Terms and Conditions

Welcome to our website. The following terms and conditions apply to the website which can be accessed under the URL http://www.UKOCN.com (the ‘Community Network’) which is operated by Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited. If you continue to browse and use this website you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions of use, which together with our Privacy Policy govern Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited’s relationship with you in relation to this Community Network website.

The term Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited or “us” or “we” refers to the owner of the website whose registered office is 96 Knutsford Road, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 6JD. (Company Registration Number: 6280136). The term “you” refers to the user or viewer of our website.

Copyright

This Community Network is produced, owned and maintained by Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited. All information appearing on the Community Network ('the Content') (including without limitation design, text and graphics and the selection and arrangement thereof) is the property of Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited or its suppliers and is protected by international copyright laws. None of the Content other than that which is specifically offered for download by Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited may be downloaded, copied, reproduced, republished, posted, transmitted, stored, sold or distributed without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.

Changes to these conditions of use

Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited reserves the right to modify these conditions of use at any time without prior notice. Any changes will be noted on this page and it is the responsibility of the user to ensure they are aware of any such changes.

The use of this website is subject to the following terms of use:

• The content of the pages of this website is for your general information and use only. It is subject to change without notice.
• Use of this Community Network website constitutes your acceptance to the Terms and Conditions, which take effect on your first use whether you join and become a member or not.
• Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this website for any particular purpose. You acknowledge that such information and materials may contain inaccuracies or errors and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law.
• Your use of any information or materials on this website is entirely at your own risk, for which we shall not be liable. It shall be your own responsibility to ensure that any products, services or information available through this website meet your specific requirements.
• This website contains material which is owned by or licensed to us. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance and graphics. Reproduction is prohibited other than in accordance with the copyright notice, which forms part of these terms and conditions.
• All trademarks reproduced in this website, which are not the property of, or licensed to the operator, are acknowledged on the website.
• Unauthorised use of this website may give to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offence.
• From time to time this website may also include links to other websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information. They do not signify that we endorse the website(s). We have no responsibility for the content of the linked website(s).
• You may not create a link to this website from another website or document without Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited’s prior written consent.
• We reserve the right to temporarily or permanently discontinue the Community Network at any time.
• Your use of this website and any dispute arising out of such use of the website is subject to the laws of England and Wales.

Registration

In order to participate in and contribute to the Community Network you are required to register as a member. Any personal information supplied to the Community Network as part of this registration process and/or any other interaction with the Community Network will be collected, stored and used in accordance with the Community Network Privacy Policy.

Code of Conduct - terms of use for the Community Network

These are the terms of use that every member using interactive areas of the Community Network website agree to adhere to. This includes forums, messages boards and all other interactive areas of the Community Network website.

Postings

Communicating in a forum or message board is different from face-to-face communication. Only the words are seen, not your facial expressions or tone of voice. Please pay careful attention to how you use your words.

• Contributions must be civil and tasteful.
• No disruptive, offensive or abusive behaviour: contributions must be constructive and polite, not mean-spirited or contributed with the intention of causing trouble.
• No unlawful or objectionable content: unlawful, harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, racially offensive or otherwise objectionable material is not acceptable.
• It is not permitted to post any hate speech (e.g. racial, ethnic, sexist, homophobic and religious slurs).
• Members are not permitted to harass other members (e.g. continued personal attacks on the boards or "in-character harassment" without prior out-of-character permission.).
• You may not choose a username that may be considered offensive.
• You are not permitted to use access ASCII art (drawing pictures, using letters or symbols).
• You are not permitted to scroll the screen (so no-one can see what anyone else is typing).
• You may not impersonate another user.
• You may not create message boards / forums with titles or topics which may be considered offensive.
• Shouting (using capital letters) on message boards and forums is prohibited. It can be seen as rude and aggressive so please refrain from doing so.
• The Community Network does not tolerate disruptive activity online, such as persistent off-topic comments, flooding forums with postings, and postings or statements that incite others to violate this Code of Conduct or participate in illegal activities. Our participants want to converse in a positive environment.
• You must not use “bots” or other automated chatting programmes.
• The Community Network does not allow the posting of destructive features, use of computer programs that contain such features, or access to any content that contains destructive features such as: viruses, worms, Trojan horses, or bots for the use of scrolling, showing multiple screens, and other activities that can be disruptive to online communication.
• Contributions containing languages other than English may be removed unless allowed in the relevant local house rules (e.g. International Forums, Interest Groups etc.).
• You may not advertise or promote on any interactive areas of the Community Network.
• You may not “sell” your company or products on any interactive areas of the Community Network.
• Deliberate misuse of the complaints facility is not permitted. If you persist in doing this, action may be taken against your account.
• Falsely impersonating a Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited employee, agent, manager, host or any other person with the intent to mislead or cause harm to others is forbidden.

Your Community Network user account

If you use multiple logins for the purpose of disrupting a community or annoying other users you may have action taken against all of your accounts.

All accounts must be registered with a valid personal email address that you access regularly so that moderation emails can be sent to you. Accounts registered with someone else's email address, or with temporary email addresses may be closed without notice. We may require users to re-validate their account if we believe they have been using an invalid email address.

The Community Network reserves the right to close accounts if any user is seen to be using proxy IPs (Internet Protocol addresses) in order to attempt to hide the use of multiple Community Network accounts.

Legal requirements

• Contributing material to the Community Network with the intention of committing or promoting an illegal act is strictly prohibited.
• No illegal activities are permitted on the Community Network. You may not use our message boards or forums to publish, post, distribute or disseminate defamatory, infringing, obscene or other unlawful material or information, specifically, but not limited to, pornography.
• You agree to submit to or share with the Community Network only contributions which are your own original work. You must not violate, plagiarise, or infringe the rights of the Community Network or third parties including copyright, trade mark, trade secrets, privacy, publicity, personal or proprietary rights.
• Also, you may not use the Community Network to post messages in forums that promote the use or distribution of illegal drugs.
• You may not use the Community Network for the purpose of linking to external sites that violate this Code of Conduct.
• Do not upload files or post messages that contain photos, music, software or other material protected by intellectual property laws, rights of privacy or publicity or any other applicable law unless you own or control the rights thereto or have received all the necessary consents. The Community Network is not responsible for any use of anything you say or post.
• It is illegal to post any unauthorised copyrighted material, external site links or external advertising links.

Meeting arrangements

• In order to keep all chat conversations public, “whispering” (private conversations out of view of others) is not permitted in the Community Network Forums.
• Arrangements of meetings are also strictly prohibited through the message boards and forums.

Spam

Liability

• You are responsible for any actions you may take based on advice or information you receive online. Use your own good judgment when evaluating any information online. Remember that information provided could be from people of any age and experience level. The decision to conduct transactions with anyone is your own and you should conduct prior research.
• You are responsible and liable for all your activities while participating on the Community Network. Remember, you are responsible for anything you say or post and for protecting your own computer system. We recommend that you install a virus protection program on your computer.
• The Community Network reserves the right to remove at any time, without notice, any post on a Forum or message board. Please be advised that the Community Network is not responsible for the content on web sites associated with links you view.

Breaching these Community Rules

If you fail to abide by these Community Network Rules (and/or any variations in relevant local house rules) when taking part in the Community Network, you will be sent an email which informs you why your contribution has been refused or edited. This email will also include a warning that continuing to break the rules may result in action being taken against your account or accounts.

This action may include any content posted by you being checked before allowed to go on the site or a temporary or permanent suspension of your ability to participate in any or all of the Community Network areas.

If you submit or share offensive or inappropriate content to or with the Community Network or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on the Community Network, and the Community Network considers such behaviour to be serious and/or repeated, the Community Network may use whatever information that is available to it about you to stop any further such infringements. This may include informing relevant third parties such as your employer or email provider about the infringement(s).

The Community Network reserves the right to delete any contribution, or take action against any Community Network account, at any time, for any reason.

Protect your privacy

We advise that you never reveal any personal information about yourself or anyone else (for example: telephone number, postal address, home address or email address or any other details that would allow you to be personally identified) in the Community Network.

If you are under 16

Please get a parent's or guardian's permission before taking part in the Community Network. Never reveal any personal information about yourself or anyone else (for example, school, telephone number, your full name, home address or email address).

Uphold the code

The Community Network reserves the right to immediately terminate or suspend access to any Forums for violations of our Code of Conduct.

If a member of the Community Network has demonstrated he or she cannot behave in accordance with the code of conduct, the member will lose all of his or her usernames registered at that time and not be permitted to rejoin the Community Network.

The Community Network also reserves the right to amend or change the Code of Conduct at any time without notice. You agree to periodically review this document to ensure you are doing your part. The Community Network is not obliged to send users a warning before deleting any content.

In helping to make the Community Network a great place to discuss the news, you must do your part to uphold this Code of Conduct. Our moderators cannot be everywhere at once. Therefore, if you witness actions in Forums, boards, or lists that you believe harms a guest, damages the Community Network, or violates its rights, please make a note of the time/place where the event occurred and contact the Community Network immediately.

FAQs

If you have any questions about contributing content to the Community Network, please see our FAQs.

Third Parties

Some of the partners/third parties listed on the Community Network website are part of the Community Network Solutions Catalogue, however Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited does not endorse any of the partners or their software, solutions, services or training listed on this Community Network. Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited disclaims any and all liability arising out of your use of the partners, software, solutions, services and training listed on the Community Network. All software, solutions, services and training are provided “as is” and without warranty, unless provided by the authoring partner/third party.

Force Majeure

You agree that we shall not be liable for any and all losses, (including loss of data) damages, costs, claims and other liabilities which arise as a result of any delay or interruption in, or any non-delivery, or missed delivery or failure of the Equipment and/or Services due to circumstances beyond our or any of our suppliers' reasonable control (including, but not limited to, fire, lightning, explosion, war, disorder, flood, industrial dispute, sabotage, weather conditions or acts of local or central Government or other competent authorities).

Disclaimer

Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited has made every reasonable effort to ensure that the information contained within the Community Network is up to date and accurate, it is provided on the understanding that Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited shall not be liable under any circumstances for any direct or indirect consequential loss or damages (including, without limitation, loss of contract, loss of use, loss of profit, revenue or goodwill or other economic loss and whether caused by the negligence of ourselves, our employees or agents or otherwise) which arises out of or in connection with the information provided on the Community Network.

The Community Network may include links to third party Internet websites which are controlled and maintained by others. These links are included solely for the convenience of users and do not constitute any endorsement by Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited of the sites linked or referred to, nor does Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited have any control over the content of any such sites. There is no guarantee that the Site will be free from infection by viruses or anything else that may be deemed harmful or destructive.

© Mere Business Intelligence Services Limited 2007 www.UKOCN.com