They are illegal. Do not post links to sites that illegally distribute licensed programs or copyrighted materials.
15. No advertising.
Annexcafe is a noncommercial site.
You may not use our boards or chats to advertise products or sites.
You may not use any automated posters anywhere in Annexcafe.
You may use a URL and/or email address as part of your sig.
You may submit suggestions for webrings and mutual links to Administration for consideration.
Community members may offer an occasional item for sale or trade on an individual basis, and where that item would reasonably interest the specific population of a given board.
Please note, however, that Annexcafe does not endorse any such items and is not responsible for any transactions members may negotiate regarding them.
You may post noncommercial URL's appropriate to a topic under discussion as references for further information on that topic or on specific boards dedicated to site recommendation.
You may not post ads that attempt to pirate the members of a community or chat.
You may not enter and leave a chat for the purpose of announcing a different chat, nor may you lurk in a chat and attempt to move visitors to another chat or server.
We have a newsgroup:
Annexcafe.Favorite.Sites, where you may post sites that you have enjoyed and which may interest others.
The exception to this rule is
our Chamber of Commerce.
For the convenience of our members, we have provided this group where you may advertise your own business concerns.
These ads must keep in mind the family nature of the server (no porn, no drugs or "enhancers").
They may not promote anything illegal (no ponzi schemes or warez sites).
They must be legitimate businesses (No "African princesses" offering investment opportunities or "Be your own boss. Get rich working from home" ploys.)
You may not promote any company or scheme that is for the purpose of collecting or distributing customer mailing lists.
You may not send our members to sites where they will be caught into a series of pop-ups.
You may not advertise or promote any form of automatic spammer!!!
Ads not in accordance will be deleted.
The Newsgroup Administrator has final say re acceptability of ads.
You may have one ad per person per business at a time and you may replace them when they scroll off.
There is no charge for this service.
17. No illegal activities.
The server is located in California, USA and those are the laws we apply.
18. This server is private property; "free speech" does not apply.
The server is privately owned and we are non-paying guests.
While we wish to encourage you to express yourselves, your rights end where other peoples rights begin.
Free Speech does not apply here anymore that it does in a private home.
If the rules as applied in a particular room or board dont suit you, find another. There are plenty.
Gregory Gooden owns this server. His word is final.
19. Most newsgroups and chatrooms are autonomous.
owners, hosts & moderators have final say.
Most areas of Annexcafe are autonomous.
This means that while Administration and/or Sysops may assist you on mediating an issue, the chat host or board moderator has the final say as long as server standards are observed.
If you feel you have been treated in violation of the posted rules and standards or that a chat or newsgroup is operating in violation, please contact one of the Administrators listed below:
Cee
ActingAdmin@Annexcafe.com
Li
AsstAdmin@AnnexCafe.com
We will be happy to assist you.
20. No mailing lists. No automated mailers.
Since email addresses are often displayed with ones posts, it can be tempting to build a mailing list.
Please confine any such lists to your friends-- people you KNOW want to hear from you.
If you mail to several people who are not all known to each other, it is a courtesy to use the bcc feature so you are not making a present of everyones address to the world at large.
21. No hacking or stealing of data.
You are not permitted to attempt to access any of our chat or server tools, nor staff or user accounts.
You may not solicit information from other members to sell, distribute, or attempt unauthorized access to other accounts or computers.
Material posted by our members on Annexcafe boards are not to be posted elsewhere, nor may our members "snag" material from other servers and post it at Annexcafe, unless permission is obtained, credit is given and a link posted with that material that refers the viewer back to the original site posted.
You may, however, freely use sigtags which have been made specifically FOR you, as long as you do not claim credit for creating them or offer them for distribution.
22. Courtesy and mutual respect are the rules of the day.
Treat the staff and other members of the community with courtesy and respect.
Expect to receive courtesy and respect in return.
23. Do not troll or deliberately disrupt chats or newsgroups.
Do not disrupt chats or troll boards.
Trolling is posting deliberately inflammatory material intended to upset people.
This is board specific. What is acceptable in one area may be trolling in another.
Do not enter newsgroups or chats to proselytize or convert members.
No Annexcafe group is exclusionary, but if you are not a part of the community a chat or board represents, be there to listen and learn, not to expound your own opinions or challenge those of the community.
24. Try to remember to trim tails.
While this is a "Guideline" rather than a rigid rule, it is a courtesy to remove tails from posts.
There are still people on dial-up and those who pay for service according to download time.
Even those who have free fast connections would generally prefer not to open a 600Kb post to read "Very pretty".
Just leave enough so people reading your post do not need to scroll back to find out what you are talking about.
It is also best to have your newsreader set to "reply in plain text".
25. Do not use crude, obscene or derogatory language or inappropriate nicks.
While hosts have been requested not to be language Nazis, we ask you to keep in mind the family nature of this server. We overlook occasional slipups, but please avoid regular use of obscenity in chats, & posts.
Do not use obscene, suggestive, bigoted or misleading nicks.
The intent is to be courteous, so if members of a chat or board find language offensive, we ask you to accommodate their feelings.
The words themselves are not the issue.
If a host asks you to tone it down, it is not a personal affront, nor does it imply you are wicked, evil, etc.
For wavs and such used in chats, we ask that the names be innocuous.
Content there does not matter since a person will presumably not keep a wave he or she finds offensive, thus it will not play to him or her.
Wavs used on newsgroups need to be in accordance with the nature of the newsgroup, since they open automatically, and the funniest of them may be less amusing when accidentally opened in the presence of your toddler who then proceeds to demonstrate her new knowledge at your next family holiday gathering.
As with graphics and jokes, when in doubt, label.
26. No threats.
Threats against staff, the server, or other members of the community will not be tolerated.
Do not issue threats, then expect to pass it all off as a joke. It will not be treated as amusing.
27. No jokes that scare or upset others.
No jokes that inherently might be expected to scare or upset others.
What is obviously a joke to you may not be to others.
Many newbies have been scared away from chats by jokes about infecting them with viruses or reformatting their hard drives.
28. Credit and provide links for sources.
We enforce Copyright.
Copyright laws are enforced at Annexcafe.
Get written permission before posting copyrighted material.
Copies of permissions are to be forwarded to the moderator of the newsgroup where CR material is used and to the Newsgroup Administrator for permanent files.
If you use someone else's art, music, or writing, you must credit the creator and refer viewers to the site where you found your material.
That way there is mutual benefit to all.
Respect copyrights; it is the artist's, musician's and author's right to determine the use of his or her work, and they may limit or revoke their consents.
If you do not agree with the artist's TOS, don't use his or her work.
Please be aware that someone posting material to his or her personal website is no guarantee that he or she is authorized to share it.
Annexcafe only checks material posted to our own server.
It would be impossible and inappropriate for us to attempt to police every site that associates with us.
Please check you own sources.
If you have purchased graphics CDs or the like, intended for internet usage, you may use that material in accordance with its own TOU as long as you credit your sources, but you may not redistribute the original material unless it is specifically allowed by the TOU.
You may post pictures you have taken which incidentally include logos or licenced material (ie, a picture of yourself at Disneyland, even if Mickey shows on a sign), but you may not post pictures that are obviously taken as a way to utilize a copyrighted logo.
You may post pictures you have taken of craftwork you have completed using purchased kits or patterns.
Questionable posts will be removed. Decison of the Administrator is final.
Please note that this applies only to materials posted on Annexcafe servers, web pages and/or email using Annexcafe addresses.
Annexcafe has no jusrisdiction nor authority over what its members do with personal email nor on Non-Annexcafe sites, nor are we responsible for material on sites that may post links to us or use common webrings.
29. Do not displace posts without the permission of the original author.
Taking someone's post from an Annexcafe community and posting it elsewhere without the original poster's permission is inappropriate.
You may use sigtags and such which have been created for you as long as you do not offer them up for request.
If someone likes what they see, refer them to the original ng, so the author may enjoy the feedback.
Don't take an AnnexCafe poster's post and post in in another AnnexCafe newsgroup, Usenet or on an e-mail list-serv unless the original poster has given you permission to do so.
Taking someone else's posts and using them outside of the Annexcafe newsgroups without their express permission is a violation of that participant's privacy.
While anybody with a newsreader can read and post here, our boards are Annexcafe; they are not part of the Usenet hierarchy.
Posting to an AnnexCafe newsgroup is not "implied consent" to publication on Usenet.
Posts to Annexcafe ngs, while they remain the property of their original authors, fall under the protection of Annexcafe's blanket copyright.
(See footnote at
http://www.annexcafe.com/newsgroups/index.cfm.)
30. Don't use one AnnexCafe community to criticize another AnnexCafe community.
It's not appropriate to use the one AnnexCafe community to criticize other AnnexCafe communities.
If you have something critical to say about a community, its moderator or members, post it in that community or, better yet, e-mail the moderator and/or the
Annexcafe Administrator.
If a person is banned from a chat, newsgroup or the server, he or she is not to be discussed by name in his or her absence.
It is best not to criticize any other newsgroups, whether they are Annexcafe or off-server.
Let's treat others as we wish to be treated. There is plenty of room on the internet for all of us.
31. Restrictions to minors (17 years & under) using Annexcafe services.
They are strictly forbidden to give out any personal information (date of birth, real name, city, street, descriptions, pictures, schools, teams, email address, personal web URL, or any such I may have forgotten to mention) without express and specific permission on a CASE by CASE basis from a parent or guardian.
Adults are not to request this sort of information from them nor encourage them in inappropriate behavior.
They may not participate in adult chats or rated ngs.
They may be allowed to host chats and/or moderate newsgroups with the following stipulations:
A) They must provide verifiable parental consent before receiving their chats or boards
B) They must maintain passing grades in school
C) They must be out of chat by 10pm local time on school nights
D) NG moderators must have an adult Annexcafe staff member co-moderating their boards and chat hosts must have a Sysop present when they are opped.
E) Violation of Annexcafe Guidelines, or the above restriction, or documented misbehavior anywhere online, may be considered cause to remove special status until the minor matures sufficiently to conduct himself in a manner that reflects credit to himself and this server.
F) Decision of the Administrator is final.
32. No "Cyberstalking."
Do not follow people server to server, chat to chat, or board to board for the purpose of pursuing a relationship the other party has indicated he or she does not wish to create or maintain.
Do not stalk people to, on or from Annexcafe for any reason.
Do not sexually harass staff or other members of our community.
Flirting is fun when all parties wish to participate; once someone has indicated disinterest, it is no longer "flirting", it is harassment.
If a person leaves a chat or newsgroup to avoid you, and you follow him or her, that is cyberstalking.
33. Guidelines vs. Rules
While some of the above are hard and fast rules (such as no illegal activities), many (such as snipping tails), are suggestions to help make your experience with us more enjoyable.
If you have questions or concerns, please
email Admin
Though we prefer not to be cc'd with every post you make to each board, our doors, (or at least our mailboxes) are always open.
We look forward to hearing from you with your ideas and any suggestions you may have to add chats or boards or to improve the ones we have
Board moderators are free to repost these Guidelines to their own boards; for that matter, anyone is free to use any part anywhere else as well. So if you like it, take it. Ishie wouldn't mind being credited with the authorship, but if you happen to forget, she promises not to track you down or chop off your ears.
35. Information regarding requesting your own chat or newsgroup on Annexcafe
If you are interested in requesting and Annexcafe chat and/or newsgroup, we would love to hear from you.
Email Cee at
ActingAdmin@Annexcafe.com for exactly what we offer in the way of services for Annexcafe groups and chats.
Please be aware that all chats and newsgroups must comply with the above guidelines, and those running them are responsible for maintaining that compliance.
We try to accommodate your requests, but our first responsibility is to the communities already established here, and thus boards or chats which too closely duplicate what is already offered may have to be denied.
Please check our listing of what we offer before making your request.
There is no charge for having a room or board, nor are you paid to do so.
