Terms of Use
By accessing or using DryDock Models currently located at http://www.drydockmodels.com "We", or "Us", as may be appropriate expect the users of this Site and any individual or entity on whose behalf a user accesses or uses DryDock Models (Collectively,"You" or "Your," as is appropriate.), agree to be bound by the following Terms and Conditions and to our Privacy Policy. Please read both documents carefully and often as they are subject to change. Your continued use of DryDock Models after the posting of changes to these Terms and Conditions constitutes acceptance of the changes. If You do not agree to these Terms and Conditions, do not use the Site. Because of the nature of this complex and artful hobby, DryDock Models makes no Guarantee that use of this web site will make it's users High Quality or Professional TallShip Builders. For this to happen each person will need some degree of the many skills that is required to build Model Ships and allot of patience and commitment before starting the first model. It is hoped however that each Member who takes part in DryDock Models regardless of skill levels will be able to gain greater knowledge and skills from shared experience thus increasing everyone's chances to become better Model Ship Builders then before finding DryDock Models. We do believe that first time model builders will have their best chance for success with their first Model and we have seen a number of First Time Model Members achieve their goals with confidence, some of whom would not have even tried until they found DryDock Models.
Registration
As of 10/01/06 DryDock Models no longer supports anonymous registration. We feel that we must take additional steps to insure our existing Members will not be exposed to spam or objectionable and offensive materials. While we use software to try and prevent these kinds of registration from getting through, these security measures are subject to fail from time to time and will not prevent a person from hand registering with the aim to advertise their product within our Forum.
This means that we must now take the time to look over each registration prior to it's being activated. You are still free to choose a username of your liking, but we now want to know your full name, first and last and you must use a valid ISP email address, we will no longer activate new registrations containing free email account address as your contact address. Do to the fact that some of the worst cases of spam regrettably came from email addresses with '.ru' extensions, DryDock Models reserves the right not to accept any registrations containing the '.ru' extension regardless of whether the account is from a valid ISP or not.
We regret having to take such steps and understand that many will be reluctant to provide the information we are now requiring. DryDock Models is a serious web site for people who take this hobby very serious. If you are a true Model Ship building Enthusiast then you will more then understand and appreciate our desire to protect our Members and create a community where we can be reasonably certain that we know who each of us are.
Please read our Privacy Statement for more information regarding the use of personal information provided by Member registrations, but the short version is simply that no one other then Administration will have access to any Member's personal information and none of this information is made available to anyone using DryDock Models. Your User Profile, the information you chose to make public can only be viewed by other Registered Members and will not contain the additional information we now require for registration and activation.
Privacy
DryDock Models respects the privacy of our users. Please take a few minutes to review our privacy policy General Disclaimer
The material that appears on the Site is for informational purposes only. Despite our efforts to provide useful and accurate information, errors may appear from time to time. Before You act on information You've found on our Site, You should confirm any facts that are important to Your decision.
Forums, Photo Gallery, And Other Public Posting Areas
DryDock Models encourages an open exchange of information and ideas. But we cannot and do not review postings made in the public posting areas before they are posted. Anybody may obtain the right to post on DryDock Modelsmerely by registering and providing an email address, and while DryDock Models will takes measures to deny access to people who have posted objectionable material in the past, these measures are quite easily circumvented by any person intent on posting objectionable material. You may well read or view any given posting before anyone on the DryDock Models staff does. You may see material that is defamatory, abusive, obscene, offensive, threatening, illegal, or inappropriate for children, before we have seen it and have had the opportunity to remove it. For this reason, if you are a parent, you should carefully monitor your children's access to this Site. And for these same reasons we would like for every adult Member to consider that some Members may be minors and we ask that you always keep your best foot forward for their sake. If you do encounter material that you believe falls into one of these categories, we urge you to report it to us so that we may remove it. You may write me directly , or private message to any Moderator who is online at the time. We will strive to, but may not be able to remove it as promptly as You think we should. You can expect the Site to include information and opinions from a variety of individuals and organizations other than DryDock Models. It is easy for people to pose as experts in the public posting areas without having any expertise whatsoever. We do not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of any posting, regardless of whether the posting comes from a user, from a celebrity or "expert" guest, or from a Member of our staff. There is no substitute for healthy skepticism and Your own good judgment.
Responsibility for what is posted in the Forum and Photo Gallery and other public posting areas on the Site lies with each user . You alone are responsible for the material(s) You post. You agree not to post or transmit any defamatory, abusive, obscene, threatening or illegal material, or any other material that infringes on the ability of others to enjoy DryDock Models or that infringes on the rights of others. You agree to conform to these Terms, Polices and Guidelines concerning the size, length, format, subject, content, or relevancy of the materials You submit DryDock Models as a Registered Member. We ask that each Member take care when posting Copywrited Materials. If possible, get permission first. Since the use of such materials may serve to promote commercial products for this hobby it is not difficult to get permission. Never is any copywrited material to be used for financial gain without the express permission of the copywrite holder and DryDock Models before placing the post. DryDock Models will remove any copywited material posted by a Member at the request of the Copywrite holder.
Although DryDock Models cannot monitor all the postings in the Forum, we reserve the right (but assume no obligation) to delete, move, or edit any postings that come to our attention that we consider unacceptable or inappropriate, or for any other other reasons, which we need not disclose, and which need not be reasonable. DryDock Models' Moderators are not held responsible for Policing the Forum as their main 'job description' is first help to Members with their questions regarding this Hobby or the functions of this web page. Moderators are volunteers who enjoy helping others that have a reasonable amount of experience with this hobby, but they are not all 'Experts', nor is this a requirement for Moderator Status. One can learn a great deal for themselves in seeking the answers to other's questions. At the same time, this does not mean that a Moderator won't take action against persons abusing this web site either. Moderators do have the these abilities if needed. Fortunately,it has been rarely needed. this hobby seems to bring out the best in the people who love this Hobby, and this has played a great part in DryDock Models' growing success.
We will not, in the ordinary course of web business, review private electronic messages that are not addressed to DryDock Models. However, we will comply with the requirements of the law regarding disclosure of such messages to others, including law enforcement agencies.
Access
DryDock Models retains the right to deny access to anyone who we believe has violated the terms of this agreement, or to anyone else for any reasons, which we need not disclose.
Intellectual Property Rights
You will not use the Site to violate anyone's copyright, trademark, intellectual property rights, or privacy rights. The content which you submit must be Your work In order to claim Intellectual Property Rights . By submitting material(s) to the Site, You are representing that You have the right to submit the material, and in the case of photos that you have obtained any model releases that may be required.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may include brief quotations and thumbnail images in your submissions that are permitted under the copyright laws as "fair use", provided you correctly attribute these to their authors. Furthermore, when commenting on photos in the photo Gallery, you may include a version of the photo under discussion in your comment, altered or marked up to illustrate your comments. By uploading photos to the photo Gallery, you grant to other DryDock Models members, as well as DryDock Models Staff, permission to copy the photo, to make such alterations and markups for the purpose of commentary as they see fit, and to attach the modified photo to their comments on the photo.
Submitting material that is the property of another, without the consent of its owner, is not only a violation of this agreement, but may also subject You to legal liability for infringement of copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights. As stated earlier, get permissions as needed or possible. Give credit where Credit is due
If material in which you hold intellectual property rights, which infringes your privacy, or which is defammatory is unlawfully submitted to DryDock Models by a third party, please inform us immediately and we will remove it.
Ownership of Submitted Material
Submission of material to any DryDock Models Forum, or photo sharing systems does not transfer the copyright to that material to DryDock Models. However, by submitting the material, You grant DryDock Models a perpetual non-exclusive world-wide royalty-free license to publish that material on the World Wide Web as part of the DryDock Models web site for the purpose of operating, displaying, distributing and promoting the Site. DryDock Models will not use Your materials without attributing them to You. If You object to any modification by DryDock Models of Your materials (except for minor edits), or, in the case of Forum postings, comments on photos, or comment on the Site's static content, to the use of Your materials separate from their original context, DryDock Models will either restore the original text and context, or delete the materials.
Many of the posting areas of the site, including the Gallery, provide You with the ability to delete or edit your posts later. Your grant of license to DryDock Models for the use of your material is not conditioned on these editing/deleting features being maintained as they were when you submitted the material, and DryDock Models reserves the right to alter or eliminate these features, or to transfer or replicate your submissions to areas of the site where the editing/deleting/archiving features are not the same as the area to which you originally submitted the material.
You also grant to DryDock Models users the right to make a temporary copy of your material in the course of viewing or reading it with a standard Web browser, and to operators of search engines, for the purpose of indexing it.
No Soliciting!
You agree not to use the Site, other than the Commerce section of the Site, to advertise products or services or to solicit anyone to buy or sell products or services, or to make donations of any kind, without our express written approval.
No Spamming, No Email Address Harvesting!
DryDock Models exist for the love of this great Hobby only and no one has the rights nor our permissions to make use of any Member information found on DryDock Models for any fiancial gain or commercial purpose. From time to time, users post their email addresses in our Forum, and other public posting areas, and the site makes available the email addresses of Members to other logged-in Members. You agree not to gather these email addresses for purposes of spamming or for any non-personal or commercial purposes.
Prohibited Usage of the Site
The materials available through the Site are the property of DryDock Models or its licensors (the users), and most of the materials are protected by copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws. Furthermore, DryDockModels.com has expended its resources to gather these materials and to publish them or to make them available to its users. You agree not to reproduce or distribute, or cause to be reproduced or distributed, any material on the Site, without the express prior permission of both DryDock Models and, in the case of copyrighted materials, the copyright owner, except for such reproduction as occurs in the normal course of reading or viewing the materials using a Web browser. Requests for permission to reproduce or distribute materials found on the Site should be sent both to DryDock Models and the original author of those materials. You acknowledge that DryDockModels.com and the copyright holders will be significantly damaged by Your violation of this section in a manner that would require immediate injunctive relief. You are not relieved of your duties under this section because material was posted anonymously or under a pseudonym, because you cannot locate the copyright holder, because the materials are in the public domain, because the materials are available on any other web site or in some other form, or because you have the permission of either the copyright holder or DryDock Models, but not both. Robots, Spiders, Offline Readers, etc
This site is provided for your personal use. You agree not to use or launch any automated system, including without limitation "robots", "spiders", "offline readers", etc, that accesses the site in a manner which sends more request messages to the DryDock Models server in any given period of time than a typical human would normally produce in the same period by using a conventional on-line Web browser to read, view, and submit materials.
Teachers and Search Engines
Notwithstanding other terms of this agreement, we grant the right to teachers to print out pages from DryDock Models for distribution to students, provided that attribution is given to the URL on DryDock Models where the material originated. We also grant the operators of search engines permission to use robots to copy materials from the site for the sole purpose of creating publicly-available searchable indexes of the materials, but not caches or archives of the materials. We reserve the right to revoke these exceptions either generally or in specific cases.
Links To Third Party Sites
The Site contains links to third party web sites ("Third Party Sites"). Because DryDock Models has no control over Third Party Sites, DryDock Models does not endorse, has not reviewed and is not responsible for the availability of Third Party Sites. You acknowledge that use of Third Party Sites is at Your own risk and that DryDock Models is not responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss You incur in connection with products or services available on Third Party Sites, nor for the accuracy, copyright compliance, legality, decency or other aspect of Third Party Sites.
Hyperlinking
We welcome links to our service. You are free to establish a hypertext link to this site so long as the link does not state or imply any sponsorship of Your site by DryDock Models.
No Framing
Without the prior written permission of DryDock Models, You may not frame any of the content of the Site, or incorporate or embed into another Web site or other service any intellectual property of DryDock Models or any of its licensors. Requests for permission to frame our content may be sent to johnluberti@drydockmodels.net.
User Classes and Privileges
We may define classes of users, such as Subscribers, Moderators, Administrators, Reviewers, Curators, Editors, Top Photographers, Photo Rating System Participants, "Heroes", etc, including classes of one, and define the access, privileges, services, and Site features pertaining to each class. We may assign or reassign You to, or remove You from, one or more user classes, and we may re-define the rights and privileges pertaining to the classes, at any time without notice or consultation with you. In providing features and services on the site, we reserve the right to single out or discriminate between users of the Site, including You, for our own reasons and purposes, which we are not obliged to disclose and which need not be reasonable, provided only that We will not engage in any illegal forms of discrimination. Your submission of content to the Site, or the voluntary provision by you of services to us, does not create any implied contract between You and DryDock Models that we will maintain the Site as it was when you submitted content or provided voluntary services, or oblige us to maintain you in a particular class or classes of users or to maintain the rights, privileges, and Site features pertaining to those classes. Your submission of content or voluntary services does not limit our right to deny you future access at any time. Your recourse if you disapprove of any aspect of the Site is to cease using the site. Although we provide many mechanisms for You to provide Us input about the Site, we assume no obligation to act upon your input, and we don't guarantee a response, or even guarantee than anybody from our staff will read the input.
Site Security Rules
Users are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the Site, including, without limitation, (a) accessing data not intended for such user or logging into a server or account which the user is not authorized to access, (b) attempting to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization, (c) attempting to interfere with service to any user, host or network, including, without limitation, via means of submitting a virus to the Site, overloading, "flooding," "spamming," "mailbombing" or "crashing," (d) sending unsolicited e-mail, including promotions and/or advertising of products or services, or (e) forging any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any e-mail or newsgroup posting. Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. DryDock Models will investigate occurrences which may involve such violations and may involve, and cooperate with, law enforcement authorities in prosecuting users who are involved in such violations.
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND LIABILITY
We work hard to make DryDock Models an interesting and enjoyable place, but we cannot guarantee that our users will always find everything to their liking. Please read this Disclaimer carefully before using the Site.
YOU AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THIS SITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. BECAUSE OF THE NUMBER OF POSSIBLE SOURCES OF INFORMATION AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE, AND THE INHERENT HAZARDS AND UNCERTAINTIES OF ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION, THERE MAY BE DELAYS, OMISSIONS, INACCURACIES, OR OTHER PROBLEMS WITH SUCH INFORMATION. IF YOU RELY ON THE INFORMATION PROVIDED THROUGH THE SITE OR ANY MATERIAL AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE, YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM ANY MATERIAL AND/OR DATA DOWNLOADED FROM OR OTHERWISE PROVIDED THROUGH THE SITE.
THIS SITE IS PROVIDED TO YOU *AS IS,* *WITH ALL FAULTS,* AND *AS AVAILABLE.* DryDock Models. AND ITS AFFILIATES, AGENTS AND LICENSORS CANNOT AND DO NOT WARRANT THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, CURRENTNESS, NONINFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OF THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE. NOR DO THEY GUARANTEE THAT THE SITE WILL BE ERROR-FREE, OR CONTINUOUSLY AVAILABLE, OR THAT THE SITE WILL BE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL DryDock Models., OR ITS AFFILIATES, AGENTS OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF USE OF THE SITE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, OR SIMILAR DAMAGES, EVEN IF WE ARE ADVISED BEFOREHAND OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. (BECAUSE SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN CATEGORIES OF DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN SUCH STATES, THE LIABILITY OF DryDock Models., AND ITS AFFILIATES, AGENTS AND LICENSORS IS LIMITED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY SUCH STATE LAW.). Indemnity You agree to indemnify and hold DryDock Models, its officers, subsidiaries and affiliated companies harmless from any and all claims, demands or other liabilities, including legal fees and costs, that are made by any third party due to or arising from Your use of the Web Site or Your breach of these Terms and Conditions.
If you post material on DryDock Models, you may prompt third-parties into making statements about you that may be defamatory or offensive, even though your postings may be unobjectionable. You agree not to respond in kind, but to bring these statements to the attention of the moderators. By posting on DryDock Models you are agreeing to hold DryDock Models, its officers, subsidiaries, and affiliated companies harmless and release Us from all claims, demands or other liabilities for any statements or material concerning you that are posted on the site by third parties, including by moderators and other volunteers, provided that we avail you with the opportunity to answer. If you are unable to respond because you have been banned from the site, upon request you will be reinstated for a sufficient length of time to respond.
Severability
If any provision of these Site Terms shall be deemed unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these terms and conditions and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. Governing Law This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New Jersey, exclusive of its provisions on conflicts of laws.