Terms of Service and Forum Rules

1. Introduction: Welcome to CanPhoto.Net (the "Service"), a web site owned and operated by Andrew Ross (the "Proprietor"). Your use of the Service is subject to these Terms of Service ("TOS"). The Proprietor reserves the right to update and change the TOS from time to time without notice or acceptance by you. You can review the most current version of the TOS at any time at http://www.canphoto.net/forums/faq.php. This agreement ("Agreement") between You and the Proprietor consists of these Terms of Service. "You" means any person or entity who uses the Service and/or posts Content to the Service. By using the Service and/or posting Content you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Terms of Service.

2. Required Information for Registration: To gain access to the Service all members must be approved by an Administrator or Moderator and must provide their real, full name, their location, and a brief biography describing their professional status in the Canadian photographic industry. To qualify for membership you must be a working, professional photographer residing in Canada, a professional photographic assistant, or a student enrolled in a full-time photography program at a recognized Canadian institution. Photo editors and others in a position to hire professional photographers are not permitted to be members. All information in your profile must remain accurate, up to date, and visible in your Member Profile as long as You are a member with full access to the Service. If you no longer meet the membership requirements, if you accept a position as a photo editor for example, you are required to notify the The Proprietor and leave the group. Any member providing false or inaccurate information in an attempt to gain access to the Service may be banned without notice.

3. Information Rights: The Proprietor does not claim ownership of Content you submit or make available for inclusion in any forums, image critique areas, photo sharing systems, or other posting areas on the Service. However, by submitting the material, You grant The Service and its successors or assigns a perpetual non-exclusive world-wide royalty-free license to publish that material on the World Wide Web as part of the The Service’s web site.

4. Objectionable or offensive material: Although the administrators and moderators of The Service will attempt to keep all objectionable messages, images or other content off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and the Proprietor will not be held responsible for the content of any message. By agreeing to these TOS, you warrant that you will not post any message or other content that is obscene, vulgar, sexually-oriented, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws.

5. Personal attacks: Criticize ideas, not people. No member is allowed to engage in public personal attacks on any other member. Personal attacks are defined as Personal, Racial, Ethnic, and/or Gender based insults, slurs, or derisive comments. All complaints need to be communicated privately to an Administrator or Moderator using either the Personal Messenger (PM) and/or E-Mail, who will pass it on. In the event of this, the offending post(s) will be edited or removed, and the offending party shall receive no more than two (2) private Moderator or Administrator warnings via PM and/or E-Mail, and one final Administration warning. If the behaviour continues, the member will be banned for a week, and upon a repeat incident, banned permanently.

6. Private Discussions: Certain areas of The Service are provided for members only and you may not forward any private discussions or content to non-members. Anyone found doing this could be banned from The Service without notice.

7. Copyrighted Material: You will not use The Service to violate anyone's copyright, trademark, intellectual property rights, or privacy rights. The content which you submit must be Your work in its entirety. Do not post other's phone numbers, addresses, pictures, or other copyrighted material, without their permission.

8. Advertising and Promotions: Soliciting, advertising or promotion of commercial products, services, events, etc, will not tolerated. If photographers are among your clients or customers, your messages, footers, and signatures may not contain anything which solicits CanPhoto.Net members to use or purchase your services or products, visit your web sites for any reason, or to attend events in which you are participating. This includes, but is not limited to, manufacturers, online retailers, other photo forums or organizations, retail stores, web designers, etc. All posts or content of a commercial nature, including signatures, must be pre-approved by an Administrator or Moderator. Your signature may contain: Name, Title, Business Name, Address, Phone, email address, URL, Professional Affiliations, and any other information that could not possibly be perceived, by anyone, as a solicitation of photographers. Posting of solicitations and announcements is limited according to CanPhoto.Net Rules and each instance must be approved by a moderator, in advance. Failure to do so may result in the removal of the content and/or banning of the member.

9. Discussion Forum Guidelines: The Proprietor expects all members to be guided by common sense, professionalism, cooperation, and respect for others when posting content to the Service. The Proprietor does not wish to discourage productive and useful debate relating to the particular topic at issue, however, posts that are made for the purpose of arguing or debating, in a nonproductive or inflammatory manner, an irrelevant or ancillary issue with either the topic starter or another poster are not permitted. General guidelines for conduct also include, but are not limited to, posting in the appropriate forum, using descriptive subject lines, staying on topic, not yelling by writing in ALL CAPS, restricting the use of foul language, avoiding "brand bashing" or "flame wars" when discussing photographic equipment, etc. Any member who violates these guidelines, or causes disharmony or disruption to the forums in any way, as determined by the Proprietor, may have their account removed without notice.

10. Site Access and removal of content: The Proprietor reserves the right to deny access to any member at our discretion, and/or remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason. Any member who has a problem with why a particular thread has been locked and/or deleted must contact the ADMIN and/or the moderator who locked the thread privately through a PM. Creating new threads to vent your frustrations with the closing of a thread will only result in that thread's deletion as well.

11. Banned Members: Any attempt to circumvent a Temporary Account Suspension by re-registering another name and/or any other method will lead to the offending member being permanently banned. Any members giving their account information to any Banned members will have their account permanently banned as well. No Exceptions.

12. Subscriptions and Paid Services: Paid Subscriptions are available to members who wish to provide financial support to The Service. Subscribers may be, and currently are, provided with a bundle of privileges and services on The Service during the term of the subscription, which are superior to the privileges and services of non-Subscribers. The Proprietor reserves the right to eliminate or alter the bundle of privileges and services pertaining to subscriber status at any time, without notice. Your subscription payment creates no implied contract on the part of The Proprietor to maintain the content, services, and features of The Service as they were at the time you subscribed, or to maintain you in the user classes to which you were assigned at the time of your subscription, or to maintain the privileges, services, and site features of those classes. Nor does it limit The Proprietor's editorial and curatorial control of The Service in any way. We reserve the right to deny You access to The Service, notwithstanding your subscriber status, for the same reasons that we may deny access to non-subscribers, at our discretion. In such event, The Proprietor shall be liable for no more than a refund of your subscription amount, pro-rated by the time remaining in the subscription term. If you are banned because you violated these TOS, The Proprietor will not refund any unused portion of your subscription payments.

13. Indemnity: You agree to indemnify and hold the Proprietor, and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, co-branders or other partners, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of Content you submit, post, transmit or make available through the Service, your use of the Service, your connection to the Service, your violation of the TOS, or your violation of any rights of another.