Public Chat Rules/Site Conduct: (Chat is not intended for use by individuals under the age of 13.)
Users are to be responsible and to respect our chess community. Your conduct should be guided by common sense, basic "netiquette", and these chat guidelines.
We are a chess site and if you are here to chat only and not play chess then we ask that you join in some games. If you are here to chat only then we ask that you find another site to do this. This is not a chat site.
Violation of these rules will result in the loss of your public chat, forum, challenge player and private message privileges for all accounts. It is against the site policy to start another account because your privileges were removed.
Once your public chat and forum privileges are removed they will not be given back until the times specified above.
There is no appeal process.
You may continue to join a club, team or league and if you are accepted you may chat in those forums. However, the rules still apply and your club, team or league leader will be the person you have to answer to. ChessManiac.com reserves the right to deactivate account(s). No refunds will be issued.
All players must follow the following rules:
1. You may not harass, insult, badger, or threaten other players.
2. You may not artificially manipulate your rating. It includes, but not limited to, resigning multiple games with equal or winning positions, letting multiple games time out while still visiting ChessManiac.com, intentionally losing games to lower your rating in general. Futhermore, if you have multiple accounts you will not be able to join a team.
3. You may not send any unsolicited mass messages (aka spam) to other ChessManiac.com users.
4. You may not recruit for, advertise or otherwise promote other websites, products and/or services, without prior written permission from ChessManiac.com.
5. You will not attempt to hack or cause damage in anyway to the ChessManiac.com servers. You may not use download bots or automated scripts to access ChessManiac.com pages. You may not attempt or disable any of the code on ChessManiac.com including blocking ads.
6. You will not violate any local, state, national or international laws or regulations.
7. If your account is suspended or if your public chat and/or forum posting privileges have been blocked, you may not use another users' accounts to get around this ban. You may not help other users, whose accounts have been deactivated or have had their public chat/forum privileges blocked to get around this ban.
8. You may not use another users' account to get around someones ignore list. You may not post a message in the forums with the intention of confronting the player who put you on their ingore list. Furthermore, you may not ask someone else to contact them for you. Finally you may not help another player bypass someone else's ignore list.
9. You may not bet, or accept bets on any games or events on ChessManiac.com.
10. You may not post anything that contains or facilitates the transfer of software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment.
11. You may not post anything that contains vulgarities directed toward another individual or group.
12. You may not post anything that depicts violence in a gratuitous manner, without journalistic or artistic merit, primarily intended to agitate or cause emotional distress.
13. You may not post anything that is intended to victimize, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual group of individuals on the basis of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, race, religion or sexual orientation.
14. You may not solicit personal information from a minor (under 18 years old). Personal information includes full name, home address, home telephone number, or other identifiying information that would enable "offline" contact.
15. You may not post anything that contains material that defames, abuses, threatens, promotes, or instigates physical harm or death to others, or oneself.
17. You may not post anything that is illegal or incites illegal activity, such as instructional information on how to build a bomb and/or make counterfeit money.
18. You may not post anything that solicits for exchange, sale or purchase of sexually explicit images, and/or material harmful to minors; including, but not limited to, any photograph, film, video, or picture or computer generated image or picture (actual or simulated).
19. You may not post anything that infringes on anyone else's intellectual property rights, including, but not limited to, any copyright, trademark, rights of publicity, rights of privacy, or other proprietary rights. This includes copying another users profile image.
20. You may not attempt to harvest or collect member information, including screen names.
21. You may not impersonate or represent any person or entity in an attempt to deceive, harass or otherwise mislead another member. You may not pretend to be an employee or representative of ChessManiac.com, or any of the other affiliated web sites.
22. You may not attempt to get a password, or other private information from a user. Remember: Administrators of this site will NEVER ask for your password.
23. You may not post links to and/or references content not allowed under these guidelines.
Note: It is important to remember safety while online. Always use caution when providing any personal information about yourself anywhere online. It's also a good rule-of-thumb to check the Privacy Policies of any unfamiliar or new web sites you visit. When communicating in a chat room be mindful that many people will be able to view it and the inclusion of information such as your name, your address or telephone number is never recommended.
**ChessManiac.com reserves the right to edit these rules at anytime.
Last edited 5-04-11