violations to law enforcement agencies, in Star Micro System’s sole discretion. Star Micro Systems reserves the right, in its discretion, to modify, suspend or discontinue the Forum or any portion thereof without notice to you or any third party.
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