We hope you enjoy this great member benefit, and if you have any problems or questions about the list, feel free to contact the NCSG office.

 

The National Chimney Sweep Guild (“NCSG”) is providing this Discussion List (“Discussion List”) to facilitate discussions among NCSG members. NCSG wants everyone who participates in this Discussion List to have a safe and enjoyable experience. Therefore, as with any community, there are guidelines governing behavior that must be observed for the benefit of all community members. 

By Joining and/or using the NCSG Discussion List, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to the terms and conditions set for the herein as well as any terms, conditions, policies, or guidelines provided or posted by the service provider Yahoo! Groups, (“Terms”). If you do not agree to these Terms, please do not subscribe to this Discussion List. If you are currently subscribed and do not unsubscribe via the “unsubscribe” link located at the bottom of each Discussion List post, then you will be deemed to have accepted these Terms and are bound by them. NCSG reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove any of these Terms at any time. 

 

The goal the Discussion List is to create a forum that is a useful and fun environment, which also means a place where behavior that is harmful to others will not be tolerated. These Terms are designed to help support the creation of a free, inviting and vibrant place to chat with other NCSG members. You are entirely responsible and liable for all activities conducted when using this Discussion List. 

 

In order to ensure you take full responsibility, you are required to register with the Listserv, indicating your true name as well as your e-mail address, to clearly identify yourself at the bottom of each message sent, and to state the topic of the comments in the subject line.

 

(1)   Topics of a technical nature relative to the chimney and venting service industry.

(2) Topics of a business nature relative to the operations of chimney and venting service companies provided such topics do not address or seek information about pricing or any other topics prohibited by federal antitrust laws.

(3) Topics of a social nature that are of benefit to all users of the Discussion List provided such posts do not violate any of the Posting Guidelines contained herein. 

(4) Official announcements from NCSG.

 

(1) Falsify your registration information, falsify or omit your name or e-mail address from any message, provide a false subject matter on the subject line, or forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any e-mail message.

 

(2) Harass, stalk, embarrass, use abusive language, attempt to intimidate or intentionally cause distress or discomfort upon another user of the Discussion List.

 

(3) Make any threat of any nature, directly or implied, including but not limited to threats of litigation or bodily harm or sexual language of a violent or threatening nature directed at another individual or group of individuals.

 

(4) Attack the posting of others. The intent is to stimulate discussion, not create contention.

 

(5) Transmit any information, data, text, files, links, software, chat, communication or other materials that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, vulgar, obscene, hateful, racially or otherwise objectionable or is deceptive, fraudulent or an invasive of another's privacy.

 

(6) Use profanity, including by use of symbols for omitted letters.

 

(7) Promote any unlawful activity or encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offense.

 

(8) Disrupt the normal flow of messages or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other participants.

 

(9) Violate any applicable local, state, national or international law.

 

(10) Fail to fully comply with all actions required hereunder.

 

 

(1) You may not post any material that is a discussion in any manner of a political or religious nature.

 

(2) You may not post advertisements, promotional materials, or any other forms of business solicitation.

 

(3) You may only post information that is useful to the entire list.

 

(4) You may not post information pertaining to members who have been sanctioned or removed from this Discussion List or the process or reasons therefore, nor may you make any postings for such person while under suspension or after removal from this Discussion List.

 

(5) You may not post large files that contain photographs or otherwise take up considerable computer file space.

 

(6) You may not post any content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements) or any copyrighted material for which you are not the owner of the copyright, including without limitation e-mails written by others and not posted by such person on this Discussion List and MP3 files.

 

(7) You may not post any chain letters, pyramid schemes, form of lottery or gambling or investment opportunities.

 

(8) You may not harvest or collect information about the users of this Discussion List.

 

(9) You may not use any e-mail addresses from this Discussion List for the purpose of transmitting or facilitating the transmission of unsolicited bulk electronic e-mail or communications.

 

(10) You may not post or otherwise make available any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment, or that is designed or intended to damage or obtain unauthorized access to any data or other information of any other person.

 

When using this Discussion List, keep in mind the following netiquette:

 

(1) It is not always necessary to send a reply to the entire list. Please be careful when hitting the reply button, especially if you do NOT want your reply to read by the entire list.

 

(2) If you are responding to a posting on the Discussion List, consider trimming some of the original message.

 

(3) Do not respond unless you have something meaningful to say. A short "not me," "me too," or "thanks for the information" just clogs up in boxes.

(4) Do not use capitals. IT MEANS YOU ARE SHOUTING.

 

(5) Warn other list subscribers of lengthy messages either in the subject line or at the beginning of the message body with a line that says "Long Message."

 

(6) Do not send administrative messages, such as remove me from the list, through the Discussion List.

 

 

This Discussion List is provided as a service to NCSG members. You acknowledge and agree that all information, comments, submissions, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages or other content posted on the Discussion List (collectively “Content”) is the sole responsibility of the person from which such Content originated. NCSG accepts no responsibility for any Content posted on this Discussion List; all Content posted on the Discussion List is the opinion and responsibility of the person posting the Content. NCSG does not prescreen, monitor, censor or undertake an editorial control of any Content prior to transmission to the Discussion List membership. The Discussion List is hosted by Yahoo! Groups, an independent organization not affiliated with NCSG, and managed by the Discussion List moderator. NCSG disclaims any responsibility or liability for any technical difficulties that may arise with network servers, equipment, and/or communication connections.

 

(1) Providers and users of an interactive computer service (such as the Discussion List) are protected by federal law from liability for the statements of other users. However, the authors of the messages are not immune from legal prosecution.

 

(2) You are entirely responsible for all Content that you post or otherwise make available via this Discussion List. Any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are subject to applicable laws. If you are the author of, or participant in such comments or conversations, you may be held liable for any consequences.

 

(3) You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content provided in messages sent via the Discussion List, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content. You follow any advice contained therein or obtained as a result of such messages at your own risk. NCSG is not responsible, and disclaims any and all liability, for any Content in any message sent through the Discussion List.

 

(4) Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you. Content posted on the Discussion List is available for all to see, and is subject to applicable laws, including but not limited to those governing libel and antitrust. 

 

(5) By subscribing to this Discussion List, it is possible that you will be exposed to Content that is offensive or objectionable to you that is posted by other Discussion List members.

 

(6) Any material downloaded or otherwise obtained through the use of this Discussion List is done at your own discretion and risk and that you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from the download of any such material.

 

 

Use of this Discussion List is at your own risk. You shall indemnify and hold harmless NCSG and its directors, officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims, judgments, damages, costs and expenses (including without limitation attorney’s fees) arising out or relating to your use or misuse of the Discussion List, including without limitation, your transmission or posting of any Content to the Discussion List, or your violation of any of these Terms. 

 

 

NCSG does not maintain the servers or the service through which the Discussion List is operated, and does not send, receive or store any messages. No director, officer, employee, or agent of NCSG associated in any way with the operation of the Discussion List shall have any obligation to store on his or her person computer any messages sent, and you agree that any such person may disregard any request or instruction (other than a court order) to undertake any such actions on your behalf or on the behalf of any other person.

 

 

In the event that the moderator of this Discussion List believes that any subscriber to this Discussion List has violated or failed to abide by these Terms, such person may be immediately suspended from the Discussion List without warning. Such suspension shall continue until no earlier than the time of the next regular meeting of the Board of Directors of NCSG or earlier meeting of the NCSG Executive Committee to determine whether any suspended user, or any user about which the Board has otherwise been notified, did in fact violate or fail to abide by these Terms. 

 

If is it determined that the user did violate or fail to abide by the terms the following actions shall be taken:

 

(1) If it is a first offense by the user of any term, the user shall be given a warning and upon agreement to abide by the terms in the future shall be permitted to return to the Discussion List.

 

(2) In the event of a second offense within a twelve month period, the user will be placed on “moderated status” for a period to be determined by the moderator, meaning that the Discussion List moderator will need to approve all posts from the user for a specified period of time.

(3) For or a third offense regardless of the time duration, the user shall be removed from this Discussion List.

 

Any user removed from the Discussion List may petition for reinstatement after twelve months from suspension, but the NCSG Board of Directors shall have sole discretion as to whether reinstatement is permitted, provided however that no person shall be reinstated if such person (a) has threatened to bring or brought any legal action against NCSG and/or its directors, officers, employees, or agents, or (b) has falsified any registration information.