Topic: Site Terms of Service and rules to live by

[Susan]

Everyone is welcome at Susan's Place, provided you follow a few basic rules:

This website is an open support area, and is not generally sexually oriented. Our purpose is to provide peer support, the dissemination of information relating to being transgender, and a forum for the discussion of gender, and includes Trans and Non-binary issues and other related topics. The community here is a diverse one that includes Transgender Women and Men, Non-binary people, Trans Kids, Family Members, and Allies from all over the world.

The Rules

These are the rules that govern your time at this web site:

1. We do not allow the advertising of other websites or chats on Susan's Place either directly or indirectly, with the exception of the Susan's Place Transgender Web Directory. This prohibition includes the chat, forums, and the wiki.

There are seven exceptions:

• Links listed added by the chat staff to the Transgender Bot (TGBot) in our chat
  
• Users on the chat may give other users links to their photographs and personal websites.
  
• Links to the source of news stories posted In the News forum which is located under the News and Information section of the forum
  
• Members with a post rank of "family" or higher may post links to off site information provided that the information does not otherwise violate the Terms of Service. This is a privilege that will be revoked if abused.
  
• You may link to your personal website, and social media accounts in your forum profile, and/or forum signature which is shown at the bottom of your forum posts.
  
• Links to the event website for more information in the Calendar of events.
  
• Site staff may at their discretion provide links to other websites, in order to provide informational resources to Susan's Place users, this is a privilege I feel that they have earned. If you are interested in this ability volunteer for the Chat, Forums, Links, or Wiki.

This is done for several reasons, the major one being spam prevention. It also helps us to ensure that the sites Susan's Place links are family friendly. To recommend sites for inclusion in the links area, simply find the category that the link best fits, and click the 'Add Link' text at the top of the page. You do not have to be the owner of the website to submit it for listing.

2. Any attempts to stage protests, dispute the site policies, the TOS/rules, or actions of the staff; in the public areas of this site will not be tolerated and will result in your removal. If you have any issues, contact Susan by email, or forum private message, and not bring these types of issues into the public spaces on this website. For the proper way to handle problems of this nature see item #20 below.

3. Posting is a privilege, not a right. We have the inherent right to block access to our services to anyone for any reason. We also have the right to disable or remove from any account features and/or functionality of this website, and to edit or remove any posting from any forum for any reason.

4. The posting of images on the chat or forums which are of a threatening tone; intended solely to communicate sarcasm, contempt, or derision; are intended to belittle or ridicule a person or group; to disgust the viewer; contain obscene or pornographic materials; are intended to titillate; or depicts/promotes illegal acts; will not be permitted.

5. The posting of messages on the chat or forums which are of a threatening tone; intended solely to communicate sarcasm, contempt, or derision; are intended to belittle or ridicule a person or group; made in order to bump a thread; to disgust the viewer; contain obscene or pornographic materials; which are intended to titillate; or which depicts/promotes illegal acts; will not be permitted.

6. You should not give out personal information which may lead to you being identified, or contacted in person, by email or other means. If you chose to do so, then you also accept all accompanying risks. Aliases and the use of alternate identities, social media accounts, and email addresses are strongly encouraged.

7. Leave moderating to the moderators! Susan and her staff are the only people who are authorized to deny anyone access to this website, including telling someone to leave, or to stop discussing a topic.  If someone wishes to discuss a subject that you are not interested in,  suggest a new subject; go to another of the many areas on this site; or ignore that person, topic, or discussion.

Members should immediately report any messages both public and private that they feel may possibly be abusive, inappropriate, unwelcome, or unsolicited contact attempts, to staff using the Report links in posts and personal messages.

8. The discussion of hormone replacement therapy(HRT) and it's medications are permitted, with the following limitations:

A. You may not advocate for or against a specific medication or combinations of medication for personal gain. This is strictly prohibited.
B. You may not discuss the means to acquire HRT medications without a prescription. The discussion of self medication without a doctor's supervision is prohibited.
C. The posting of recommended, or actual dosages, is strongly discouraged to prevent information obtained on this site from being used to self medicate.
 

We cannot in good conscience condone the self administering of these medications. Not only may self medication be illegal, but HRT medications can cause serious health problems, and many have the potential for life-threatening side effects that can only be detected and prevented with proper medical supervision.

9. If you disapprove of people who are Transgender, Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual; or activities which, or individuals who cross gender boundaries; take your arguments to a more appropriate website.

10. Bashing or flaming of members of this website or the LGBTQIA community is not acceptable behavior on this website and will not be tolerated in the slightest for any reason.  This includes but is not limited to:

• Advocating the separation or exclusion of one or more group from under the Transgender umbrella term. The same restriction applies to advocating the removal of the T from LGBTQIA community.
• Suggesting or claiming that one segment or sub-segment of our community is more or less legitimate, deserving, or real than any others.
• Posting any topic or making any post that suggests that Trans people are not really men (FTM) or women (MTF), even if done for the purposes of criticism or discussion.
  
• Posting any messages that engages in personal attacks on members, and/or is actively or passively aggressive no matter the provocation.

11. Foul or obscene language, and/or subjects belongs on the street, Please do not bring it on to my site.

12. Cross posting the same message to multiple forums is not allowed. Please insure each post is of an appropriate topic for the forum where you wish to post it, we will move posts if they are not posted in the correct area. If there are no forums that would fit your message place it in the Transgender talk or general discussion forum or suggest to the staff that we create a new discussion area.

13. The posting of commercial messages which includes fundraising requests, requests for participants for medical studies, or casting calls is not allowed without prior administrative approval, which may be obtained by emailing susan@susans.org. Approval will generally be denied unless the content of the message would be of specific interest to transgender individuals. Violation of this term may result in warnings, account removal, or bans ranging from 120 days to 1 year.

14. The posting of personal ads, replies to/or proposals for dates, veiled references to hoped-for orgies, gay-bashing, gender-bashing messages, and/or graphic sexual activity is not permitted. Chaste references to anatomy and its functions are allowed.

15. Items under discussion shall be confined to the subject matter at hand. Members shall avoid taking the other users posts personally, and/or posting anything that can reasonably be construed as a personal attack.

16. Please limit religious discussions to the spirituality forum. If a thread in another forum turns into a religious discussion please move the thread to the spirituality forum. Our moderators will assist in this process if necessary. Two restrictions apply to your use of the spirituality boards:

A. You are not to pass judgments on others beliefs, any more than they are welcome to pass judgement on yours.
B. You are free to talk about how your spirituality affects your life, but you cannot proselytize or attempt to convert others.

17. Please limit sexual discussions to the sexuality forum (Requires 15 posts to view). If a thread in another forum turns into a sexual discussion please move the thread to the sexuality forum. Our moderators will assist in this process if necessary.

18. By submitting any information to this website you hereby grant this website, Susan's Place Transgender Resources; and its owner a no-cost, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, copy, perform and display publicly, distribute, and prepare derivative works based on your submissions, in whole or in part, throughout the universe in any form, format, or medium now or hereafter known. This license is fully assignable, transferable and sub-licensable.

Said license is understood to include, but is not limited to contributed articles, images, photographs, profile information, forum posts and messages, wiki articles, or private messages and/or email messages which are sent by you to the site staff or owner and their responses. The License also covers any other materials submitted by you to this website but which are not specified here.

This license is understood to include the rights of use in any format all intellectual property rights owned or controlled by you to the material in question, including but not limited to trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and so on. Once said materials are submitted to this web site, all expectations of confidentiality are null and void.

This license and its granted rights may be exercised, or terminated and the material removed; at the sole discretion of the website's owner at any time, without further notification of these actions being required. Any materials which are used under this granted license will contain proper attribution as to its source.

19. By accessing this website, you indicate your legal agreement with the items in our terms of service and membership agreements. Continued access by you to this website is to be considered updating an electronic signature indicating your agreement to both documents. If you do not agree with the membership agreement or terms of service, you must leave this site and not return. Failure to read or keep yourself updated on these documents does not exempt you from said agreement.

20. The staff of this website are here to provide peer support to our members and visitors, and to provide a safe environment by enforcing the TOS and rules of this website and chat server. If you disagree with their actions, or how a specific situation was handled, you may contact Susan, Devlyn, or any of the other administrators by email or forum private message, with the details of the situation. They will review your complaint and take any corrective action that may be required by the situation. All user complaints and issues are taken seriously and will be investigated thoroughly.

The terms of service and membership agreement can be modified at any time, and are effective without further notification being required. If you do not wish to accept these terms you are encouraged to find another website more to your liking.

Privacy Notifications

This is a website is based in the United States and operates under US law.

All communications via this website are logged. Logs and stored communications can be accessed when required for administrative purposes, in order to save a life, to report a crime to law enforcement, or if we receive a legally binding subpoena. Otherwise, this site does not sell or provide access to your personal information to third parties. Stored communications include the public and private messages sent via the Chat, Forums, and website. Logs are not kept for a fixed period, and can be purged or removed at any time. Stored private communications on the forums are removed when the member deletes them.

We reserve the right to utilize third-party advertising and statistical tracking providers to enable us to better serve your needs when you visit our website. These companies may use information about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you, or to provide enhanced statistical tracking for us. This tracking information is anonymous, and specifically does not include your name, address, email address(es), or telephone number(s).

If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies:

Google: http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html
Quantcast: http://www.quantcast.com/docs/display/legal/Opt-out+of+Quantcast+Delivery

Please note that opting out of the advertising and/or statistical tracking cookies will not stop advertising from being displayed. It will only result in advertising not being customized to your specific tastes.

We have no control over the unauthorized use by third parties of information that you make publicly available via this website.

* The Introduction to the TOS has been updated.
* TOS 10 clarified to limit its applicability to attacks on members or the LGBTQIA community.
* Clarified the language and and limitations imposed by TOS 10 Section II
* TOS 1 added social media to the acceptable links in forum profiles and signatures.
* TOS 10 added not recognizing someone's self identified gender as real or valid.
* TOS 10 added T from GLBT.
* General Cleanup
* TOS 18 Language cleaned up.
* TOS 4 & 5 clarified
* TOS 9 applies equally to the GLB communites
* TOS 10, and Part 2 of TOS 15 are now bannable offenses.
* TOS 10 modified, personal attacks prohibited and that includes making any actively or passively aggressive posts.
* Privacy Notifications section updated. Report a crime added.
* Updated TOS 7
* Added Venue Statement to the Privacy Notifications section
* TOS #4 and #5 updated
* Tos 5 updated prohibiting post bumping.
* Tos 1 updated to clearly prohibit indirect advertising someone mentioning another site hoping that people will ask in public or private for the link.