Welcome to Serama Council of North America !

The following are the Terms of Service agreement for using our website.

Last Edited: June 12, 2005

Serama Council of North America, Inc is incorporated and governed by the laws of the state of Louisiana and Federal laws of the United States of America.

All Inquiries should be sent to either the appropriate forum moderator or

admin@seramacouncilofnorthamerica.com

TERMS OF SERVICE

Serama Council of North America (hereafter known as the "SCNA") members represents a wide variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds - all are welcome to participate in conversations on our public message boards as long as you do not violate the Terms of Service (TOS) as outlined below.
Serama Council of North America also provides a discussion board for "dues paid members". All discussion boards, whether public or dues paid are to follow the same TOS and Rules of conduct.
When you participate in Serama Council of North America discussions, you may encounter persons whose opinions differ from your own. We hope that you will approach these encounters in a spirit of tolerance and acceptance.

Serama Council of North America is committed to protecting a high level of freedom of expression, and to maintaining a welcoming and safe community in which that expression can flourish.

We will not censor members for expressing an opinion, within the limits of these Rules of Conduct. We will take action against any behavior that disrupts conversations and community on the Site.

Any duplication of ANY portion of the Serama Council of North America 's message boards, website, gallery, chat area, whether by a registered member or other individual, is expressly forbidden. All postings to this website, including but not limited to public messages, private messages, text, graphics, pictures, are protected under copyright and intellectual property law.

Anyone found to be in violation of these Terms of Service can be prosecuted,at the discretion of the SCNA, to the fullest extent of the law.

Serama Council of North America has the right, but not the obligation, to remove or move any member-generated content for any reason, without notice. These Rules of Conduct reflect the standards of behavior our members find acceptable. By viewing, posting text, or posting pictures to any part or portion of the SCNA's website, you agree to the following:
For all purposes in the following document "WE" will refer to the SCNA and "You" refers to registered and/or dues paid members of the message board(s)


Rules of Conduct

1. Courtesy and Respect: You agree that you will be courteous to every Serama Council of North America member, even those whose beliefs you think are false. When debating, express your opinion about a person's ideas, not about them personally. You agree not to make negative personal remarks about other SCNA members, including negative remarks about their age, disability, gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, intelligence, character, appearance, health, mental health, education or any other personal characteristic. You agree not to create posts and discussions intended to criticize or ridicule other members personally. You agree not to engage in derogatory name-calling or other inflammatory comparisons.

2. Hate Speech: You agree not to engage in hate speech on SCNA. You agree not to allege that groups or individuals deserve violence, or attempt to dehumanize or degrade them on the basis of age, disability, gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation

3. Violence: You agree not to advocate illegal violence against or harassment of groups or individuals.

4. Disruptive behavior:You agree not to disrupt or interfere with discussions, forums, or other community functions. Disruptive behavior may include creating a disproportionate number of posts or discussions; creating off-topic posts; making statements that are deliberately inflammatory; manipulating topic lists to disrupt conversation; posting in a language other than English without providing an accurate English translation; expanding a disagreement from one discussion to another; or any behavior that interferes with conversations or inhibits the ability of others to use and enjoy this website for its intended purposes.

5. Local guidelines: You agree to observe the rules and guidelines posted for specific message boards. These guidelines appear at the top of each page in that board. For example: Some message boards are protected for use only by dues paid members of the SCNA. Controversial and provocative comments are sometimes invited in specific message boards; to express criticism of a proposed idea, please do so only in the message board that has been set aside for that purpose.

6. Solicitation: You agree not to use community functions to advertise or solicit on behalf of commercial, religious, charitable or other organizations or causes. Exceptions: (1) members may ask for contributions to the SCNA General Fund; (2) if you are an author you may announce your own books in your profile and in no more than one post. (3) If you have a personal website that you have created you may post that website's URL within your signature in your profile as long as the content of the URL does not violate other portions of the TOS. (Expressly vulgarity, pornography etc.)

7. Spam: You agree not to repeat substantially the same text in more than one location on SCNA.

8. URLS: You may share the URL of a web resource other members may find useful, but you agree not to post URL's repeatedly, specifically for the purpose of promoting a commercial website or service (see "Solicitation" above). You agree not to post a hyperlink to or URL of a site that violates these Rules of Conduct. You will not reproduce chain letters, pyramid schemes, mail fraud schemes, or any other unauthorized advertising.

Members may post the URL of their personal website's within their signature in their profile.

9. Copying posts: You agree not to post or forward transcripts of e-mail or other personal communication without the author's express permission. You agree not to reproduce material from SCNA (including member posts) without express written permission from SCNA. You agree not to copy or link to SCNA member posts with less than friendly intent. You agree not to expand disagreements from one board to another.

10. Privacy: You will not collect or use information about users of the Site without their express permission. You agree not to reveal personal information about someone else. SCNA will remove any post containing a personal telephone number, real name, address, or any information that might reveal someone's geographical location without their permission. You will not send e-mail to SCNA members that would violate these Rules of Conduct. Cautionary Note: Because SCNA message boards are public, we advise members against revealing any personal information about themselves. If you choose to display your e-mail address to other members, please be aware that SCNA has no control over who uses your e-mail address or for what purpose. If you believe you are the target of a cyber-stalker, please refer to Cyberstalking and harassment FAQ for more information.

11. Vulgarity: You agree not to display words, information, or images that are vulgar, obscene, graphically violent, graphically sexual, harm minors in any way, exploit images of children, or are otherwise objectionable. You agree not to post URL's of sites where such words, images or information is displayed. Permission for exceptions to this rule must be obtained from SCNA staff.

12. Images, Text and HTML: You agree to refrain from using visually disruptive or excessively large font sizes and/or images. We suggest that images be no larger than 300 pixels in width or height, and that you not use font sizes larger than 18 points (size 5). You agree to use HTML and styles only for text effects (such as bold and italics), to post images, or to create normal hyperlinks. You agree not to upload to SCNA or link to any other code, tags, scripts, audio, animations, file or program. You will not upload, post, link to, e-mail or otherwise transmit any harmful component to SCNA, or deface any portion of the site.

13. Minors: You agree that you will not invite a minor on SCNA to contact you for any reason. Adults are asked not to post on the Teens boards.

14. Surveys: Researchers who wish to post a survey or ask for information from SCNA members must obtain SCNA's permission before doing so. To obtain permission, send a description of your project, along with full name and contact information for your school and supervising professor, to _____________________

This does not pertain to SCNA message board members wishing to post a survey associated with the topics of this message board unless that survey/poll violates other items in the TOS agreement

15. Copyright: SCNA discussions are primarily intended for interactive conversation. You agree not to create posts that consist substantially of material copied from another source. You agree to respect intellectual property rights when posting on SCNA. You agree not to post copyrighted or trademarked images on SCNA. You agree not to post articles or other text from another publication (copyright or not) except as follows: you may quote a small sample of it, credit the source, post a hyperlink to the author's original, and include your own comments in your own words. Permission for exceptions to this rule must be obtained from SCNA staff. You agree that you will not modify, adapt, sublicense, translate, sell, lease, reverse engineer, decompile, frame, mirror or disassemble any portion of this Site, or offer to do so.

16. Illegal activities: You will not solicit or promote the use of an illegal substance, promote illegal activity, or discuss illegal activities with the intent to commit them.

17. Impersonation:You agree not to impersonate or spoof SCNA members, employees, hosts or volunteers. You agree to create and use no more than one SCNA username, without explicit approval from SCNA staff. You agree to not create a username that is vulgar, violent or offensive as your SCNA username. You agree not to express or imply that any content or materials you make, submit or post are endorsed by SCNA or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.

18. Contact information: You agree to provide a valid e-mail address in your SCNA registration. You may choose to conceal your e-mail address from other members, and you may manage your mail preferences. However SCNA staff must be able to contact you by e-mail if necessary to discuss your account. If the e-mail address in your profile is not valid, your posting privileges may be suspended; should this happen to you, please e-mail us for assistance. Community staff members will keep your e-mail address confidential. To update your e-mail address, click "Profile" at the top of any page.

19. Complaints: If there are problems on SCNA, we want to know about them so that we can attempt to fix them. You agree to report community-related complaints and problems appropriately: to report a violation of these Rules of Conduct, or to complain about another member or the action moderator to e-mail your complaint to SCNA staff, who will review your complaint and take appropriate action. You agree not to post problem reports and complaints publicly on the site, or to comment publicly on host or staff actions. You agree you will not harass volunteer Community Hosts and SCNA staff. You will not engage in behavior that requires SCNA staff and/or volunteer Moderators to expend excessive time and/or resources.

In addition:

• These Rules of Conduct apply to anything you upload to or create on SCNA, including posts, screen names, member profiles, discussion titles, or any other text or images.

• We have the right to suspend or terminate your membership for violation of the above rules.

• Any member leaving the SCNA, who leaves the organization after paying dues, whether by choice or by request, agrees that no dues paid to the SCNA will be refunded under any circumstances.

• We have the right to reprint from SCNA discussions any post or portion of a post (along with the username of the SCNA member who posted it) somewhere else on the site or in any other medium (such as in a SCNA book, in a SCNA television commercial, etc.).

• We neither endorse nor are responsible for any opinion, advice, information or statement made or displayed in these forums by third parties, nor are we responsible for any errors or omissions in such postings, or for hyperlinks embedded in messages. Under no circumstances will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information obtained in these forums. The opinions expressed in these forums are solely the opinions of the participants, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SCNA.

Please check these guidelines periodically as they may be revised for the protection of our valued members.

By using this message board you agree that you have read, fully understand and agree to adhere to this TOS.

The SCNA reserves the right to pursue prosecution of violations of the TOS from both within its membership and outside, third parties who copy, email, or cross post any part or portion of the contents of this site and/or message board without first obtaining express written permission to do so.

Anyone who has posted copies or otherwise duplicated any portion of the website/message board must show written proof from the SCNA verifying permission to do so. Discussions within all areas of the SCNA message board, both public and private, are to remain within the message board and should not be duplicated in any way, shape, or form. Anyone found to be in violation of this can be prosecuted under intellectual property and copyright laws should the SCNA see fit.