Terms of Use

General Conditions
These Terms of Use govern your use of FineScale.com only and do not govern your use of other Kalmbach Publishing Co. services, such as services offered by FineScale Modeler print magazines.

The Sites are owned and operated by Kalmbach Publishing Co. ("we" or "us"). By using our Sites, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use and to use the Sites in accordance with these Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and any additional terms and conditions that may apply to specific sections of the Sites or to products and services available through the Sites. Accessing the Sites, in any manner, whether automated or otherwise, constitutes use of the Sites and your agreement to be bound by these Terms of Use.

We reserve the right to change these Terms of Use or to impose new conditions on use of the Sites, from time to time, in which case we will post the revised Terms of Use on this Web site. By continuing to use the Sites after we post any such changes, you accept the Terms of Use, as modified.

We reserve the right to modify or terminate your account for the Sites for any reason, without notice, at any time.

We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason at any time.

We may, but have no obligation to, remove content and accounts containing content that we determine in our sole discretion are unlawful, offensive, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene or otherwise objectionable, or violates any party's intellectual property or these Terms of Use.

Terms of Use
By using FineScale.com, a service of Kalmbach Publishing Co., you are agreeing to be bound by the following terms and conditions.

Basic Terms

• You are responsible for any activity that occurs under your screen name.
• You are responsible for keeping your password secure.
• You must not abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate, or intimidate site staff or other site members.
• You may not use the Sites for any illegal or unauthorized purpose. International users agree to comply with all local laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content.
• You are solely responsible for your conduct and any data, text, information, screen names, graphics, photos, profiles, audio and video clips, links that you submit, post, and display on the Sites.
• You must not modify, adapt or hack the Sites or modify another Web site so as to falsely imply that it is associated with FineScale.com, or Kalmbach Publishing Co.
• You must not create or submit unwanted email ("Spam") to any staff or member of the Sites.
• In using the Sites, you must not violate any laws in your jurisdiction (including but not limited to copyright laws).

Violation of any of these agreements will result in the termination of your account with the Sites. While we prohibit such conduct and content on our site, you understand and agree that Kalmbach Publishing Co. cannot be responsible for the content posted on its Sites and you nonetheless may be exposed to such materials and that you use the Sites at your own risk.

Photo Gallery Terms

• The photo galleries on the Sites are intended for individual member use and are not a generic image hosting service. Professional or corporate use of our photo galleries is prohibited.
• Please do not use our photo gallery as an advertising medium for you, your work, or your business.
• Your account will be terminated if you or anyone else using your account posts inappropriate (e.g. nude, provocative, etc.) photos within our gallery.
• In the event of a change to your account, we may, but are not obligated to, remove photos you have added to our site. Account status changes would include, but are not limited to:
  1. The expiration of your magazine subscription. If your paid magazine subscription expires, we are not obligated to remove your photos from our Subscriber Photo Gallery.
  2. The locking of your account on the Sites due to inappropriate behavior. If your actions on any part of our site result in the loss of access privileges to the Sites, we are not obligated to remove photos you have added to our site.
• Images hosted on our site shall be limited to photos that you have taken. Please review our Photo Gallery Copyright Information below.
• Your account will be terminated if it is used for hosting graphic elements for use on other Web sites. These graphic elements include, but are not limited to, Web page designs, icons, smilies, buddy icons, avatars, badges, and other non-photographic elements.
• Please keep photo comments on topic (that is, specifically related to the gallery image you're commenting on).
• Please keep photo comments cordial and be respectful of other members and their work. Accept that others might not have your same level of expertise or may have completely different taste. Offer constructive feedback; don't be critical.
• Use appropriate language when commenting on photos. No swearing or foul language. Please keep in mind that we have readers of all ages.

Photo Gallery Copyright Information
As a publishing company, we greatly respect copyright laws. As such, we respect our users' copyright and reserve the copyright on the content we place on our site.

Contributors to the photo galleries found on the Sites keep all their rights, and do not have to license their work in any way. By contributing your photo, you simply give us the right to display your photo(s) online within our photo gallery.

Our online photo galleries are strictly intended for your original photos. In simple terms, if you didn't take the photo, don't post it on our site. (If you had photos of your work taken by a photographer, it is your responsibility to assure that you have the right to post the photos on our photo gallery.) Uploading any work that you do not have the rights to is a violation of our Terms of Use and grounds for termination.

Reporting a Copyright Violation
If you suspect a photo on our site of being a copyright violation, please do the following:

Copy the URL of the image in question from the address bar of your browser window and use the Contact Us form found at the top or bottom of our site to inform us. In addition to the URL, please also provide the photo name and username of the person who posted the image.

Forum Terms
Violating any of the Terms below may result in your forum account being locked. In the event that your forum account is locked, we may, but are not obligated to, remove forum posts you have added to our site.

• Please keep discussions on topic
• No personal attacks or name-calling. Please keep conversations cordial. We understand that there will be differences of opinion. Accept that others might not have your same point of view, don't sink to personal attacks. Nothing is gained by doing so.
• No swearing or foul language. And we don't care if you use symbols to mask the words. The meaning is still conveyed and we don't want it in our forum. Please keep in mind that we have readers of all ages.
• Your forum signature should not be used as a place to express your personal beliefs (religion, politics, martial status, sexual orientation, etc.). Remember, our forums are hosted to bring people with a common bond of jewelry-making together in one place. Don't let your personal viewpoints on unrelated topics interfere with the common reason we're all here.
• No advertising. Our forums should not be used as an advertising medium for companies who want to promote their business or products, or by individual who want to promote their items for sale or auction. Our users are the drivers behind this policy. They don't want the useful information in our forums watered down with posts that are nothing more than advertisements
• No political discussions or signature messages. We have found that political discussions almost always turn into arguments. Plus, we're not hosting a political forum; we're hosting a jewelry-making forum. We are all here because we have a common bond of being interested in jewelry-making. Don't let that common bond be destroyed by political differences.
• No religious discussions or signature messages. For many of the same reasons as the political discussions and signatures. We all have our own views, and this isn't the place to share them.
• No inappropriate images or videos. If you choose to post photos or links to videos, please keep them on topic to the forum thread.
• Don't use our forum as a means of promoting YOUR forum (or online group, sweepstakes, prize drawings, contests, etc.). Within your forum profile, you're allowed to share your own Web site and Blog URL. Please, leave it at that.
• Please respect copyright material. If you want to share copyright material with our users, please link to it. Don't take a story from another Web site and post it in our forum. Likewise, don't take a photo that you don't own the rights to and use it in our forum.

Blog Comments Terms
Violating any of the Terms below may result in your account being locked. In the event that your account is locked, we may, but are not obligated to, remove comments you have added to our Blog.

• Please keep comments on topic (that is, specifically related to the Blog post you're commenting on).
• Please keep comments cordial. We understand that there will be differences of opinion. Accept that others might not have your same point of view, don't sink to personal attacks or name-calling. Nothing is gained by doing so.
• # No swearing or foul language. And we don't care if you use symbols to mask the words. The meaning is still conveyed and we don't want it in our Blog. Please keep in mind that we have readers of all ages.