REALBirmingham Usage Policy


LISTINGS

REALBirmingham strives to provide an excellent listings service to its users but unfortunately errors do occasionally creep in. You are advised to double-check events and news items before making bookings/reservations/long journeys, since REALBirmingham cannot be held responsible for any loss you incur as a result of using this site. Having said that, we always try to keep our ear to the ground, so we're really just saying this to cover our behinds.
 

PHOTOGRAPHS

We encourage you to support the site by occasionally buying a photograph (they really are MUCH better quality than home printouts!).
Please do not link directly to a photograph on the site (known as 'sponging' and is a bit rotten)... and please don't open our photographs into a frame on your own site. Instead link to the URL of the page that contains the photograph, so that any relevant captions and details are also displayed alongside the photograph. If you use 'target="_blank"' in your code then this opens the photo into a new window, leaving your page/site still open behind it.

Limited personal use of photographs copied from the site is allowed as long as:

  1. It is for non-commercial use (ie homepages/profiles/etc is allowable and encouraged!)
  2. The REALBirmingham watermark/logo is clearly visible (if we can't have your money then at least let us have some glory?)
  3. The photograph is not used in a way that is discourteous to anyone shown within it

Commercial use of photographs is absolutely NOT permitted unless all of these conditions are met:

  1. Express written permission has been granted by REALBirmingham
  2. REALBirmingham.net is clearly credited on the page on which the photograph appears if in print.
  3. If you're republishing on a website then you display and link to REALBirmingham.net directly under or close to the photograph.
     

MEMBERSHIP & THE VIP CLUB

REALBirmingham is a growing user community which allows a certain amount of interaction with the site.
As a REALBirmingham member you also agree to the following terms & conditions:

  1. The photo that you select as your main pic should be of YOU! If it plainly is not, or if you use a crowd photo to apply and don't identify yourself then your application will probably be turned down.
  2. Duplicate membership is not allowed: One Membership for one person please! Please don't share your login details or allow someone else access under your name.
  3. Be NICE to your fellow REALBirmingham users and members.
  4. No rude or offensive favourites or profile texts please (please use common sense about which words are considered taboo!). We have a large mixed audience of ALL ages!
  5. No captions that are rude to anyone depicted in them... unless they're VERY good friends and you know they can take it!
  6. If you've got an axe to grind with a person or a business then please grind it directly with them rather than through the site.
  7. Do not attempt to gain access to the VIP area by using someone else's photograph or details to make your application or by attempting to use someone else's details. We store IP addresses and other information for the purpose of tracking hacking attempts and will notify relevant ISPs if we believe that someone is misusing the site.
  8. We insist that members do not use the site to promote or encourage any kind of illegal activity.

Although we will make an effort to ensure that rude/offensive/abusive/defamatory content is removed (and the offedning REALBirmingham member informed/suspended) we take no responsibility for user-contributed content. We urge users of the site to let us know if they believe someone has posted content (captions, profile text, blogs, favourites, etc) that breaks our usage policy.

We reserve the right to remove your profile (and therefore all the links to photos/captions that you've built up etc). We will only consider doing this if we believe that you have abused your membership in any way. We doubt that you will, of course, but just in case there's anyone unscrupulous out there... If you think anyone else is abusing this usage policy then please let us know as soon as possible so that we can deal with it.

These terms and conditions may be changed occasionally and without notice - it is your responsibility as a member to check this page from time to time.
 

BLOGS

Blogs fall into our general member usage policy, but are worth a special mention since they allow anyone to post large amounts of content directly to the site.

Problems with venues/promoters/individualos etc should be taken up directly with those concerned rather than posting a blog entry. In the case of a problem with a REALBirmingham client, REALBirmingham will happily contact the client on your behalf if you find you are unable to resolve your issue. In this instance please use the contact form rather than your blog to raise your concern.

Problems with individual users (!) should be taken up directly with that user - please remember that blogs are a very public space and shouldn't be used to air dirty laundry or start a slanging match.

Shameless promotion of commercial ventures is prohibited. The website only exists through the support of businesses and promoters who pay for advertising space. It is wholly unfair to our paying clients to allow others to use their blogs to advertise. Please consider contacting our sales team to discuss the many very effective and cost-effective ways you can promote an event, venue or product on the site.

Please resist cross-posting the same/very simmilar messages and comments to multiple blogs... this adds unnecessary clutter to the site and will result in all offending messages being removed. If you are posting a comment to another user's blog then please try to stick to the original topic of the blog as far as possible - this will help people to find topics they're interested in more easily.

If you feel that a blog entry breaks this usage policy then rather than enter into a discussion with the blogger, please inform us and we will take any necessary steps. Inappropriate use of Blogs will result in the offending blog being removed and, if necessary, the offending user profile being suspended or removed.

DIRECTORY

We do our best to present an honest, open opinion in our directory, although the comments simply reflect our view and should not be taken as fact. If you believe that anything we have said is misleading in any way then please don't hesitate to contact us and we will endeavour to review the directory entry as quickly as possible.

ADVERTISING

REALBirmingham cannot be held responsible for the content of advertising on the site, although, as always, if you spot anything that you find offensive or misleading then please let us know and we will review the advertisment in question as soon as possible.

PRIVACY POLICY

REALBirmingham will never pass your membership details onto any third party for any reason, unless required by law to do so. We may contact you ourselves on behalf of sponsors or advertisers - you may choose to opt out of this should you wish.

AND THAT'S IT

Right... we've finished trying to sound mean. Go back and enjoy the site please!