Forum Rules

Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and policies detailed below. If you agree to the terms, please check the 'I agree' checkbox and press the 'Register' button below. If you would like to cancel the registration, click here to return to the forums index.

IMPORTANT

READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING

THIS IS A BINDING LEGAL CONTRACT

RULES AND TERMS OF SERVICE

Home Automated Living, Inc. ("HAL") provides its various forums (collectively, "Forum") to you based on these Rules and Terms of Service ("Terms"). Use of the Forum denotes your acceptance of these Terms. Please read these Terms carefully and then click the "I have read, and agree to abide by the Home Automated Living Forums rules." button at the bottom of the page to proceed. If you would like to cancel the registration, click here to return to the forums index.

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 HAL has no control over how other users use your e-mail address or any other information you choose to disclose on the Forum. HAL 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 HAL or a member of the Forum does not transfer rights in that information to you. However, by using the Forum, you grant HAL 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 HAL (1) not attributing the authorship of any materials to its originator; (2) modifying the materials at HAL's 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 HAL 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 HAL 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 HAL 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 HAL does not and cannot review every message posted by users in the Forum, and is not responsible for the content of these messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owners of HAL, nor Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (developers of vBulletin) will be held responsible for the content of any message. HAL 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 HAL and its designees.

You also understand and agree that HAL reserves the right to disclose any content posted on the Forum and information about your account in order to protect HAL 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, obscene, or sexually explicit language.

• Using race, religion, sexual orientation, culture, ethnicity, handicap, nationality, or gender as a means of insult.

• Using threatening, hateful, harassing, defamatory, 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.

• Posting anything that otherwise violates any laws.

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.

Off-Topic Posting

Posting topics unrelated to HAL topics or topics not in the keeping of the Message Board rules are not allowed in any section of the Forum.

• Message posts or topic unrelated to any HAL topics.

• Message posts which deal with competing services or products.

• Posting of complaints.

• Message posts which are inaccurate, disparaging, dramatic or condescending in any way.

• Posting personal information.

• Any posts which antagonize or provoke other users.

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 any 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 HAL web site's code to gain privileges, access, or abilities not intended by HAL 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 any other automated browsing or posting programs is prohibited. Robots use huge amounts of server resources for the benefit of a single person. Users caught running robots may have their account revoked, and the abuse of resources reported to their ISP.

HAL 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. HAL 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 contact HAL by email at Webmaster@AutomatedLiving.com or at the following postal address: Home Automated Living, Inc. 1049 Hook Road, Westminster, MD 21157, USA and provide 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.

HAL 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 HAL 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, HAL's entire liability RELATED TO THE FORUM AND under any provision of thESE TERMS will be limited to one dollar ($1.00). 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 HAL 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 HAL and Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (developers of vBulletin) 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 HAL, including, without limitation, claims that your content violates, misappropriates or infringes on any patent, copyright, trademark, servicemark, trade secret or other proprietary right of any third party. You will cooperate as fully and reasonably as required by HAL in the defense of any claim. HAL 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 HAL.

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 HAL from pursuing any remedy at law or in equity for any breach of these Terms by you. If HAL takes any legal action against you relating to these Terms, HAL will be entitled to recover all court costs, expenses and reasonable attorneys' fees from you.

GOVERNING LAW / VENUE / VIOLATIONS

HAL 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 HAL and HAL alone) or any other reason. These Terms will be construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of Maryland, 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. Any cause of action filed by you with respect to the Terms or your use of the Forum must be filed in the State of Maryland within ninety (90) days after the occurrence of the facts giving rise to the cause of action, otherwise the cause will be forever barred. You hereby consent and submit to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts located in the State of Maryland for any cause of action arising under these Terms.

Violations of these Terms are cause for the banning of your account and turning over any violations to law enforcement agencies, in HAL's sole discretion. HAL 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.