GUIDELINES

MISSION STATEMENT
These forums were created by photographers for photographers. The intent is to provide a friendly and civil atmosphere to discuss nature photography and display and receive constructive feedback on posted images. Please help us create and maintain such an environment by following the forum guidelines.

FORUM GUIDELINES
Registration is required to post on the forums or to acess the image forums but it is free. This is to minimize casual unregistered visitors from accessing member email addresses and other information.

The forums are intended for the sole purpose of nature photography. Discussion or debate on other topics, such as politics or religion, should not take place in the forums. See the Terms of Use further down this page for more details.

No advertisements are permitted in the forums. Members may add a single internet link to their signature lines for promotion, such as of nature photography workshops or tours that they provide, as well as nature-related products or services. There is a special Workshops forum where workshops may be listed. NatureScapes.Net® does not sponsor or support any such promoted activities and is not affiliated with them. NatureScapes.Net® reserves the right to promote products and/or services that it offers in order to help support the site.

Dialog should remain courteous and civil to maintain a friendly atmosphere in the forums. NatureScapes.Net® reserves the right to edit or delete posts contrary to the intended use of these forums. Report offensive posts to the forum moderators. Repeated offenses by posters may force suspension of the member(s) from the forums. It is the intent to maintain a level of courteousness so that all members may enjoy the forum interaction. Debates and controversy pertaining to nature photography are appropriate when conducted cordially. Character attacks of any fashion have no place on these forums.

POSTING GUIDELINES
Images should not exceed 200 kilobytes nor should they exceed 750 pixels on the longest side. Panoramic images may be up to 850 pixels on the longest side, 450 pixels on the shorter side.

Only one image post per every twenty-four hours is allowed in each critique gallery except for the Birds Gallery which is one image post every forty-eight hours. Please keep image posts in Photography Topics and Digital Topics discussion forums to a minimum and for illustrative purposes only, not for critique. Image posts are allowed in the Nature Photography Goods Classifieds when they are of the equipment being sold (not a likeness or similar product). Image posts are encouraged in the Regional Chapters forums and may be the same images as have been posted elsewhere on the website, but should be from the chapter territory.

Be sure to include technical data, such as what equipment was used and the settings, as well as location information, in your image post. For captive subjects it is recommended a (c) be placed after the subject title text, as well as in the message text. It is also suggested that significant post processing steps be mentioned, such as approximate crop percentages and changes in content.

Two reposts are permitted per image post. The original poster may include a repost under the original image indicating it is the modified version, but please do not replace the original image. As a courtesy, please request the author's permission before reposting their photo. Please do not repost on images indicating "for discussion purposes only".

AVATARS AND SIGNATURE LINES
Our forum software allows personalized avatar icons and signature lines. Avatars should not exceed dimensions of 50 pixels by 50 pixels, or a file size of 5 kilobytes. Please do not use an animated avatar. Avatars posted outside these guidelines may be removed.

Signature lines are allowed one line for self-promotion of your nature and/or photography related endeavor. NatureScapes.Net® reserves the right to edit or request the member edit signature lines that are excessively long and/or distracting. Only text is allowed - no graphics.

TERMS OF USE

NatureScapes.Net, LLC ("We", "Our" or "Us") has included a wealth of information and functionality for you on this Website which is provided subject to the following Terms of Use set forth below. These Terms of Use are an agreement between you and us and govern your access to and use of this Website. In these Terms of Use, the term "you" and "your" includes you individually and the company or employer you work for, if you are accessing the Website for purposes related to your employer's business.

PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT CAREFULLY! IT CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS AS WELL AS LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS THAT MAY APPLY TO YOU. THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS A CHOICE OF FORUM CLAUSE.

1. Privacy Statement. The Privacy Statement for use of the Website (the "Privacy Statement") is adopted and incorporated by reference into these Terms of Use and may be viewed by clicking on the following link: NatureScapes.Net® Privacy Statement. The Privacy Statement is a legal document governing your rights to privacy relating to your use of the Website. We may modify the Privacy Statement from time to time as we may amend these Terms of Use. Any change we make in the Privacy Policy will only apply prospectively. Please thoroughly review the Privacy Statement, in addition to these Terms of Use, prior to making any use of the Website.

2. Acceptance; Amendments. Your use of the Website indicates your agreement that these Terms of Use and the Website Privacy Policy govern your license to access and use the Website and materials posted on the Website. We may change these Terms of Use and/or any of our Website policies at any time by posting revisions to the Website. If you make use of the Website after any changes are posted, that use shall constitute your acceptance of each revised Website policy. If you do not agree to the terms of these Terms of Use or any revised Website policy, you must exit the Website immediately.

3. Submissions to the Website.

A. Article and Photograph Submissions. If you submit to us an article, photograph and/or image for placement on the Website (a "submission"), those submissions are subject to the Website Submission Guidelines which are adopted and incorporated by reference into these Terms of Use. The Submission Guidelines may be viewed by clicking on the following link: NatureScapes.Net® Submissions. You remain the author and/or owner of all proprietary interests in and to the submissions that you provide for posting on the Website.

B. Discussion Forum Postings.

(i) Comments and Other Text. All information and text that you post on the Website discussion forum ("postings") immediately become part of Website and you agree and consent to the use of such postings by us or anyone from the public, free of any claim by you for copyright infringement or other violation of any of your rights. All such postings are non-confidential and non-proprietary. In placing any posting on the Website, you grant to us an irrevocable, non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free and worldwide right and license to disseminate and make use of your posting for any purpose not prohibited expressly by applicable law, without any obligation to pay you any royalties or provide any attribution to you.

(ii) Photographs and Images. Our forums allow you to post photographs and other images onto the Website discussion forum, view photographs and images posted by others, and receive and send commentary on such postings. All photographs and other images that you post on the Website discussion forum (this subset of postings is specifically referred to as "photo postings") are non-confidential. Additionally, we will regularly inspect our servers and perform a data scrub of all photo postings more than forty-five (45) days old. Upon completion of the data scrub, all "scrubbed" photo postings will be deleted from our servers. Photo postings that are less than forty-five (45) days old or less will remain on our servers until the next data scrub.

When you submit a photo posting, you can choose how you permit us and forum participants to make use of your photo posting.

(a) Photo Postings. Unless you provide your photo posting "for discussion purposes only" (under part (b) below), by submitting a photo posting onto the Website discussion forums, you grant us and each forum participant a perpetual, non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free and limited right and license to reproduce, copy, distribute, modify, edit, create derivative works from, and publish such photo postings (in original or modified form) on the Website discussion forum solely for purposes related to a nature photographer's exchange and learning forum. This includes, but is not limited to, generation and display of preview thumbnails. This license does not permit us or any forum participant, without your prior consent, to publish any photo posting in print, to use any photo posting in connection with any article, to modify, edit or create derivative works from any photo posting except for purposes of providing you with critique and constructive feedback by re-posting the modified image back onto the forum with commentary, to modify or delete any copyright notice you provide with your photo posting, or to re-post any photo posting (in original or modified form) anywhere other than within the forum and on our Website servers, as an Image of the Week (see (iii) below), or on your personal portfolio on the Website (if you choose to have a portfolio on the Website under (iv) below).

(b) Photo Postings For Discussion Purposes Only. If you want to submit a photo posting but do not want either us or any forum participant to download the photo posting, modify the photo posting, or re-post the photo posting as modified, you must state in your posting that you "provide this image for discussion purposes only." Note this should be text added with your image post and not to your signature line because this election must be made on an image by image basis. By submitting a photo posting "for discussion purposes only," you grant an irrevocable, non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free and worldwide right and license: (i) to all forum participants to view the photo posting on the forum and provide any comments and/or feedback on the posting in text format only; and (ii) to us to publicly display, reproduce, copy, modify, edit and publish the photo posting only to the extent reasonably necessary for us to display the photo posting on the proper forum for viewing by forum participants, including, but not limited to, generation and display of preview thumbnails. With respect to any photo posting provided "for discussion purposes only," no forum participant is permitted to download, reproduce, copy, modify, edit, create derivative works from, publicly display, publish or re-post the photo posting in any manner, other than through the normal caching operation of their computer browser. Additionally, we will not consider photo postings submitted "for discussion purposes only" to be eligible for nomination as Image of the Week.

No matter how you choose to submit a photo posting, you retain your copyright interest as owner and/or author of your photo postings and all other proprietary rights in and to such photo postings. When you post photo postings onto the Website discussion forums, you represent and warrant that: (i) you are the sole author of the photo posting and/or you have sufficient authority from the author or authors to grant us the rights and licenses set above; and (ii) the photo posing is a work original to the author (unless identified by you as containing original works of third parties) and that such photo posting, including all third party works of authorship, does not infringe any copyright, trademark, tradename (or knowingly infringe any patent or any other proprietary right) of any third party.

(iii) Image of the Week. Unless you tell us otherwise when you post your photo posting onto the Website, all photo postings not submitted "for discussion purposes only" are eligible to be nominated as an Image of the Week. If your photo posting is featured on the Website as an Image of the Week, we may, in our discretion, add an appropriate copyright notice to your photo posting, if your photo posting didn't already bear an appropriate copyright notice. All photo postings featured as an Image of the Week will not be scrubbed from our databases, but rather will be archived and made available on the Website for posterity in the Images of the Week archives.

(iv) Personal Portfolios. Paid members, if they wish, may maintain a personal portfolio page on the Website ("Personal Portfolio"). Photo postings you submit in connection with your Personal Portfolio will not be scrubbed from our databases, but rather will be maintained solely for display in your Personal Portfolio unless and until you resign as a paid member of the Website or otherwise terminate your Personal Portfolio.

C. The Website and Materials Provided by Others. All words, photographs, graphics, images, content, articles and other information that we or any of our users (other than you) make available on the Website (the "Website information") are protected by applicable copyright, trademark, trade secret and other laws protecting our proprietary rights and the rights of our contributors and the authors of such works. By making any use of the Website, you agree that we are not offering for sale or selling the Website information, but instead are granting you a limited, royalty-free, non-exclusive, revocable and non-transferable license to make use of the Website information for your own personal or internal business purposes. Unless otherwise set forth in a separate written agreement signed by us, you agree that this license does not permit you to:

(i) Download any Website information (except to the extent of your browser's ordinary caching operation);

(ii) Sell any Website information downloaded (or copied in another form) for money, barter, exchange or other consideration;

(iii) Redistribute any Website information to anyone (except to your bona fide employees who need the Website information for internal business purposes);

(iv) Make any more than one print copy of any of the Website information;

(v) Republish any Website information for any purpose, including commercial gain;

(vi) Make any alterations, additions or other modifications to any Website information; or

(vii) "Mirror" any Website information on any other server.

All other rights are expressly reserved by us and our contributors. This license automatically terminates if you breach any provision of these Terms of Use. Upon termination, you must immediately destroy or return all downloaded and printed items containing any Website information.

4. No License to Trademarks. All trademarks, service marks, tradenames or other identifying marks displayed on the Website, including and not limited to NatureScapes.Net®, (the "Marks") are owned by us and/or our licensors. Except as applicable law may otherwise provide, or as we may otherwise agree in a signed, separate writing, we do not consent to any use of the Marks by any person and do not grant you any right to use the Marks displayed on this Website.

5. This Website permits you to register for a user name and password to access certain portions of the Website, such as the Image Forums, that are not generally available to the public (the "Restricted Areas") or to post questions and comments to the forums. All Personal Information you provide to us in connection with your registration will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Statement. When you register for access to Restricted Areas of the Website, you represent and/or agree that:

(i) You are 13 years of age or older, you have read and understand these Terms of Use, and all information, including Personal Information, you supply to us is true, correct and complete;

(ii) You acknowledge that these Terms of Use constitute a valid, binding and enforceable agreement between you and us;

(iii) You have full power, authority and legal capacity to enter into, and perform your obligations under these Terms of Use, and, if you are registering on behalf of a business or entity, you agree that you have the authority to bind your principal or employer;

(iv) Your execution and performance of these Terms of Use is not restricted or limited by, and will not result in a breach of, any other obligations, duties, agreements or covenants and will not violate any applicable existing laws, regulations, rules, statutes or governmental orders;

(v) You have and will access the Website and provide information to us with the bona fide intent to use or to evaluate the Website, and not with an ulterior intent, such as to download portions of the Website to compete with us, to infringe an author's copyright in Website information displayed on the Website, or to provide information to any of our competitors;

(vi) In using the Website, you will comply with all applicable international, country, federal and state laws, rules and regulations;

(vii) You will not disclose your user name or password to anyone; you will maintain such codes securely so that no other person may gain access to them, and you will notify Us within twenty-four (24) hours of any unauthorized disclosure or use of your user name and/or password; and

(viii) To the extent that you are negligent in maintaining the confidentiality of your user name and password, you will be responsible for any damages caused to the operation of the Website through the use of your user name and password, and you will be liable for all misuse of the user name and password occurring prior to when you notify us that the account has been compromised and we have reasonable time under the circumstances to terminate applicable access rights.

6. Misuse of the Website. You violate our Website policies and these Terms of Use when you make any use of the Website to:

(i) Infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of others, including copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade secrets and patents;

(ii) Violate others' privacy, publicity or other personal rights, and/or send unsolicited commercial email;

(iii) Advertise, transmit, store, post, display or otherwise make available pornography or obscene speech or material;

(iv) Transmit, display or post defamatory, foul, harassing, abusive or threatening language; and/or

(v) Engage in activities, whether lawful or unlawful, that we determine in our sole and unfettered discretion to be harmful to other users of the Website, Website operations, or our reputation, goodwill or customer relations.

7. Linking to the Domain; No "Framing." We permit reasonable, good faith and non-defamatory links to the Website so long as: (i) it is clear in the link reference that we have not endorsed the contents of the referring page, and that any statements made have not been reviewed or approved by us; and (ii) no use is made of our Marks (though our wordmarks may be used if proper credit is provided on the page [e.g. "NatureScapes.Net®" is a trademark of NatureScapes.Net, LLC]). We do not consent to "framing" our content or any Website information inside of any other page.

8. Available Remedies. We do not censor, validate, review, edit, verify, warrant or vouch for the accuracy and quality of any postings that you place, or provide for placement, on the Website, or any Website information that You may acquire from or view on the Website. Further, we do not, as an ordinary practice, monitor the communications of Website users to ensure that they comply with these Terms of Use or applicable law. When we become aware of harmful activities, in our sole and unfettered discretion we may take action to stop the harmful activity, including but not limited to, removing Website information or your postings, shutting down a link, implementing screening software designed to block offending transmissions, or any other action we deem appropriate to correct the conduct and/or prevent its reoccurrence. Moreover, we are required by law to: (i) notify law enforcement agencies when we become aware of the presence of child pornography on or being transmitted through the Website; and (ii) remove or block access to Website information and postings upon receipt of a proper notice of copyright infringement. It is also our policy to terminate the privileges of users who commit repeat violations of copyright laws, and we reserve the right not to accept postings from you, or Website information from anyone else, where we have actual knowledge that the contents thereof violate these Terms of Use. All remedies are non-exclusive.

9. Term & Termination. Your right to use this Website is effective from the date you first enter this Website and, unless terminated as provided herein, shall continue until: (i) you breach or default in performance of these Terms of Use or any other written agreement with us; or (ii) you object to any subsequent modification by us of these Terms of Use or any other Website policy; or (iii) you notify us in writing of your election to terminate your registration with this Website. In addition to any other remedy available to us, we may, upon your violation of these Terms of Use, terminate your ability to access, and your registration with, the Website, or place postings on or through the Website. Furthermore, we may also refuse all pending postings placed by you through the Website. Upon any termination of these Terms of Use, you will immediately cease all use of this Website, and you shall remain liable for all transactions conducted and postings placed by you using this Website prior to termination. Any termination of these Terms of Use between you and us will NOT terminate any other written agreement between you and us.

10. Indemnity. If you place any posting on the Website, provide any submission for posting on the Website, or if you violate any provision of these Terms of Use, you are liable to us for your actions and, in the event we are threatened with or are actually sued by any person on account of or arising from your activities (including but not limited to any claim of infringement of intellectual property rights of such person), you agree to indemnify and hold harmless us and our employees, directors, affiliates, members and customers, from and against all such claims, demands, damages and losses claimed by such person, and this includes your agreement to pay all related costs and expenses, including our reasonable legal fees.

11. Disclaimer of Warranties. WE AND OUR CONTRIBUTORS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES TO YOU ABOUT THE SUITABILITY OF THE WEBSITE INFORMATION OR POSTINGS FOR ANY PURPOSE. ALL WEBSITE INFORMATION AND POSTINGS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND AND ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD TO THE WEBSITE INFORMATION OR POSTINGS, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES ARISING UNDER SUBTITLE 4 OF TITLE 22 OF THE MARYLAND ANNOTATED CODE COMMERCIAL LAW ARTICLE, ARE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED. THERE IS NO WARRANTY THAT ANY WEBSITE INFORMATION, POSTINGS, CONTENT, EFFORTS, SERVICES, THE WEBSITE OR ANY SYSTEM PROVIDED BY US WILL FULFILL ANY OF YOUR PARTICULAR PURPOSES OR NEEDS. WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL LIABILITY FOR THE ACCURACY, SUITABILITY AND QUALITY OF WEBSITE INFORMATION, POSTINGS AND SUBMISSIONS, AND FOR THE ACCURACY OF ANY RESULTS DUE TO OUR PROCESSING OF ANY SUCH MATERIALS. WEBSITE TECHNICAL SUPPORT AND OTHER STAFF SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON A BEST EFFORTS BASIS AND ARE NOT WARRANTED FREE-OF-ERROR.

12. Limitations. YOU AGREE THAT YOUR SOLE REMEDY IN THE EVENT YOU HAVE ANY CLAIM AGAINST US IN RESPECT OF THE WEBSITE OR ANY WEBSITE INFORMATION, SUBMISSION OR POSTING IS FOR US TO REPAIR, REPLACE OR OTHERWISE CORRECT SUCH WEBSITE INFORMATION, SUBMISSION OR POSTINGS; UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL WE BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, COSTS OR FEES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ACTUAL, COMPENSATORY, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, WHETHER OR NOT OCCASIONED BY OUR NEGLIGENCE. FURTHER, IN NO EVENT SHALL WE AND/OR OUR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE WEBSITE OR WEBSITE INFORMATION, SUBMISSIONS OR POSTINGS AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE.

13. Miscellaneous. These Terms of Use shall be governed and construed by the laws of the State of Maryland, exclusive of its conflicts of laws provisions. Any controversy or claim arising out of or related to these Terms of Use shall be settled exclusively by the state or federal courts of Baltimore, Maryland, and THE PARTIES HEREBY CONSENT TO THE EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION OF SUCH COURTS. If you breach these Terms of Use or any other Website policy and we incur attorneys' fees to enforce such policies, we shall be entitled to receive, and the court shall award, our reasonable attorneys' fees and costs incurred in such action. If any section of these Terms of Use is found to be invalid or unenforceable in any jurisdiction in which it is performed, then the meaning of that section will be interpreted, to the extent feasible, in a way that renders it enforceable. If no feasible interpretation is possible, the section will be severed from these Terms of Use and the rest of these Terms of Use will remain in full force and effect. These Terms of Use and all documents referenced herein constitute the entire agreement between parties, and amend all written agreements between you and us. Nonetheless, the terms and conditions of any written agreement executed by and between you and us shall have control over any contradictory or conflicting terms and conditions of these Terms of Use. We may assign our rights and responsibilities hereunder, in whole or in part, to any person or entity at any time. You may not assign these Terms of Use without our prior written consent. To the extent permitted by law, the parties agree that the Uniform Commercial Code, Article 2 Sales, the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, and the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act shall not apply in any respect to these Terms of Use. You and us are independent contractors and not partners, joint venturers or otherwise affiliated. Except as expressly provided herein, neither party has any right or authority to assume or create any obligations of any kind or to make any representation or warranty on behalf of the other party or to bind the other party in any manner whatsoever.

Questions or comments regarding these legal terms should be directed to the at NatureScapes.Net®.