BoonEx Unity Constitution. Draft 1.

This week we plan to get BoonEx Unity back on track. The first step is to refresh our set of rules. So, meet the BoonEx Unity Constitution, which is now being designed to substitute for both "Unity Rules" and "BoonEx Terms of Use". The Constitution will not need a referendum or any voting to be adopted, however, we would like to gather your feedback before making it effective. Please, read carefully and send us your feedback or amendment proposals.

In particular, we need to set-up rules of moderation and conflict escalation. The current Unity system has some moderation tools but they are limited, and the development of new ones may be limited due to anticipation of the upcoming upgrade of the BoonEx site to Dolphin 7 software. Thus, we still need to establish rules and procedures, however, some of them may have to wait until the end of July to take effect.

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BoonEx Unity Constitution

(aka “Terms of Use and Conditions of Service”, aka “Rules”)

Introduction

Welcome to Unity, the interactive platform for community software administrators and developers.

We strive to provide an enjoyable online experience for all of our users and reserve the right, but undertake no duty, to review, edit, move, or remove any content submitted by Unity users, in our sole discretion and without prior notice.

The following Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to the website, including, but not limited to, all text, photo, audio and video files, extensions or other data. You should review the entire document to understand the terms and conditions that apply to you. Your use of the website, and/or submission of any content, constitutes your agreement to terms of the given Rules.

Violation of any of these rules will result in the removal of content. Repeat violations may result in suspension or termination of your Unity profile without prior notice and in the sole discretion of BoonEx Unity Administrators.

By joining and using BoonEx Unity, you agree to abide by the following rules, and agree with the following Terms and Definitions:

1. General Rules

1.1 You certify that you are 13 years of age or over. All those individuals under 13 years of age will need a full release form from their parents before posting any content. This is in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 2000 (COPPA).

1.2 You are solely responsible for the photos, profiles (including your name, image, or other data), messages, notes, text, information, music, video, and other content that you upload, publish or display (hereinafter, 'post') on or through Unity, or transmit to or share with other users. Any information or material placed in any section of Unity, including opinions and advice, are the views and responsibility of those who post the statements and do not necessarily represent the views of the service provider (Unity, BoonEx). Your submissions will or may become public. You may be unable to remove your content from the website.

1.3 Since this is interactive, and everyone who participates in Unity is "in it together", please treat others the way you wish to be treated. Personal attacks are not allowed nor tolerated. Should anyone use inappropriate language, start a personal attack, or engage in hate speech, they will be barred from all further discussions and any use of the system. Lively debate and opposing opinions are welcome, but please behave courteously and responsibly.

1.4 BoonEx Unity Administration does not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify, or agree with the comments, opinions, or statements posted on forums, blogs or otherwise contained in the Unity.

1.5 Personal exposure. Anyone posting another member's personal details or website details without permission will be banned.

1.6 Do not post information that encourages criminal activity of any kind, or any statements that may give rise to civil liability.

1.7 Please be descriptive, specific, and concise in your postings. This way, your opinion and point is clearly understood and referenced. Remember, people from all over the world read here with English as a second language.

2. General Netiquette

2.1 Read and search before posting. Your question might be answered already in an existing forum discussion, blog post or comment.

2.2 Use meaningful titles. Forum Thread and blog posts titles should be meaningful to other users, both now and in the future. Titles are how you make a first impression on other users. A vague or meaningless title might result in users deliberately ignoring your post. Use a title that summarizes your situation, without being melodramatic or insulting. Also note that meaningful titles make searching the content much easier for others.

2.3 Remember your audience — present and future! Be aware that a large audience might see your post, and your words may come back to haunt you. That audience might potentially include past, present and future employers; staff at your place of study; friends; family; etc. And unlike the spoken word, your written posts will exist on BoonEx Unity for a long time.

2.4 Challenge arguments, not people. If you absolutely need to attack, do not attack other people, attack their argument — and this does not mean changing "you are an idiot" into "your comments are idiotic". If you take issue with someone else's position, try to explain why you disagree with them in a polite and professional manner, providing suitable supporting evidence as required.

2.5 Do not SHOUT. Excessive use of capitalization and exclamation points (any more than one) is considered shouting and shows that you are unable to adequately express yourself through the use of normal language. Small amounts of capitalization, when used to emphasize a particular point, is considered acceptable.

3. Membership

3.1  To become a Member and use the services available from BoonEx Unity, you must register for an "Account". You will provide true, accurate and complete information as prompted by the registration form, and update such information to maintain its truth, accuracy and completeness. You must safeguard the Member ID and password you use to access this Site. We may rely on any use of the site with your Member ID and password as authorized by you.

3.2  Usernames, profile descriptions and photos that we feel are inflammatory, vulgar, promotional, or rude may be removed along with the respective accounts.

3.3  You are only authorized to create one (1) user account at any given time. You are strictly prohibited from creating multiple user accounts under different usernames, identities and business entities. Any violations will result in full suspension of your user account(s) without any further notice. Accounts created by BoonEx employees are a notable exception.

4. Illegal and Prohibited Activities

4.1  In general, the BoonEx Unity Constitution prohibits uses and activities that are illegal, infringe the rights of others, or diminish the use of the BoonEx Unity web site by others.

4.2  Using this Website for any unlawful purpose is prohibited. This includes posting, storing, transmitting or disseminating information, data or material which is libelous, obscene, unlawful, threatening or defamatory, or which infringes the intellectual property rights of any person or entity, or which in any way constitutes or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, or otherwise violate any local, state, or international law, order, or regulation.

4.3  It is prohibited to post, store, transmit or disseminate information, data or material which is unlawful, threatening, harassing, malicious, hateful, abusive, slanderous, defamatory, obscene, embarrassing to others or otherwise contrary to the purpose of this website, as determined by BoonEx Unity Administration at their sole discretion.

4.4  It is prohibited to upload, post, publish, transmit, reproduce, or distribute information, software or other materials obtained through the BoonEx Unity websites or otherwise that is protected by copyright or other proprietary right, without obtaining the permission of the owner.

4.5  Transmission of unsolicited bulk or commercial messages commonly known as "spam" is strictly prohibited.

4.6  Participation in the collection of e-mail addresses, screen names, or other identifiers of others (without their prior consent) is prohibited.

4.7  Impersonation of any person or entity, engagement in sender address falsification, forging anyone else's digital or manual signature, or performing in any other similar fraudulent activity (for example, "phishing") is prohibited.

4.8  Violation of the rules, regulations, or policies applicable to any network, server, computer database, or Web site that you access is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, accessing data not intended for you, logging into or making use of a server or account you are not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other hosts, networks, or accounts without express permission to do so.

4.9  Distribution of programs that make unauthorized changes to software (cracks), posting or transmitting any information or software which contains a worm, virus, or other harmful feature, or generating levels of traffic sufficient to impede others' ability to use, send, or retrieve information is prohibited.

5. Personal Attacks

5.1  Abuse, insults and personal attacks directed at other people, particularly other BoonEx Unity users, are unacceptable.

5.2  If you disagree with someone on some point, please do not resort to name calling or personal attacks - rather argue the merits of their points. This is not a school playground. You don't have to call people names to get your point across.

5.3  Abuse against any person, group or company outside of BoonEx Unity is prohibited - this includes abuse directed at BoonEx competitors, their employees and their representatives.

5.4  If you receive a personal message you find insulting or inappropriate, place the sender on your ignore list and then contact BoonEx Unity Administration with details of the message and the sender.

6. Defamation, Intolerance and Vilification

6.1  BoonEx unity is open to everyone. As such intolerance or vilification of other people's race, culture, beliefs, height, weight, hair color, IQ, gender, physical or mental conditions, site design, choice of domain name, sexual preference / orientation, religion, age, etc is unacceptable. This includes using "gay" to mean "bad" (such as "this site is gay", etc.); using "American" to mean "killing arabs or taking over the world"; using "Indian call centre" to mean "incompetent, ill-informed call centre"; etc.

6.2  Before you post consider the context of what you are saying. Check who is identified. Just because you refer to someone by their Unity username doesn’t mean there aren’t people who know the real identity behind the username. If it is meant to be comment, ensure that it is clearly identified as such (for example by adding “In my opinion …” and that the facts on which it is based are stated or obvious). Try to focus on issues rather than personalities.

6.3  If you think you have been defamed report the post and/or contact a moderator. Explain what you think is defamatory and why you think so. Moderators will review the posts, and remove threads or posts as required under BoonEx Unity own forum rules. If you believe there are specific users making inappropriate comments about a person or business, please provide any additional information that may be helpful in verifying whether this person is in fact doing so maliciously. This information will also assist in determining how best to deal with the user in question. If you choose to respond publicly take the time to politely post a response that puts forth your (alternate) point of view.

7. Foul Language (Swearing)

7.1  BoonEx unity is a professional and friendly place. The use of foul language is considered to be unacceptable.

7.2  Swearing which is contextually understandable, e.g removing a letter, replacing letters with * or another character, or changing the spelling slightly, will also be moderated. For example, words like "fsck" and “STFU”.

7.3  Content containing lesser swear words will not normally be moderated, provided the words are used sparingly (e.g. once in a post), and the content is otherwise on topic and useful.

7.4  Content with swear words that are used in the context of a personal attack/insult will be removed, not necessarily because of the foul language, but for being a personal attack. This also goes for all those non-swear words insults like "fool", "idiot", etc.

7.5  Swearing in another language is also unacceptable. Regardless of how few people you think might understand it.

7.6  Use of any swear word (or acronym containing swearing) in reoccurring content (usernames, quips, email addresses, IM names, etc) or in thread titles is inappropriate.

8. Personal Details and Private Conversations

8.1  The posting of an individual's personal details is not permitted under any circumstances. This includes posting details of political figures, ISP staff, people that have wronged you, etc.

8.2  It is also inappropriate to post company contact details which aren't available publicly. Examples of this might be an employee's desk phone number, or details on a priority/escalation support line.

8.3  If these details have been previously published by the employee or the company, then it's probably okay. But if the details were provided to you as a customer because you have an unusual or critical issue, it's inappropriate to post it in the forums.

8.4 Posting of private correspondence (PMs, emails, etc) or transcripts of private conversations (phone calls, face-to-face discussions) are not permitted, since there is no way to verify the validity of the text; and there may be copyright implications arising from the publication of such private communication.

8.5  The posting of Skype / IRC / ICQ / MSN / Yahoo / etc logs is not permitted, because there is no way to verify the validity of the logs, they may breach copyright, and they often contain content unsuitable for boonEx Unity.

9. Commercial Advertising

9.1  In general, the advertising of commercial ventures is considered unacceptable at BoonEx Unity, except where specifically permitted.

9.2  You can use links in your user profile to link to your business site.

9.3  You can use your username or profile description to denote your affiliation with a company name/site name.

9.4  You are free to respond to any direct questions regarding the products and services you offer (but only if the user mentions your company or unique product/service).

9.5  If a user wishes to contact you, or requests you to contact them, then feel free to do so.

9.6  Creating threads or posts that serve solely to promote your business (whatever that maybe) is prohibited.

9.7  The emailing or PMing of unsolicited advertising material to other BoonEx Unity users is prohibited.

9.8  Advertising is permitted when posted in the areas of BoonEx Unity specifically designated for commercial advertising (i.e. BoonEx Ads, Announcement Forums, Extensions Store, etc.).

10. Off-topic

10.1  Posting off topic comments in a blog post or forum thread may result in your post being removed, particularly if your post stands out as being off topic compared to the other posts in the thread, or if your post stands to interfere with a line of otherwise on-topic conversation within the thread. Note that comments about grammar, spelling, moderation, etc, will be considered off-topic in almost every instance (unless the thread is specifically about grammar, spelling, moderation, etc).

11. Moderating

11.1  The moderator must be respectful, fair, and give equal attention to all community members and/or issues raised in the process of moderation. Discrimination of any kind is prohibited.

11.2  Personal relationships affecting the overall process of moderation must be avoided.

11.3  When provided with partial access to the extensions source codes, a moderator may not use it for personal, commercial, or other unacceptable and/or illegal purposes and must pay due attention to the copyright issue.

11.4  A moderator should facilitate the conversational flow and monitor timely feedback to any posted information, material, or the like. Do not allow a situation where the latest posts are reviewed and responded to earlier than the older topics.

11.5  Moderators are highly advised to comment only on those topics and products in which he/she has adequate competence and\or experience and avoiding unprofessional statements thus being a perfect example of professional behavior and good conduct.

12. Commercial Transactions

12.1 Any sale and/or download between members is a deal between members, and BoonEx is not liable in any manner for the contents of the sold/downloaded files and provides no support or financial backup for neither buyers nor sellers. BoonEx Unity is only a platform where these deals may occur, and we do not charge any fee for providing this platform. All refunds, chargebacks, support or backup issues should be settled between buyers and sellers only. The Unity goal is to promote a safe trading environment for our members. When transaction problems occur, Unity provides assistance by facilitating communication between Unity members, however we are unable to take action on a member's behalf. This includes contacting a member directly to ask about the status of a sale. Since Unity is not involved in the actual transaction, we cannot force a member to live up to his or her obligation. We do not provide protection or insurance in the event that you didn't receive a purchased product, however, sellers who cheat will be barred from using Unity if cheating is reported and proven.

12.2  Any disputes regarding arrangements between the Buyers and Sellers of any type of products and services remain solely between Buyers and Sellers. We are not involved in any transactions between You and any other users of the BoonEx Unity web site. You acknowledge and agree that BoonEx will not be a party to any such dispute or be obligated to take any action or refrain from taking any action toward resolving any such dispute. If you have a dispute with any other users of the Site, you hereby release BoonEx from any and all claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, related to such a dispute.

13. Removal and Suspension

13.1. The Site Administration may, in its sole discretion, terminate your account, and discontinue your participation. Users in violation with the rules of this BoonEx Unity Constitution may be deactivated with no prior notification, though every effort will be made to notify the deactivated user.

13.3. In cases of Unity rules violation, the user-generated content will be deleted, regardless of whether or not the rest of the post or thread is "valid"; and the user's account may be suspended for a period of time, ranging from 24 hours to a permanent ban.

14. Modifications

14.1  This BoonEx Unity Constitution may be modified anytime and without notice. No modification can be done without approval of the owners of BoonEx Pty Ltd.

15. Termination

15.1 These Rules also serve as “Terms of Use and Conditions of Service” and constitute a binding agreement between you and BoonEx Pty Ltd until terminated by you or BoonEx, which we may do at any time, without notice, in our sole discretion. If you become dissatisfied with this BoonEx site, in any way, your only recourse is to immediately discontinue use of BoonEx Unity website.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY AND WARRANTY DISCLAIMER

BOONEX MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS OF THE SERVICE FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE NUMBER OF PROJECTS OR BIDS WHICH WILL BE DELIVERED. THE SERVICES PROVIDED HEREUNDER ARE PROVIDED "AS IS", AS AVAILABLE, AND WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS (EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARISING BY STATUTE OR OTHERWISE IN LAW OR FROM A COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OR TRADE). WE MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE QUALITY, IDENTITY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY THIRD PARTY, OR AS TO THE ACCURACY OF THE POSTINGS MADE ON THE WEB SITE BY ANY THIRD PARTY. SOME STATES AND JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. BOONEX SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR THE CONTENTS OF ANY WEB SITES OR PAGES, NOR FOR ANY LOSS, COSTS, DAMAGE OF EXPENSE (INCLUDING REASONABLE ATTORNEY'S FEES) INCURRED BY CLIENT INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, FOR ANY TECHNICAL MALFUNCTION, COMPUTER ERROR OR LOSS OF DATA OR OTHER INJURY DAMAGE OR DISRUPTION TO CLIENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL BOONEX’ LIABILITY EVER EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID TO THE SITE BY CLIENT HEREUNDER. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE SITE BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS AGREEMENT EVEN IF SUCH DAMAGES ARE FORESEEABLE AND WHETHER OR NOT THE SITE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY THEREOF. BOONEX WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR, OR CONSIDERED TO BE IN BREACH OF OR IN DEFAULT, ON ACCOUNT OF ANY DELAY OR FAILURE TO PERFORM AS ANTICIPATED BY THE PARTIES, A DELAY IN SUBMITTING A BID BY YOU, OR IF the BOONEX SITE BECOMES INOPERABLE OR INCAPABLE OF PERFORMING AS INTENDED. BOONEX MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS THAT THE OPERATION OF ITS SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, AND WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF ANY INTERRUPTIONS OR ERRORS.