TERMS OF SERVICE

Acceptance of Terms

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF SERVICE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE.

Welcome to Baseball Think Factory and its family of affiliated sites (“BBTF”,   “Site(s)”). BBTF is dedicated to providing unique baseball content (information,   blogs, links, news, forums, chat) to thinking baseball fans. BBTF provides   its service to you subject to the following Terms of Service ("TOS"),   which may be updated by us from time to time without notice to you. You can   review the most current version of the TOS at any time at: http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/stuff/discussion/TOS/.  

By using BBTF Site(s), you show your agreement to these Terms of Service. If   you do not agree to these TOS please do not use our Site(s).

Baseball Think Factory reserves the right to change the terms of this agreement   at any time. Although we may sometimes provide you notice of changes to this   agreement, it is your responsibility to keep abreast of the terms of this   agreement.

This agreement supersedes all other agreements or understandings regarding   this subject matter, and is governed by the internal laws of the United States   and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Member Conduct, Appropriate Comments, and Submissions

All messages posted at this site express the views of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the owners and administrators of this site.

BBTF may or may not screen content before it is posted. When submitting material for inclusion on the Site(s), BBTF asks you to comply with the terms of this agreement and with any additional terms found in specific areas of the Site(s).

BBTF asks you to not use vulgarity, profanity or insults in your comments. You are free to disagree (even vehemently) with what other members of the BBTF community have to say, but we ask that you do so in a respectful manner.

Comments will not be deleted for disagreeing with other members. They may be removed for the above reasons or if the comment is hurtful, spiteful, libelous, slanderous and really does nothing to move the conversation forward. Comments whose primary purpose is to advertise, self-promote may also be removed. Trolling (purposely posting inflammatory messages in order to disrupt an ongoing discussion) messages may also be removed.

The site administrator is the ultimate arbiter of what speech constitutes a violation of the TOS. While the site administrator is a strong free speech supporter, this site is not an exercise in the limits of the expression of that speech. Instead it is a private forum which, although free wheeling for the most part, does place limits on the manner and subject of that speech. Ultimately, BBTF reserves the right to remove, edit, or move any messages for any reason.

BBTF trusts that you’ll respectfully follow our posting guidelines. Based on our past experience, we expect the community will exercise common sense regarding what’s appropriate and what’s not. We are confident most members of this community will have no trouble understanding what constitutes respectful, civil discourse. Unfortunately our experience has also proven some users have difficulty remaining civil and/or abiding by the TOS. To insure your responsible use of the site, BBTF reserves the right to immediately invoke any consequences, related to the use of this site(s), we deem appropriate at any time. This includes, but is not limited to having your posts removed, your posting rights revoked, and/or your account permanently suspended.

Repetitive posts. In an effort to curb repetitive comments, BBTF will no longer allow a particular member to add comments to an individual discussion or forum page more often than once every two minutes. We apologize for this policy, but this seems like the best solution to an annoying problem.

Conflict Resolution. BBTF does not take a role in mediating conflicts between you and other members. BBTF does not take responsibility for your behavior or that of other members of the BBTF community. However, a BBTF member should be able to expect not to be bothered by others against his or her will. If you have a complaint about the behavior or posts of another member, it is your responsibility to attempt to resolve the conflict, typically by contacting that person directly. If that doesn’t help, and your complaint is about interactions or material in a specific part of the site, you may .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for help. At that time he will, entirely at his discretion, take any action he feels necessary to resolve the problem, including, but not limited to, the suspension or banning of the troublesome member.

Membership

BBTF reserves the right to refuse service to anyone and to cancel an account at any time.

Working email address. You must ensure a working email address is associated with your membership account. Failure to comply will result in the immediate suspension of your account. 

Screen Names. Posters may on occasion post using the name and persona of famous people. Although this practice was once allowed on the site, it is no longer considered acceptable. The use of offensive names or unsupportable claims of being a public figure will get your posts and account deleted. For example, if you register as “Larry Bowa”, you will need to verify you are Larry Bowa in order to use that screen name. You can, however, use the name of a public person as part of a compilation (i.e., Larry Bowa’s #1 Fan) as long as what you come up with isn’t offensive.

BBTF will be the sole arbiter of what constitutes an appropriate posting handle.

If you are a public figure and wish to use your real name, please .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) so he may verify your identity.

Editors and moderators. BBTF sometimes appoints volunteer editors and moderators to help manage various portions of the site. Editors and moderators are expected to fully adhere to this TOS.  Although editors and moderators have a great deal of autonomy in setting policies, they are not acting as BBTF’s agents in making such decisions, in the absence of explicit agreements to the contrary. BBTF’s editors and moderators are also not subcontractors or employees of BBTF. If you have an issue or problem with an action taken by the editors and moderators, it is your responsibility to bring the problem to the site administrator’s attention.

Respecting Intellectual Property and Privacy. When you use this site, you are responsible for honoring intellectual-property rights (copyright, patent, and trademark), and people’s privacy.

System security. Although it cannot make an absolute guarantee of system security, BBTF takes reasonable steps to maintain security. If you have reason to believe system security has been breached, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for help.

If the site administrator suspects an account is being used by someone who is not authorized by the account holder, the administrator may temporarily disable that account in order to preserve system security. In all such cases, site administrator will attempt to contact the member as soon as feasible.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the password and account and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password or account. You must immediately notify BBTF of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security. BBTF cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply.

Illegal Activity. You also agree not to use the system for illegal activity or for violating the privacy or security of other members. Illegal activity under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United   States using your BBTF membership is a violation of this agreement.

General

Entire Agreement. The TOS constitutes the entire agreement between you and BBTF and governs your use of BBTF, superseding any prior agreements between you and BBTF.

General Practices Regarding Use and Storage. You agree that BBTF has no responsibility or liability for the deletion or failure to store any content maintained or posted by or through the site. You acknowledge that BBTF has set no fixed upper limit on the number of transmissions you may send or receive through the site or the amount of storage space used; however, we retain the right, at our sole discretion, to create limits at any time with or without notice.

Links. BBTF may provide, or third parties may provide, links to other World Wide Web sites or resources. This includes, but is not limited to, links from advertisers, sponsors, and content partners that may use our logo(s) as part of a co-branding relationship. Because BBTF has no control over such sites and resources, you acknowledge and agree that BBTF is not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content on or available from such sites or resources. You acknowledge that when you click on a link that leaves a BBTF the site you will land on is not controlled by us and different terms of use and privacy policy may apply. By clicking on links to other sites, you acknowledge that BBTF is not responsible for those sites. You further acknowledge and agree that BBTF shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content available on or through any such site or resource.

Feedback and Suggestions. BBTF welcomes your feedback and suggestions about how to improve our Site(s). Ideas, suggestions, and inventions are often considered by the person submitting them to be of a proprietary nature and to have value. It is only prudent, therefore, in fairness to both the person submitting an idea, suggestion, or invention, and BBTF, that they reach a prior understanding in respect to the basis on which BBTF will receive and give consideration to the idea, suggestion, or invention. As such, unless you have contacted BBTF in writing in advance to memorialize the confidentiality of disclosures or submissions of ideas, suggestions, or inventions from you, BBTF will accept the submission on a NONCONFIDENTIAL BASIS. Accordingly, unless you have entered into a specific written understanding with BBTF regarding your submission, BBTF recommends that your content not contain any third party proprietary or confidential information. Further, unless otherwise agreed in a writing between BBTF and you, BBTF is free to use for any purpose whatsoever and shall own any ideas, concepts, know-how, techniques, and suggestions contained in any communications you send to our Site(s), including, but not limited to, creating and marketing products or services using such information.

Copyright Information. All content included on this site, such as text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips, digital downloads, data compilations, and software, is the property of the Baseball Think Factory (© 1996-2012) and the respective authors, and protected by U.S. and International copyright laws. The compilation of all content on this site is the exclusive property of BBTF and protected by U.S. and international copyright laws.

Although you retain ownership of content you submit to the site, you grant BBTF the worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such content on the BBTF family of sites.

You may not reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, trade, resell or exploit for any commercial purposes, any portion of the BBTF family of affiliated sites. This applies to intellectual properties as well as specific content. Any use, including the reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission, republication, display, or performance, of the content of this site is strictly prohibited.

Notice and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright or Intellectual Property Infringement. As stated above BBTF respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. BBTF may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, disable and/or terminate the membership of users who infringe on copyright. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please provide BBTF’s Copyright Agent the following information:

1. an electronic or physical signature of the person     authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other     intellectual property interest;
2. a description of the copyrighted work or other     intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
3. a description of where the material that you claim is     infringing is located on the site;
4. your address, telephone number, and email address;
5. a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that     the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or     the law;
6. a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that     the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the     copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the     copyright or intellectual property owner’s behalf.

BBTF’s Agent for Notice of claims of copyright or other intellectual property infringement can be reached as follows:

By mail:
Copyright Agent
c/o Baseball Think Factory
  402 Main Street
  Somerset, MA 02726

By email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

COPPA Compliance. You must be at least 13 years old to use this site. In accordance with the Federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), Baseball Think Factory will never knowingly solicit nor will it accept personally identifiable information from users known to be under thirteen (13) years of age.

Notices. BBTF may provide you with notices, including those regarding   changes to this agreement by email and postings.

Choice of Law and Forum. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as applied to contracts entered into and performed within Massachusetts.

Disputes concerning this Site(s) or this Agreement will at the election of either party be resolved exclusively through binding arbitration conducted in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association. Arbitration will be conducted in Fall River, Massachusetts before a single arbitrator selected in accordance with such rules. The arbitrator’s decision will be non-appealable and judgment thereon may be entered in any court with jurisdiction over the parties.

Waiver and Severability of Terms. The failure of BBTF to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the TOS shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the TOS is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the TOS remain in full force and effect.

Term and Termination.These Terms of Service will apply to your use of BBTF. You may terminate your use of the Service immediately at any time, for any reason, by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). We may terminate your use of the BBTF immediately at any time, for any reason, and at such time you will have no right to use BBTF. Our proprietary rights, disclaimer of warranties, indemnities, limitations of liability and miscellaneous provisions shall survive any such termination.

Hold Harmless and Indemnity. You agree to hold harmless and indemnify BBTF from and against any third party claim arising from or in any way related to your use of the site, including any liability or expense arising from all claims, losses, damages (actual and consequential), suits, judgments, litigation costs and attorneys’ fees, of every kind and nature. In such a case, BBTF will provide you with written notice of such claim, suit or action.

No Right of Survivorship and Non-Transferability. You agree that your BBTF account is non-transferable and any rights to your BBTF membership or contents within your account terminate upon your death. Upon receipt of a copy of a death certificate, your account may be terminated.

Statute of Limitations. You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to use of the Service or the TOS must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.

Warranty. BBTF is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. BBTF will not be liable for incidental or consequential damages at all or for other damages. BBTF, and everyone associated with BBTF, makes NO WARRANTY any service or information provided will: meet your requirements or expectations, be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free. You accept full responsibility for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from the download of any material found on BBTF or its affiliates.

YOU USE THE SITE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

The section titles in the TOS are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.

If you feel someone has violated these Terms of Service please contact us.

Effective Date: April 20, 2006

Updated Copyright dates and Copyright Agent address on June 2, 2012