Policies and Standards for The Forum

The Forum was created by NewsRegister.com to encourage a cooperative online community to discuss issues, exchange information, promote ideas and explore points of view. Our code of community standards for acceptable behavior is outlined below, and we thank participants for their cooperation in following these standards.

1) User Privileges: NewsRegister.com reserves the right to revoke users' privileges and take other necessary steps to ensure the guidelines are followed.
2) Registration Required: With the exception of a single board, participation on The Forum requires registration. Registered Users can create any "User Name," which appears with their posts. They are not required to list an e-mail address with their posts, although they can if they choose. That is a setting in the Control Panel. However, they must submit a working e-mail address to Forum administrators as part of the user registration process.
3) Anonymous Guests: People who are not Registered Users can read the posts on all boards, but they can submit posts only on the board titled Open to All, which appears under the category, The News-Register Online Forum. This is not meant to encourage anonymous posts, but only to provide an opportunity for expression of opinion by those who seek anonymity. Administrators of The Forum can see the Internet IP addresses of all participating Registered Users and Anonymous Guests and determine their identify as necessary to enforce standards.
4) Prohibited Language: The Forum was established to encourage an open exchange. Thus, viewpoints objectionable to some users may be encountered. However, NewsRegister.com does not permit abusive, disruptive, rude, inflammatory, racist, obscene or inappropriate messages or replies. Participants who engage in these behaviors may be removed from The Forum at the discretion of the moderator, News-Register Managing Editor Steve Bagwell. Users should keep it clean, simple, civil and legal, refraining from personal attacks, product bashing, defamatory or libelous statements and sexually explicit comments. Hate speech will not be tolerated in any form, including racial, ethnic or religious slurs, offensive epithets and exhortations to violence.
5) Complaints: The Forum does not screen postings in advance. If you have a complaint about another memberÕs conduct, please e-mail it to sbagwell@newsregister.com.
6) Copyright: Users are asked to refrain from posting copyrighted material without permission or uploading any information, images or trademarks that would violate property rights. All expressions and images should be original.
7) Advertising: The Forum should not be used for self-promotion of business or other financial interests. Users are asked not to use The Forum as an advertising platform for their products and/or services.
8) Personal Information: For the safety and security of our online community, The Forum recommends against the sharing of personal information such as telephone numbers and addresses.
9) Use of Postings: By participating in The Forum, Users agree that NewsRegister.com may modify, retransmit or delete any posting at its discretion, and that postings or portions of postings can be reprinted by News-Register Publishing Co.
10) Liability: Users acknowledge that NewsRegister.com cannot accept liability for the actions of other participants. Under no circumstances will NewsRegister.com accept liability for lost profits, lost data or any type of damages, be they compensatory, special, incidental, indirect, consequential or punitive, claimed as a result of postings on The Forum by users. That applies to claims based on breach of contract, implied warranty, product liability, negligence or other legal theories, even if explicit warnings are provided in advance.