This statement has been prepared to assure our visitors of their privacy and to explain
the terms and conditions while using the LowCarbFriends.com website (the "Service"),
which consists of interactive message bulletin boards, chat area, Recipe Room, Faces Gallery, Product Reviews,
plus other areas. Users must agree to abide by the rules, regulations and guidelines (the "Terms") as
set forth below.
This Service is being provided by Friends Forums LLC ("Friends Forums") as a free
service for the support of the low carb lifestyle. It is meant to provide
visitors with a convenient and friendly forum in which to exchange
information about their way of eating and to discuss issues regarding
low carb diets and body weight control in a cordial and respectful manner.
Rules regarding conduct, submitted material and advertising
The Service is offered free of charge to users through the support from the
site Sponsor, Netrition.com, as well as
other marketing programs specifically authorized by Friends Forums.
Unauthorized advertising or promotion of products and/or services OF ANY KIND
is strictly prohibited - regardless of whether it is low-carb related
or not - and regardless of whether the user has a financial interest in it or not.
Private Messaging is accessible after a member has at least 25 message posts AND
has been a member for at least 25 days. The ability to upload attachments and
access your Signature is also granted at this time.
The "Playground" forum, a forum for off-topic posts un-related to low carbing,
is accessible after a member has at least 60 message posts AND has been a
member for at least 60 days. Members also gain the ability to add images to their
Signature after 60 days and 60 posts.
Links or references to other websites may be posted ONLY if the linked site is informational
in nature without sales or significant advertising. Websites that are linked to in
a post must comply with this Service's Terms regarding permitted content and language. Links to sites
that violate this policy are not permitted and will be removed at the discretion of the administrators.
Posts may be modified by Friends Forums to add links (shown using a dotted underline rather
than solid underline in most web browsers) to the Sponsor's website when relevant
products are discussed. Do not assume that these links in a message post are an
endorsement by the poster of a product or service that is linked to.
You may enter your personal home page URL in your bulletin board
profile as long as it DOES NOT advertise products and/or services - or link directly to
websites that advertise products and/or services. It will be at the discretion of the
administrators to deny or permit a website URL as a member profile "Homepage" -
based on its content.
Friends Forums will deny any attempts to use this Service
as a medium to disseminate unauthorized advertising of any kind.
Any message posts, including Private Messages, which Friends Forums feels
represent attempts to use the bulletin board for unauthorized advertising
will be edited or deleted at our discretion and the user will be subject to being
banned from further use of the Service.
The collection of email addresses or other contact information - and
recruiting of customers and/or visitors to other websites or services is
strictly forbidden. Due to privacy concerns, it is forbidden to post any
email address, physical address, or phone number. It is also forbidden
to request others to post any email address, physical address or phone
number.
You will receive a password and account designation upon completing the Service's registration
process. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the password and account,
and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password or account.
You agree to (a) immediately notify Friends Forums of any unauthorized use of your password or account
or any other breach of security, and (b) ensure that you exit from your account at the end of
each session. Friends Forums cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your
failure to comply with this rule.
Only one account per person is permitted on the Service. If it is found, or
of the opinion of the administrators, that an individual has registered for multiple
accounts, all of the accounts for that individual will be deleted and the user
will be banned from further use of the Service. If you already have an account but forgot
your password, do NOT create a new account. Go
here
to reset your password. If your email address has changed and you no longer have access
to the email account that you registered with,
please contact us.
If you wish to change your
account name, please contact us.
You understand that all information, data, text, photographs, graphics, messages or
other materials ("Content"), whether publicly posted or privately transmitted,
are the sole responsibility of the person from which such Content originated.
This means that you, and not Friends Forums, are entirely responsible for all Content
that you upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available via the Service. Friends Forums
does not control the Content posted via the Service and, as such, does not guarantee the
accuracy, integrity or quality of such Content. You understand that by using the Service,
you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable. Under no
circumstances will Friends Forums be liable in any way for any Content, including, but not
limited to, for any errors or omissions in any Content, or for any loss or damage of
any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, emailed, transmitted
or otherwise made available via the Service.
Posting copyrighted material without listing attribution AND permission from
the copyright holder is strictly forbidden. Posted articles will be deleted that
do not list the source (attribution) and information to indicate that permission
has been granted (explicitly authorized or as a general policy of the copyright
holder) to re-print the article on LowCarbFriends.com. In general, this means that
you can not just copy information that you find on other websites into new posts on
this site. The rules forbidding the posting of links to certain types of websites
still apply.
Friends Forums intends to maintain a positive and respectful climate on the
Service. To help reach this goal, certain highly contentious topics are not allowed
for discussion or debate including, but not limited to, politics, religion, and abortion.
A faith-based well-wishing message will be allowed as long as it does not enter into
religious debate. An avatar or signature indicating basic support for a particular
political candidate is permitted, but all other political statements are not allowed.
Users should be careful to make sure that their messages are courteous
at all times, and that any criticism of individuals, products, or companies be framed
in a constructive context designed to encourage civil discourse.
Content which is slanderous, fraudulent, threatening, abusive,
harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, or racially or
ethnically objectionable, confrontational, unnecessarily
contentious, mean-spirited, or are intended to ridicule, embarrass or humiliate,
including, without limitation, any material
that encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, result
in civil liability, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state,
national or international law is prohibited.
When submitting Content, a good rule of thumb is to use only
words and tone which you would use speaking to a friend face to face and which you
know will be heard by thousands of others. If your message doesn't meet these guidelines,
it probably doesn't belong on the Service. Please do not tease or otherwise provoke
someone you know you don't get along with. This will be considered a personal attack.
If you object to a post, and consider it a flame or insult,
please use the "Report this post to a moderator" link (which looks like this on each post:
)
instead of insulting the poster back.
If you flame others through personal attacks, even in response to a perceived personal attack,
you may lose your posting privileges.
We do not permit postings critical of admins, moderators, sponsors, or owners.
We do not permit discussions of these Terms of Service and their enforcement.
You may privately send comments to us concerning any of these issues using
the Service's Help Desk (if you have
an account and are logged in) or the Service's contact form (if you do not have a
working account).
This is a very large and busy site with thousands of members. It is a huge
job for us to keep it running smoothly. As with any large community, it will
experience it's share of trouble-makers. If we ask you to stop doing something
or change something, please just do it.
We do not have the time to enter into a discussion with you about it. If your post or thread
has been deleted, please accept it as we do not have time to send you a detailed
explanation. We welcome debate
regarding low-carb issues, but these rules (the Terms of Service) are not open for discussion,
argument or debate.
Any public discussion of such matters will be removed and you may lose your posting privileges.
Please remember that we've opened this Service up to you and would like you to stay and feel
welcome here. We put a lot of time and effort into providing you with a clean and
safe environment - which means we clean up a lot of posts that violate the rules.
Please help us keep this place a clean and pleasant environment so we can all enjoy it.
If you notice any violation of these rules in a post, please report
them to us using the "Report this post to a moderator" link (which looks like this on each post:
).
All areas of the Service are subject to monitoring - including Private Messages - for
compliance with these Terms of Service and to investigate illegal activity.
Friends Forums reserves the right to interpret and enforce these rules, to edit
or delete messages which, in its opinion, violate the letter or spirit of these rules,
and to prohibit the use of the Service by violators.
You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, trade, resell or
exploit, any portion of the Service.
Friends Forums does not claim ownership of Content you submit or make available
for inclusion on the Service. However, with respect to Content you submit or
make available for inclusion on the Service, you grant Friends Forums a
world-wide, royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable and fully sublicensable license to use,
distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, and publicly
display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such content into other works
in any format or medium now known or later developed.
Privacy
Any information collected through contests, surveys, mailing lists,
or any other form of information gathering will be used
for the purpose described. We will not sell,
trade, or rent your personal information gathered in these methods,
unless you choose to "opt in" to any offers that will
be specifically outlined to you at the time of opting.
This Service contains links to other sites. LowCarbFriends.com is not responsible
for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.
Site traffic and site usage is monitored for strategic purposes in the layout
and functionality of the site. "Cookies" may be used
to gather this information, such as the number of times a page
is viewed, but this information will only be sent back to our
server.
By registering and maintaining an account on the Service Bulletin Board, you agree to
allow Friends Forums to email you regarding news, site updates,
services and products you may find valuable. You can also opt-in or opt-out of our emailing list.
We do not sell, rent or redistribute any personal or other information
collected through bulletin board membership, email lists,
contests, surveys, polls or other information collection.
Information gathered is solely used to determine improvements
to any number of areas of the Service and to market products that may
be of interest to you from our exclusive sponsor,
Netrition.com.
Indemnity
You agree to indemnify and hold Friends Forums, 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 Terms of Service,
or your violation of any rights of another.
Any litigation, dispute, or other claim which may arise from the use or involvement of the Service or
it's owner, Friends Forums, shall be settled in accordance with the laws of the United States of
America and particularly the State of New York and shall be heard and venued in the County of Albany.
Disclaimers
All submitted Content is that of the opinion or suggestion of the
poster and therefore is not necessarily that of Friends Forums. We do not claim to
be health experts, physicians or dietitians, and the source of
any information of this nature found on the Service does not claim
the Service as it's source. Friends Forums is not
responsible for any consequences incurred by anyone following
directions or instructions found on the Service. We encourage you
to consult your physician if you have any questions or concerns
of a medical nature. Friends Forums is not responsible for
any results of users posting email or any other personal information
on the Service. Any unauthorized copyrighted material found on
the Service will be removed.
LowCarbFriends.com and its owner, Friends Forums LLC, are not associated in any way with
the Atkins Diet or the Atkins Center.
By using this Service, you consent to these terms and conditions. We reserve
the right to make changes to our Terms of Service at any time.
Such changes will be posted to this page.
If you have any further questions regarding these Terms of Service or your
privacy and safety, please contact us using
the Service's Help Desk (if you have
an account and are logged in) or the Service's contact form (if you do not have a
working account).
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