Terms of Service and Conditions of Use
Updated October 23, 2011
The Paranormal Society ("www.theparanormalsociety.org") reserves the right, at our sole discretion, to modify or replace the Terms of Service at any time, with or without notice. If the alterations constitute a material change to the Terms of Service, we will notify you by posting an announcement on the Forum and by email. What constitutes a "material change" will be determined by the amount and significance of the change. You are responsible for reviewing and becoming familiar with any such modifications
1. Terms
By accessing this web site, you are agreeing to be bound by these Terms of Service and Conditions of Useand all applicable laws and regulations and agree that you are responsible for compliance with any applicable laws. If you do not agree with any of these terms, you are encouraged to leave The Paranormal Society immediately. The material contained in this web site are protected by applicable copyright, trademark and service mark law.
As a condition of use, you affirm that you will not use any content contained within this website for unlawful or fraudulent use, or any other use not intended by our website. Use of our website by you constitutes your agreement to the Terms and any updates or modifications. There is no cost to join The Paranormal Society.
2. Disclaimer
- The materials on The Paranormal Society are provided "as is". The Paranormal Society makes no warranties, expressed or implied, and hereby disclaims and negates all other warranties, including without limitation, implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement of intellectual property or other violation of rights. Further, The Paranormal Society does not warrant or make any representations concerning the accuracy, likely results, or reliability of the use of the material on its web site or otherwise relating to such materials, or on any sites linked to and from this website.
- Although we make reasonable efforts to verify the reliability of information provided, we do not guarantee against human and/or machine errors, omissions, delays, interruptions, or losses. Regardless of our own beliefs, the world of the paranormal remains a mystery. We strive to provide you with accurate and reliable information, and while we believe in our own methods and techniques, we do not guarantee that any information contained in this website will be useful and that any methods or advice will be successful.
- The Paranromal Society website is not intended to provide psychological and/or medical advice and should not be interpreted as such. Under no circumstances shall The Paranormal Society be liable for misuse of any information contained within this website.
3. Limitations
In no event shall The Paranormal Society, its partners or staff, be liable for any damages (including, but not limited to, incidental and consequential damages, mental, emotional and personal injury or wrongful death), whether based on warranty, contract, tort, or any other legal theory arising out of the use or inability to use the materials on The Paranormal Society. The use of information contained within is at your own risk.
4. Revisions and Errata
The materials appearing on The Paranormal Society website could include technical, typographical, or photographic errors. We may make changes to the materials contained on its web site at any time without notice.
5. Links
With the intent on furthering the research into the paranormal, or to provide entertainment value, The Paranormal Society displays external links to third party websites. We have not reviewed all of the sites linked and are not responsible for the content of any such linked site. The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by The Paranormal Society. Use of any such linked website is at the user's own risk.
External Links: External links are acceptable under certain circumstances. For example, if you'd like to link your paranormal groups site, this is OK as long as it's placed in the proper category. If you'd like to become an official partner and be listed in the site's directory, please contact us. You may also link to another site, so long as it's not a site that one would assume is a conflict of interest. There is a process for submitting weblinks that you'd like in our directory. Submit the link, and all pertinent information, to us via our contact forum located at the top of the site.
Example of what's prohibited: Referring people to alternative video sites. The videos we provide are used under licensed agreements or under Fair Use. Most other sites are displaying this video content without authorization. It's not our desire to support these other infringing sites... and this includes Youtube. Linking to, say, a music video or technical video or educational video is fine as long as the hosting site has it for open linking or embedding. And when adding videos, but they need to be placed in the "Videos" section. But absolutely NO open linking or referring to any video hosting website without our expressed permission.
Linking to similar sites: This should be avoided. Naturally, we do not want to provide free advertising for the competition. This is sometimes a discretionary thing, so as a rule of thumb, if it's a site that contains similar content, it's to be avoided. All links are subject to our approval and may be deleted at any time without notice. If you're not sure of whether a certain site link is acceptable, please contact us first.
6. Official Partners
Official Partners are those organizations or websites that are either personally known or are officially endorsed by The Paranormal Society. These organizations provide various services. In any event, while they're officially endorsed, The Paranormal Society is still not responsible for their actions. However, having this designation means that we have reviewed or have worked with the organization, person or website and they have met certain criteria as to their conduct, methods, information, treatment of clients, safety, experience, performance, and other critical areas. Official partners are designated with an "Official Partner" badge and their links can be found in the "Our Partners" section..
7. Site Terms of Use Modifications
The Paranormal Society may revise these terms of use at any time without notice. By using this web site you are agreeing to be bound by the current version of these Terms and Conditions of Use.
8. Conduct
Do not abuse any other member. We will not tolerate the improper treatment of our members. Do not abuse, threaten, harrass, intimidate or commit any other unlawful or inappropriate act upon, or attempt to commit upon, any member or user. This includes personal messages. When stating your personal opinion regarding any subject matter, refrain from lashing out or insulting. You can show support or disproval of the subject without using harsh insults. This includes criticizing other groups and shows.
The folowing are some examples of what is prohibited:
- Racial Comments or Racial Slurs made towards another member;
- Attacking any member of the site, for personal gain, or engaging in any personal argument not within the scope of the site (This isn't MySpace);
- Harrassing, threatening or exploiting, or attempting to harrass, threaten or exploit, any member for any reason;
- Posting any member or users private information;
- Trolling: Do not troll the forums. We define 'trolling' as the act of causing deliberate disruption or offense. Such behavior involves the posting of intentionally false, controversial or offensive comments designed to provoke, bait and annoy other members;
- Video Sites: Referring anyone or posting any link to any video site that hosts content that is in direct competition with The Paranormal Society. For example: Linking or referring someone to watch "Ghost Adventures" elsewhere. We're not a breeding ground for infringing video content.
- Attempting to obtain any member's personal or private information by any means;
- Hacking a member's account;
- Impersonating another member or celebrity;
- Abusive behavior: Do not abusive towards other members;
- Suggestive conduct: Do not post sexually suggestive comments, innuendo or engage in inapropriate sexually oriented personal exchanges;
- Flamebaiting: Do not taunt or bait another member in to an argument.
- Verbally Attacking any member of The Paranormal Society's site staff. They are here to help and are essential to the site's operation. Treat them with the respect they deserve.
Evidence Analysis:
If you submit evidence for review, expect both positive and negative feedback. You may not always like the feedback you receive, but that's part of the learning phase. You need have have thick skin if you put it out there for the world to see. We strive to promote solid paranormal evidence and further the field, so if other site members believe your evidence is not factual or can be debunked, expect to be told so. We are all very passionate, and false evidence can hurt everyone involved. If you know the evidence is false and you submit it anyways, you can expect a veriety of responses, including being "raked over the coals". Best advice: Do not submit knowingly false evidence. If you do, it's "no holds barred"!
If you submit evidence and label it as 100% irrefutable proof, be prepared to be questioned and the evidence to be scrutinized to its core. Also be prepared to back-up your claims of authenticity. Our advice here: Do not lable any evidence as "irrefutable", "authenticated" or similar strong words... becasue in the end, you don't have 100% positive proof, nor does anyone else.
Members Under 18:
We are very protective of our members who are under the age of 18. DO NOT approach any minor member in any inappropriate manner. DO NOT speak to them in any inappropriate way. Either of these will get you permanently banned. We will also report any action we feel as dangerous towards any minor member to law enforcement immediately.
Minors: If you are being harrassed in any way by any member, we ask that you report this to site staff immediately.
9. User Accounts
When registering an account at "The Paranormal Society", you are presented with a box that must be checked in order to proceed with registration. By checking this box, you affirming that you have read, acknowledge and accept the Terms of Service. You are required to maintain an up to date email address for purposes of verifying the legitimicy of your account and to receive important changes to the Terms of Service. We verify email addresses every 90 days, and any account found to not have a valid email address will be temporarily suspended until updated by the user.
a) Name and Username: When creating your account, you must register with your "Real" name, not an abbreviation or only one or two letter. Accounts found to be registered in this manner will be deleted without notice.
b) Photos and Avatars: No explicit photos are to be uploaded to the site. Your avatar image should not contain nudity, partial nudity or be sexually explicit in any form. Images that are found to be inappropriate will be removed without notice.
10. Treatment of Staff
Our staff is comprimised of "Administrators", "Moderators" and "Site Advisors". We ask that you treat our site staff with respect, regardless of what is said. If you feel a staff member's actions have been inappropriate, please email an administrator first or simply use the "Contact Us" button. Do not use forums to argue. Do not respond in a rude manner to any staff member. Do not send that person an inappropriate Personal Message. We can't allow individuals to argue beyond reasonable debating. Users who are found to have treated staff members inappropriately will be immediately banned without notice, at our discretion.
11. No-Spam Policy
The Paranormal Society has zero tolerence for spam of any nature. There is an appropriate route for advertising, and we ask that you take this route rather than spam.
Any account deemed to be spam, or created for the purpose of spamming, will be deleted without prior notice and the IP address of the registering account will be blocked at the server level.
12. Chat
When accessing the chat, remember that you are bound by the rules of conduct. Inappropriate conduct and language will result in immediate banning of your user account, without notice. We have a zero-tolerance for any type of inappropriate language, including, but not limited to, vulgarity, sexual, explicit, abusive, or any "inside" references or innuendos meant to convey any type of inappropriate message. Users are encouraged to report this type of behavior to site staff.
