This is an informal description of the terms of use, copyright, privacy, and other legal information. This site is provided for free, so if you want something more formal, go pay for it.
Rights
Unless otherwise stated, all content on this site is copyrighted, either by the Church of the Earth of NC, or by the individual posting the content. You are free to make temporary copies for personal use, but no other use is allowed without prior written consent by the copyright holder. As simple as this sounds, it has proven difficult for people to understand, so here are some examples:
You can:
Browse and view any content available to your account or available for anonymous access on this website. This means you can keep cached copies of the content on your computer as managed by your browser.
Print an article to read while you are away from your computer.
Link to a full page or article on this web site from your own web site or other web based media.
You cannot:
Copy content permanently to your own computer or other personal resource like a web based photo gallery or blog.
Print content in permamnent or public media like a newsletter, magazine or book.
Deep link partial content like images on your own website or other web based media.
Remember, these are just examples. The main thing to remember is that, just because you can see it on our web site, it does not give you the right to take it and put it on your own web site, or in your book, or in your magazine, etc.
Responsibilities
You retain complete ownership and all responsibility for any content you post on this web site, but do give the Church of the Earth of NC the non-exclusive right to use that content once posted. Again, some examples:
You post a great recipe here on the web site, a recipe that you created:
You have given us the right to display it as an article on this web site, print it in our newsletter, or sell it in our cookbook, all with no royalties and no time limit.
You retain copyright of the recipe, so you can display, print, or sell it anytime and any way you like, as long as you don't tell someone else they have exclusive rights.
You post a cool photo on the web site, a photo you found on the internet:
You may be sued by the actual copyright holder of the image, and pay any damages they win based on your misuse of the image.
And here is the scary part, you also take responsibility for any misuse of the image by the Church of the Earth of NC that you caused by submitting it, therefore falsely representing to us that we had the right to use it.
Typically, the copyright owner complains to us, we remove the offending content and apologize to them, then we politely ask you to stop that. However, you should be very clear on the fact that you are ultimately responsible for anything you post here, and there is no guarantee that a copyright holder whose rights you have infringed will be so understanding.
Privacy
This is a public web site, and full membership is as easy as a free email account, so you should assume anything you put on this site is publicly available, even if it requires membership to access it. Also, though there are some fields in your account that are normally accessible only by administrators, the technologies and policies used to protect that information are simple, designed to keep honest people honest. Since the site does not directly manage sensitive information, like medical or financial records, these simple security measures and policies are adequate. Please never post or provide any information anywhere on this site that you consider sensitive and would harm you in any way if it were made public.
And the examples continue:
Don't post pictures of minors along with their names, names and relationships of their family members and their schedules/locations. This is just not a very bright thing to do.
If nobody knows you are pagan, and you want to keep it that way, don't post your real name, your picture, and your place of employment.
Don't post your name, address, social security number, and banking details. Anywhere. Ever.
Think these are silly examples? They have all been done at one time or another. Think people. THINK!
Policies
There is not much to say here other than, "Be nice." Out in the real world, you can't always be nice, but here, you can.
If we think you are not being nice, we may remove your offending content and tell you so. If you keep not being nice, we will remove your account and ask you not to come back. If you keep coming back and not being nice, we will keep showing you the virtual door. Just so you know, the definition of "nice" is at the sole discretion of the Board of the Church of the Earth of NC and their assigned agents, including the webmaster, forum moderators, and trustees.
Don't become an example... :)
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