The Rules, Regulations, and Other Legal Information
This bulletin board service (“Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board“) is provided by Jamaicans.com to you (“you” or “user”), subject to the rules below. If you violate the rules you may permanently be banned from using the “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board” and we will contact your Internet Service Provider regarding improper use of the Internet. Accessing the “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board” will constitute acceptance of the rules below. If you do not agree to abide by these rules, PLEASE DO NOT ENTER OR USE “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board”

Bulletin Board Rules:
You are entirely liable for all statements, comments, or opinions posted on “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board”. Please read our disclaimer. This board is not a public place. It is not the front of your local city hall, neither is it the streets in front of your home, nor is it a public university campus where you have a right to free speech.

Moderators may, at will and without notice, remove postings or ban participants that are deemed objectionable or that violate bulletin board rules. Moderators have the right to delete or add a statement or disclaimer in any posting.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless this BB, Infopop, Inc. (the makers of the bulletin board software), and their agents with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).

We at this BB also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of a legal complaint or action arising from any message posted by you.

This is Jamaicans.com’s house, built primarily with the funds of the webmaster and those of a few others who have helped me out. If you do not like the way we run this place, you are welcome to leave. If you have a problem with our rules or preferences, keep in mind that you are welcome to leave.

Listed below are some, though not all, violations which may result in Jamaicans.com banning/terminating or suspending you from using “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board”. You agree not to do any of the following actions while using “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board”. Moderators may, at will and without notice, remove postings or ban participants that are deemed objectionable or that violate this code of conduct. Moderators have the right to delete or add a statement or disclaimer in any posting.

• Please treat all other online participants with respect and do not use the Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board to threaten, harass, stalk, or abuse other users. We reserves the right to remove user-created services and content that advocate or encourage expressions of violence, drug use, bigotry, racism, hatred, obscenity, or profanity.
• Respect the privacy of other members and individuals. Do not post personal information about them (i.e. Name, addresses, phone numbers, passwords, pictures, family names etc.) without their consent.
• Do not make any statement, accusation, comment, or opinion that may be considered (a) harmful to, libelous or slanderous to, any person, country or company.
• Do not malign, ridicule and/or insult anyone or make threatening or racial remarks to users of Jamaicans.com regardless of their status in life, political belief, ethnicity, race, religion and/or gender.
• Ignore trolls and troublemakers. Posting only encourages them. The threads may be entertaining to those individuals who are uninvolved in the personal attacks, but they only cause problems in the long term.
• Do not attempt to post topics with “hidden agenda” items while “hiding behind” the rules of this board so as to bait other members of this forum into a “flame” fight.
• Have respect for other opinions. If you disagree with someone, do not attack them personally. Try to make thoughtful comments about their opinion, perspective, assumptions, etc., but do not attack them personally. Everyone has an opinion based on a number of different factors, like their own personal experiences, values, etc. If someone disagrees with you, it is probably because they value one thing more than another. Attacking them does nothing but create anger and resentment. Discussing the values and perspective that underlies their opinions may increase your understanding and it may encourage them to see your perspective as well. Personal attacks are the tools of someone who probably doesn’t have a very good point to make, or of someone who holds a belief that has no foundation in reasoned thought.
• Do not post any information, data, text, files, links, software, or other materials (“Content”) that Jamaicans.com considers to be unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, inflammatory, derogatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful, ethnically or otherwise objectionable; (G-Rated Material is the rule on our site – Please do not simulate curse words using ####, $%@, or *** etc. as replacement for letters).
• Do not use Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board to impersonate another person or misrepresent authorization to act on behalf of others including but not limited to, “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board” officials, board leaders, or representatives.
• Use smiley faces, emoticons or other indicators of intent liberally. One of the major flaws of Internet communication is the lack of vocal inflections and visual indications of emotion, intent, sarcasm, etc. Be clear what you mean. Many problems occur because someone does not pick up on the sarcasm or otherwise get the joke.
• Do not post advertising, promotional materials, or any other forms of solicitation on “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board”. The owners of Community Forum reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any content item for any reason. If you can answer a specific question by mentioning your business or website, or posting a URL that’s fine, but just posting your URL or any URL’s not acceptable. Again this is not the area to post/request a link, encourage visitors to your website, or advertise your products. You can request a link on our Links Page and get advertising information here.
• Do not attempt to contact the people who post messages on this “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board” with advertisements or otherwise commercially motivated, unsolicited emails (SPAM emails) nor use the Private Message feature to do so.
• Don’t say something to someone you wouldn’t say to them in person. This won’t stop a few people from saying inappropriate things, and those people should probably learn a few lessons about tact, respect, decorum, etc.
• Do not intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, including but not limited to any regulations having the force of law while using or accessing “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board” or in connection with your use of “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board” in any manner.
• This is a G-Rated Board, so keep in mind that children and minors use this board. Try to be a role model and behave in a way that is appropriate.

Content:
You must evaluate, and bear the risk associated with, the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any item you post to “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board”. Jamaicans.com does not pre-screen Content as a matter of policy, but Jamaicans.com shall have the right, but not the responsibility, to remove Content, which is deemed in Jamaicans.com’s sole discretion harmful, offensive, or otherwise in violation of any rules Jamaicans.com has in place at the time. This also includes posting with hidden agendas.

“Jamaicans.com” may elect at its sole discretion to monitor some, all, or no areas of “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board” for adherence to this Agreement or Jamaicans.com’s rules. You acknowledge that by providing you with the ability to distribute your postings, Jamaicans.com is acting as a passive conduit for such distribution.

We reserve the right to modify or remove any content that violate any of the Jamaicans.com Community Bulletin Board Rules.

Copyrighted or Trademarked Materials
It is illegal to post any content that is copyrighted or trademarked, unless you hold the copyright or trademark. Any material protected by copyright may not be posted in the message boards without the expressed permission of the author or owner of the copyright on that material. This includes reproducing the full text of news stories, articles, etc. It is acceptable to provide a link to copyrighted material, to post brief excerpts, or to paraphrase other works, though we do strongly encourage you to cite the original source when ever possible.

If you believe that your work has been copied and is accessible on this site in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, you may notify jamaicans.com. Click here for instructions.

Trolls and Trolling
Trolls are not welcome and will be banned. An Internet “troll” is a person who delights in sowing discord on the Internet. They try to start arguments and upset people. Trolls see Internet communications services as convenient venues for their bizarre game. For some reason, they don’t “get” that they are hurting real people. To them, other Internet users are not quite human but are a kind of digital abstraction. Indeed, the greater the suffering they cause, the greater their ‘achievement’ (as they see it). The anonymity of the net allows trolls to flourish. They are easily identified by the fact that they are constantly at odds with other members of the forum, and often “poke fun” at individuals they have disagreed with in the past, trying to provoke a reaction. Finally, trolls create a paranoid environment, such that a casual criticism by a new arrival can elicit a ferocious and inappropriate backlash. When you try to reason with a troll, he wins. When you insult a troll, he wins. When you scream at a troll, he wins. The only thing that trolls can’t handle is being ignored. Again we will ban anyone who practices “Trolling”.

Thread Hijacking
Keep threads on topic. If you wish to start a discussion on a new topic start a new thread please. We all know that conversations take on a life of their own, but we do not want to have thread subjects that have nothing to do with the thread’s title. Stay on topic.

Signature:
The goal of our signature rules is to avoid distractions while reading threads, stop solicitations and unwanted spam. These rules apply to all Jamaicans.com Community Board users including moderators and administrators.

You may use a signature (also commonly used in email messages) on your posts on the Community Board. You may set your signature in your member profile. Once you have a signature stored, you can choose to include it with any post you make by checking the “include signature” box when you create your post.

Your “signature” may not exceed two lines, and may contain one image no larger than 10Kb in size, 300 pixels wide and 50 pixels high. A typical signature contains the poster’s name, e-mail address, web site, and a favorite quote or saying.

While you are allowed to promote your personal web site(s) in your signature, you are not permitted to post excessive links to sites, any kind of affiliate programs with referrer IDs, or links that otherwise violate Jamaicans.com Forum Rules.

We reserve the right to remove any signatures that we deem inappropriate, without notice.

We don’t advise putting your email, home address, or phone number in a signature line because of possible email harvesting and your privacy. For your protection we do not allow addresses and/or phone numbers in signature lines or the body of posts. We reserve the right to modify or remove any signature. Moderators will edit out signatures that violate any of these rules. We will send you one PRIVATE MESSAGE about an incorrect signature line. If you do not correct it, moderators/administrators have the right to access your profile and edit your signature line. If the problem persists you will be suspended from posting on the Jamaicans.com Community Board.

User Names and Public Display Names:
We request that you are responsible when choosing your user name. Please do not create user names that are blatantly racial, prejudiced, relate to ‘adult’ activities, illegal acts or are inflammatory.

User Termination/Ban/Suspension:
Jamaicans.com retains the absolute right to terminate any user id, to revoke an individual’s posting privileges, to ban an individual from creating any new user ids, and to terminate any person’s membership.

As a general rule if a moderator cautions a user twice in one week it will result in a 2-week ban. If a user is cautioned more that 4 times in a 1 month period it will result in a 2-month ban. Any user cautioned over 4 times, is subject to being banned from posting on Jamaicans.com based on a case-by-case review.

Liability:
To the full extent permissible under the applicable law, Jamaicans.com shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages resulting from the use or inability to use “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board” or for cost of procurement of substitute goods and services or resulting from any goods or services purchased or obtained or messages received or transactions entered into through “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board” or resulting from unauthorized access to or alteration of profits, use, data, or other intangible properties, even if Jamaicans.com has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

What to Do:
If you witness a posting on a “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board” that violates the rules then in effect, please email the offending person and/or cut and paste the relevant content into an email to us. Please refer to this document from time to time for any updates Jamaicans.com may make to “Jamaicans.com Bulletin Board” Rules.

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