TERMS OF SERVICE-PLEASE READ

[camsmom]

Welcome to the Splitcoaststampers (SCS) Terms of Service, and we thank you in advance for following the guidelines we are laying out. Splitcoaststampers is an "open site", everyone is encouraged to participate, and everyone is welcome until a member proves that it is unlikely that he or she will conform to the rules.

Any guidelines we institute are in addition to rules of common sense or common courtesy and we are not outlining or providing for every situation. The simple rules we write here can in no way constitute the entire scope of how the board will be managed. We can only provide the guidelines, and do our best to maintain this site with its original purpose in mind – a place for people to get together and share their creativity and talent, and provide support for one another in a positive way.

SCS expects and welcomes contributions that stimulate and add to our creative atmosphere. While encouraging all discussions, we expect all participants to treat each other with respect and courtesy.

With those thoughts in mind, here are some simple guidelines to follow to help maintain the site in a positive way:

Members are cautioned to take the greatest care when they post new threads or create a response to an existing thread. We ask that no one creates or condones a post openly disparaging any individual or group of people. Also keep in mind that posting the personal information of others without their permission is not allowed.

Posting from multiple usernames in an attempt to remain anonymous is highly frowned upon. Members who knowingly maintain and post from multiple usernames may be banned.

Abusive comments, flaming, or derogatory insults are strictly against the rules. If you must disagree with another member's point of view, do so in a mature and civil manner. If someone posts to discuss their personal opinions, or seeks help from other forum members, please do not respond unless you have something positive or helpful to add. If you do not like what a particular member has posted, please remember that each person is entitled to their opinion, even if it differs from your own. Naming other members and asking others not to respond to their posting is neither necessary nor condoned. If you find yourself being flamed or insulted by another member, please do not dignify that person with a response. Notify a moderator and we will be sure to look into the matter as quickly as we can.

Messages that you send privately, known as a PM, should follow the guidelines set forth above. We will not tolerate any abusive comments, name calling, or insults that are sent through our private message system.

You don't have to agree with another member's opinion, but we ask that you respect that person enough to realize that it is THEIR opinion, which may differ greatly from your own. Signatures, Avatars, and Profile Fields are not to be used to make personal statements regarding other members or make negative or derogatory comments.

Purposefully changing a thread topic to draw attention away from the topic of the original poster, commonly known as "threadjacking", is not permitted. If you don't like a post that someone has created, please respond civilly or just ignore the post completely. Topics do change in the natural course of conversation and we know that it also happens naturally in posts – we are not concerned with that. What we are tying to eliminate would be the INTENTIONAL diversion off of the original post topic.

The edit feature is to be used carefully. It is appropriate to edit a post in order to update or clarify. It is not appropriate to delete all of your text or completely change a post. We ask that you think carefully before submitting a thread to ensure you are being clear and are expressing yourself in the manner you are comfortable with. If we find the editing function is being abused that function will be shut down.

Advertising/Solicitation

• You may not advertise your company, product or site in our forums or solicit customers. This includes but is not limited to your own specials, sales, open houses, stamp camps, products you sell on your website, etc. edited to add: No posting for personal gain.
• Posts that are promotional in nature or contain commercial solicitations may be deleted by one of the administrators or moderators.
• Posts that are informational in nature regarding a company or its products are permitted.
• Should you wish to advertise on our site, you may contact Daven Nolta at webmaster@splitcoaststampers.com for rates and availability.

Signatures

• Signatures may contain a maximum of 3 off-site links.
• Promotional language and referral links are not allowed.
• Keep your signatures to 5 lines total. This will still give you plenty of room for fun and creativity.
• No limit of number of SCS links as long as it fits into the line limit.
• Keep signatures at or below a size 4 font.
• No blinkies, pictures, animations.

BST/Swap Forum Issues:
We maintain BST and Swap forums for our members to use. Although we cannot guarantee all sales/trades, we will be banning users that do not maintain their end of the deal. If you intend to hostess a swap, buy, sell, or trade on this site please do so with the knowledge that if you do not follow through you may face mail fraud charges from the individual you are doing the sale/trade with as well as permanent banning from the site. Obviously we take this quite seriously and do not take any banning lightly nor will it be done without hearing from both sides. We thank you in advance for working to ensure all sales/trades/swaps are carried through.





SCS Moderators and Administrators will move threads & replies to the most appropriate forum. Please spend a little extra time and help us to make the board run as smoothly as possible by making sure when you start a thread that it is in the proper forum and category.

The Moderators do their best to maintain this site and add to the overall positive nature here. We are here to help, and with that in mind, here are some guidelines for addressing your concerns to moderators or administrators:

Please be civil and polite. Bring up your concerns in a mature and respectful manner. All we ask is that you treat us the way you would want us to treat you.

If you want to contact the Splitcoaststampers Administrator or Moderators, please send us a private message (pm). Thanks for your cooperation and for helping make this little corner of the web a great place to be!

[jbalcer]

AWESOME, work. This is great!

[InsomniacRed]

thank you cams






christy

[camsmom]

Actually Christy I am Britta, my cute son is Camden (hence camsmom)-but I graciously accept none the less!

[sahm_i_am]

Wow! That was so eloquently put! Great job Britta. Maybe you can write something up for the landlord of RATS! for Creative Diva.

I would sign this in a heartbeat...I hope it all goes well from now on. One big happy family! "We are family...I've got all my stampers and me!" Sorry, I was just reading the misheard lyrics thread.

Thanks Britta!

[scrappin'stamper]

Sounds great to me!
Easy enough to follow!
Those are like my daily life rules about the rules of “common sense� or “common courtesy�
so why would here be any different!

Thanks!

[camsmom]

I have Keri to thank for making it sound eloquent-I would write few things in jibberjabber (my native tongue) and she would make 'em sound all pur-dee.

[otter005]

That's HOT!!!! Great job Britta!

[tmarie]

Amen, sista friend! Sounds great to me!

[baughtl]

Excellent! I agree it's common sense, common courtesy, but it needed to be said!!

Can the agreement be placed on the home page? Maybe a link to it should be put on EVERY page!

Thank you Britta, Keri and all involved!!

[Jenmouer]

Great job....

[nkowalk]

Love it! You and Keri, both did a great job. Thanks Britta!

[seaowl60]

This seems to address all of the major concerns I had about our site stemming from the recent turn of events on the forum. I didn't see anything that gave me pause for concern and while it seems like common sense, I am sure it never hurts to remind people that we are all in this together. I love this site and was really saddened by thoughts of having to walk away from it because of the strife. I remember my dad telling me when I was a kid about discussions on religion and politics and his teaching me to not engage in debates and rhetoric unless I was willing to respect the dignity of the other side and to always apply the Golden Rule.

I miss my dad. He was so wise.

I very much like the policy statement and think all involved did a good job.

[camsmom]

I miss my dad. He was so wise.

I miss mine as well

however his favorite phrase was "If you don;t stop crying I'll give you something to cry about," which I didn't think I could work into the TOS. LOL

[splitcoaststampers]

notice, Britta said these are *proposed* terms of service. post any questions, comments, revisions here and we'll look at working them in.

we'll eventually link this document off the main forum page.

[Inkalicious]

Excellent also!! Thanks for the TOS. You would think as stampin' women (& adults) we wouldnt've needed this (myself incl!).
Sooo....

Quote:
I miss my dad. He was so wise.



I miss mine as well

however his favorite phrase was "If you don;t stop crying I'll give you something to cry about," which I didn't think I could work into the TOS. LOL

I miss my Dad too!!! He did the dont stop cryin thing too!! LOL
Have a great day!
Tandra

[WaterPixie]

Sounds good to me!

[heresrita]

Originally Posted by camsmom

I miss mine as well

however his favorite phrase was "If you don;t stop crying I'll give you something to cry about," which I didn't think I could work into the TOS. LOL

Sounds like my dad. Who's your mom?

[carolync6]

Excellent job with the TOS. Too bad it had to be done in the first place.

Carolyn

[acable]

You have done a fabulous job on these terms. I will gladly comply with them. This is my favorite site ever!!

[mcapps]

This all sounds very good. A big Thank You goes out to those who have worked on it.

A couple of suggestions:

Maybe I missed this, but I would consider putting in some kind of verbage about SCS having the right to modify it as needed.

Also, do you want to include anything about consequences for abusing the terms?

I'm trying to think of anything that might happen in the future that this should cover, but nothing is really coming to me.

Melissa

[mcapps]

oh, oh...I just thought of some more things...

How about things relating to sharing your artwork and CASEing other people's work?

This probably wouldn't be needed if this TOS is just for forum-related things, but might want to be considered if this is for overall use of the site.

Melissa

[JJBrooks]

Sounds great to me! I love this place and love it even more when everyone is HAPPY!!

[datgh]

To those of you who put so much time into this wonderful site, a big, big, big Thank You. Thank you also for caring enough to work at keeping it a friendly, creative, place to visit. I love this site!!!

[MSBetsyZ]

These look good. A bit overdue, but I can certainly understand not wanting to have to do it at all... .

I gotta tell you that the last several days around here have been hard. Maybe this'll help calm things down.

Hugs all around,
Betsy

[RenHoward]

Interesting how this comes on the heels of yesterday's political thread.

[Cambria]

Britta and Kerri... you are so fabulicious, funky HOT! Oh, and through in a bomb baby to boot!!

[Jami]

It's too bad this had to be put in writing, but thanks for doing it! You did a great job. Don't have any suggestions for now, but will give it some thought! I love this place

[camsmom]

Interesting how this comes on the heels of yesterday's political thread.

I wish we were fast enough to get this all done in one day (took a wee bit longer than that)

[Jovi]

Gee that means I have to behave.....

just joking, I'm always good

Thanks Britta

[Jackie G]

I think the "rules" are clear and to the point--Play nice in the sandbox!!! It's too bad that some cats have to come in and mess up the sandbox but such is life! (I am not a cat hater!) I am sad that Britta and Keri and all the other Big Cheeses at SCS had to take precious time out of their lives to set up these guidelines. I am sure that all of them would rather be huggin' their kiddos or doing what this site intended--create the awesome artwork that I so love to view into the wee hours of the morning! Even my 12yoDS knows it is not nice to be hurtful to others and actually has taught me a thing or two when it comes to "comebacks". "Mom, that is not the right thing to do and you should really think about what you say!" Dang the kid, anyway!
If I can say this, God Bless all of you at SCS and those who view this site and remember that this is the UNITED States!! OK, We can't forget our lovely Canadian gals and all the others on this one big happy planet that we live on!
(I thought about decaf and then I thought again!!)

[Tracy14]

Great job! I hope this is able to keep this site on the path of being the possitive, supportive site that it is. I love how you can always come here to share and get inspiration. I especially love the family atmosphere where you can feel open to share our greatest joys and gain support in our most trying times. And I know if there is anything I need to know about, stamping or other, there is always someone here to that knows the answer and is happy to share. I really look to this site in more ways than just stamping but as a very diverse and special family. I hope it continues on this possitive path.
Tracy Birch

[scrapmommy3]

What about making everyone say Yes they agree to the terms once when they log in. Most sites when you sign up you agree to their terms before you can log in the first time. It might bring it home to each person that logs in or tries to post the first time after the terms go into service. Not sure if that is too hard to program for.

I just have to say I've obviously missed what's been going on. I generally only read the threads that I'm interested in or someone points me to and none of those have had any, strife. This board is such a wealth of information and ideas I would think there would be no time for the other negative stuff!!!! Hopefully for those reasons we won't lose all those being so generous with their information!

Thank you!
Marnie

[Inkspired]

Thanks Britta - and all of you folks who take the time to run this site.
I appreciate the efforts and everyone who supplies Valid, helpful information as well as the fellowship from other Stampers. When people are so passionate - as we all know Stampers ARE - Sometimes it's hard to separate ourselves from the causes that we are passionate about.
Lets just be decent to each other and respect each other for our differences. It is after all what Democracy is all about. I hope I haven't over-stepped any bounds or insulted anyone. I appologize for previously participting in a "threadjacked" thread. I have learned that this isn't in the least bit helpful or valuable. Thanks again - Michelle
PS - Britta - I grew up in Anne Arundel County!!

[TexasGrammy]

Thank you, SCS team members, for taking your own time to hammer this out. Although it is so unfortunate that this has become necessary, these terms are stated very well.
~Beverly

[Lanie]

Originally Posted by camsmom

We ask that no one creates or condones a post openly disparaging any individual or group of people based on race, color, national origin, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family relationship, age, mental or physical disability, religion or religious beliefs.

or political beliefs!!!

Sorry, just had to throw that one in.

Great job! I agree with everyone who says that it is unfortunate that this even had to be done.

I like it when everyone's happy! I'm happy!

[agentil]

I think this is just perfect. People shouldn't need to be reminded to use common courtesy, but unfortunately in this day and age, they frequently do and this is a good way to do it.

If at first you don't succeed - skydiving is not for you!

[stardust]

Wonderfully put!

[melissaparrish]

This draft sounds wonderful. Britta and Keri...if I ever need a speech written, I'd hire you 2 in a heartbeat! Great work.
Now, let's a stamp!

[afancycat]

Thank you, Britta, Keri and Daven too!

Julie C.