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.