The Bump Community Rules - UPDATED 4/2013

Posted Monday, February 22, 2010 12:06 PM

Welcome to The Bump Community!

This is a great place to meet other moms in your area and in the same stage of pregnancy or parenting. In the community you can share great advice, your funny stories and vent about parenting life.

However there are a few rules we ask that you follow. Please read the following Terms of Service (that are really important for community members) before joining in on the discussion. These rules were created to help keep the community an informative fun and enjoyable environment.

(Here is the quickie version, keep scrolling for the long one)

By creating an account on The Bump that will be actively posting in the community, you must commit to the following:

THE RULES:

1. Zero Tolerance for Bullies (aka- how to get banned)

We know you are all adults, and no, we're not going to ban you for using profanity, sarcasm or sharing your opinion in conversation. However, we are going to ban you if you're malicious towards another user.

Malicious, petty and/or personal attacks of any kind are unacceptable, so please be mindful of the way you address and discuss others.

Personal attacks include, but are not limited to: starting a thread with a user's name as the topic/title to "bash" them, linking to a thread to call out a user on their post, thoughts or beliefs (not a topic), calling a username out maliciously, starting a malicious or derogatory poll/question about a user, using images (memes, gifs, etc.) in a direct attack/vicious manner, etc.

The Bump encourages you to share your opinions while respecting others' thoughts and feelings as well. Feel free to share, but be ready to hear and accept other opinions that you may not always agree with. Because you do not agree with someone, does not mean this is the place to attack anyone else's beliefs.

"Trolling" The Bump boards by posting inflammatory or off-topic messages with the intent of provoking members/disrupting normal discussion is not permitted and will lead to warning/banning from the boards.

Cyber bullying is not just a "teen thing" - it is very real for every age group and will not be tolerated.

If for any reason you are suspected of bullying, there will be consequences that may eventually, if not automatically, lead to banning from the community.

2. It's All Public.

We know you are excited to share all of your news, whether it's on our boards, by posting your blog or via other personal websites, but remember: this is a public forum so make sure you trust those you are giving personal info to.

It is important to also remember that your username will come up in a search engine if typed in - so please, keep in mind anyone can read what you have to say if they have your username.

If you are questioning how much should be shared about something, you are probably better off not posting about it.

3. No Soliciting.

There are some incredibly talented Bumpies in our community with great ideas, but our boards are here for members to share ideas and hold discussions without feeling like they are being bombarded by promotions and solicitations. This applies to all sorts of businesses - photographers, graphic designers, Etsy shops, etc.

What does that mean exactly? No posts about your business, at all.

If a member asks for a business recommendation, you cannot respond with yours.

In your signature, you cannot mention your business whatsoever, or link to it (ebay, etsy, etc.)

You can, however, link to your personal blog.

If you are unsure about what's allowed (this can be confusing), just follow one general rule: other members should not be able to guess that you are a vendor of any sort.

4. Personal Information and/or Messages are Not to Be Shared on the Boards.

No collecting, storing or posting another members' personal information, under any circumstance.

Regardless of what was shared by another member, you may not repost their "real" names, photos or any other identifying information.

Private messages within the community are meant to stay private, between two users. If someone reaches out to you with a private message, this message is to stay private. There is a reason it was taken off the boards and into your inbox. Please, respect each other and keep private messages private.

If you suspect that you have received "hate mail" in a private message, please contact a board moderator or a Bump administrator. You can also email community@thebump.com

Any violations will not be tolerated. Invading the privacy of another member will result in an immediate termination of your account.

5. Moderators and Reporting

While we have teams watching the boards, we understand that not every post that violates the rules will be addressed.

Moderators are Bumpies who go above and beyond their membership. They realize that the time they spent on the boards can be used to make them better, so they volunteer their time to moderate specific boards in the community. These members are here to utilize the boards just as you, but are also around to help other members and address issues. Moderators also have the ability to warn/ban users when necessary, based on their own discretion after reading and understanding the community rules.

The Bump also relies on our members to report posts you may think are out of line or violate the rules. If you see something out of line, please report it and it will be addressed.

If your posts are reported by a large number of users, or a high percentage of your posts are reported, your account will be reviewed by an administrator. After an in-depth review, you might end up being banned for something small because your cumulative posting record has shown that you consistently contribute to a negative environment in the community.

We appreciate snarky and fun, but do not support those who are constantly negative or malicious.

6. Be Real.

No impersonating other members or employees of The Bump. Actions such as these are subject to a warning, banning or termination of account.

This includes creating a username as an "attack" or impersonation of another member/username (alter egos included), under any circumstance (even on a day like April Fools day). There will be no tolerance for this behavior on our boards.

All usernames and their uses are always subject to review by The Bump administrators and moderators.

The Bump, it's administrators and volunteer moderators reserve the right to remove or edit any posts at their sole discretion.

Any posts that are contributing to a negative and threatening atmosphere on the boards will be removed and may result in a warning, suspension or termination of your posting rights in the community.

Breaking any of the above rules may result in deleted posts or the suspension of your posting rights.

If you would like to report an issue please contact your board moderator or email us at community@thebump.com

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The long version:

The Bump is here to inform, educate, entertain, and support parents and to-be parents everywhere, during their crazy, hectic, and joyful family growth period (and beyond), through our interactive forums on the World Wide Web. This Terms of Use may be updated from time to time without notice to you.

Here are a some issues we would like you to be aware of before using The Bump website, the services offered by The Bump or through The Bump website, and any parts or sections thereof including but not limited to www.thenestbaby.com web content, message boards, vendor contact forms, member profile information, member-personalized databases and information, folders, posts, messages, photos, blogs, and graphics (hereinafter referred to as "our Area(s)", "Area(s) of The Bump", "The Bump Area(s)" or "Area(s)"). You understand and agree that our Area is provided "AS-IS" and that The Bump assumes no responsibility for your ability to (or any costs or fees associated with your ability to) obtain access to our Area. Nor does The Bump assume any liability for the failure to store or maintain any user communications or personal settings.

1. In consideration of your visiting and using our Area, you represent that you are able to form a binding contract. You also agree to that any information you provide about yourself is accurate and complete information at the time provided. You agree to timely update any information provided to The Bump t to keep it accurate and complete. Failure to accurately and completely provide, and timely update, information about yourself is reasonable grounds for The Bump to suspend or terminate your account and refuse you service in the future.

The Bump is concerned about the safety and privacy of all its moms, moms-to-be, dads, dads-to-be and other users including children. Please remember that The Bump Area is designed to inform, educate, entertain, and support parents-to-be and their families, and as a result has a diverse audience. Accordingly, it is the responsibility of legal guardians (moms and dads) to determine whether any parts of our Area are appropriate for your child.

In addition to this Terms of Use, when using a particular Area of The Bump, you are also bound by the posted guidelines and rules for that particular Area.

1. Information and data provided by you are subject to our Privacy Policy. This policy, as updated from time to time, may be found at http://www.thebump.com/terms.html
   
   
2. Certain names, logos, and/or phrases in our Area may constitute trademarks and/or copyrights of The Bump or its clients. The mark "The Bump" and the contents of this Website Area are the sole property of XO Group Inc. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without the expressly written permission of The Bump.

All of the writing in our Area is the copyrighted property of XO Group Inc. , and is protected as such. None of the material may be reproduced without our written permission, with the exception of downloading or printing a single copy for yourself (and, of course, your fiance and bridal party!). This copyright extends from original Nest Baby material, to the raw compilations of posts in our folders, to any edited and filtered compilations of posts that we may sell and distribute. The right to download and store or output the materials found on The Bump is granted for viewing use only. Materials may not be reproduced in any form. Any reproduction or editing by any means mechanical or electronic without the explicit written permission of The Bump is expressly prohibited.

The Bump reserves the right to republish any material contributed by our readers. By posting a message, a subscriber expressly grants the right to The Bump to republish or sell the message as part of any edited compilation such as The Daily Poop or Nest Baby News. Material that is copyright protected may not be submitted without permission from the copyright owner.

Since there are many thousands of possible sources spread out across the Internet, it is impossible for us at The Bump to know if a posting represents a copyright infringement. Please remember you are responsible for the material you submit to The Bump, including taste, reliability, originality and copyright. Author(s) may be held legally responsible for copyright infringement, defamation or invasion of privacy, as well as any damages arising out of actions resulting from materials submitted by you and posted by The Bump. You are responsible for ensuring that your message or posting does not violate any extant copyrights. If you believe that your copyrighted material has been posted to The Bump without permission, please see http://www.theknot.com/au_copyright.shtml for our policies regarding its removal. The Bump will have a nonexclusive global license to publish the content submitted by users and contributors within The Bump. The Bump will also have global nonexclusive adaptation and resale rights over any content and material submitted by users and contributors within The Bump's World Wide Web sites. These nonexclusive publishing license and resale/adaptation rights extend to any materials submitted "for publication" within The Bump, including both message board postings and content submitted to The Bump for uploading and subsequent publishing within non-message board Areas. The Bump and The Bump's staff are not and will not be responsible for any misleading, false, or otherwise injurious information and advice communicated in our Area or for any results obtained from the use of such information or advice.

The Bump will not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by a user through the user's reliance on information and advice gained in this Area. (Sounds serious, right? We don't mean to scare you! It's just physically impossible for us to control forums such as the message boards, and we trust our The Bump members' good sense and intelligence to make informed decisions on their own!)

4. Given the interactive nature of the forums, both the salaried staff of The Bump and our users will generate content in the forums. We can control our salaried staff members' contributions; however, we are not able to edit and ensure the accuracy of the content generated by our users, many of whom use anonymous screen names and with whom we have no official relationship.

Therefore, users of The Bump should handle the information generated by fellow users with common sense caution. There's a lot of great advice on The Bump, but users should consider any information and advice given by other users as a starting point for their own research. The Bump cannot guarantee the accuracy, efficacy, or veracity of any information provided within The Bump galleries, blogs, and forums.

The Bump cannot guarantee that all content and materials that appear in The Bump Areas is not infringing on any registered or non-registered copyrights. On any given day, potentially thousands of new postings may appear on The Bump's message boards, and it is humanly impossible to verify that each and every one of these postings are free of copyright infringement. (We wish we could! We wish we had a huge staff who could do everything we want and need, but alas, 'tis impossible!)

THE INFORMATION AND SERVICES PROVIDED BY OR ON The Bump (INCLUDING BY THE KNOT OR BY ANY THIRD PARTY) ARE INTENDED FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. SUCH INFORMATION AND SERVICES ARE NOT INTENDED TO, AND DO NOT, CONSTITUTE MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE ADVICE OR DIAGNOSIS, AND MAY NOT BE USED FOR SUCH PURPOSES. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CONSULT WITH A QUALIFIED PHYSICIAN OR OTHER HEALTHCARE PROVIDER ABOUT YOUR SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING BEFORE STARTING ANY TREATMENT, MEDICAL OR OTHERWISE. NO PARTY PROVIDING INFORMATION OR SERVICES ON The Bump IS PROVIDING ANY OTHER PROFESSIONAL ADVICE OR SERVICE.

1. Online behavior requires common sense and basic etiquette. Accordingly, here are some rules that you agree to follow:
• No strong, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise harmful language.
• No racially, ethnically or otherwise, objectionable language.
• No harassing, intimidating, stalking, or threatening other community members.
• No libelous, defamatory, or otherwise tortuous language.
• No online vandalism. This includes using abusive language and repeatedly hitting the return key in the chat room, or otherwise acting in a manner that negatively impacts the ability to engage in real time exchanges.
• No impersonating any person, including, but not limited to, other community members or employees of The Bump.
• No posting, distributing, transmitting, or promoting illegal content.
• No invasion of another's privacy.
• No actions that are harmful to minors.
• No manipulation or forging of identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any information posted on The Bump site or otherwise provided to The Bump or its employees.
• No posting, providing, transmitting, or otherwise making available any information (such as inside, proprietary or confidential information) that you do not have a right to make available due to contract, fiduciary duty, or operation of law.
• No posting, providing, transmitting, or otherwise making available any junk mail or spam.
• No posting, uploading, emailing, or otherwise transmitting any material that contains any malicious computer code (including spyware, worms, Trojan horses, viruses, etc.).
• No posting, providing, transmitting, or otherwise making available any information which violates regulations promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, or that of any securities exchange, such as the New York Stock Exchange NASDAQ Stock Market.
• No collecting, storing, or posting of personal data about or of other community members.
• No soliciting of any kind on the message boards.
  
  
2. Content from www.thebump.com, including but not limited to any member profile information such as member names, email addresses, member contact information, or member-personalized wedding-related information, may not be taken from the website and used for any purpose. Names, email addresses and other contact information from member profile information or the pages and postings on this site may not be used by outside vendors or other third parties for purposes of solicitation. Unsolicited emails to our members or to The Bump vendors may constitute misrepresentation, misappropriation of The Bump's business name and reputation, unfair competition, and may also violate laws that prohibit unsolicited email, for which The Bump shall be entitled to take appropriate legal action including seeking injunctive relief, an accounting of profits, damages, legal fees and costs. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Nest Baby members may link to this website, but only in strict accordance with the terms and conditions for linking set forth at http://www.theknot.com/au_linkedpartners.shtml.
3. People change, and The Bump does too. The Bump reserves the right from time to time to make modifications and changes to our Area. These modifications and changes may include, but are not limited to, discontinuing, temporarily or permanently, any service offered by, or through The Bump (or any part thereof) with or without notice. You agree that The Bump shall not be liable to you or to any other party for any changes and modifications to our Area.
4. While we hope we stay together forever, you agree that, under certain circumstances and without prior notice, The Bump may terminate your access to The Bump, including purging your member account and any material and information associated with your member account (including your user name, password, registry and profile). Cause for such termination shall include, but not be limited to, violation of the provisions set forth in section 5 of this Terms of Use agreement. You acknowledge and agree that all terminations for cause shall be made in sole discretion of The Bump and that The Bump shall not be liable to you or any other party for the termination of your access to our Area or the purging of any material.
5. YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT:

YOUR USE OF OUR AREA IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE SERVICES PROVIDED IN OUR AREA ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. The Bump EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

The Bump MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT: (i) THE SERVICE WILL MEET ANY OF YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (ii) THE SERVICE WILL BE TIMELY, SECURE, UNINTERRUPTED, OR FREE FROM ERROR OR OMISSION, (iii) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF ANY SERVICE IN OUR AREA WILL BE USEFUL, ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, (iv) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED OR OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH THE SERVICES OFFERED IN OUR AREA WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS, AND (V) ANY ERRORS IN THE OPERATION OF AREA INCLUDING THE OPERATION OF ANY SOFTWARE WILL BE CORRECTED.

ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF ANY SERVICE IN OUR AREA IS DONE AT YOUR OWN RISK AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM (OR ANY COMPONENT CONNECTED TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM) OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD (INTENTIONAL OR OTHERWISE) OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL.

NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM The Bump OR FROM ANY SERVICE PROVIDED IN OUR AREA SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THE TERMS OF USE.

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES OR THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. ACCORDINGLY, SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS IN THIS SECTION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

1. YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT The Bump SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL AND REPUTATION, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES. THIS LIMITATION ON LIABILITY APPLIES EVEN IF The Bump HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES
   
   
2. And Now Some Legal Mumbo Jumbo...

You agree that The Bump may access, maintain, and disclose information you provide to The Bump if required to do so by law or if The Bump, in good faith, believes that such access, maintenance or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (i) comply with any legal process; (ii) enforce The Bump's Terms of Use; (iii) respond to claims that any material or information posted, provided, transmitted, or otherwise made available by you violates the rights of third parties; (iv) respond to your customer service requests; or (v) otherwise protect the rights and property of The Bump, its vendors, community members, users and the general public.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless The Bump, its subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, officers, agents, vendors or other partners, and employees, from any claim or demand, including attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of any material or information posted, provided, transmitted, or otherwise made available by you in our Area, or by your use of our Area, or by your violation of The Bump's Terms of Use, or your violation of the rights of another.

The Terms of Use constitute the entire agreement between you and The Bump and govern your use of our Area and any services offered in our Area. This agreement supercedes any prior terms of use agreements between you and The Bump.

The Terms of Use and the relationship between you and The Bump shall be governed by the laws of the State of New York without regard to its conflict of law provisions. You and The Bump agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within the county of New York, New York.

You agree that, except as otherwise expressly provided in this Terms of Use, there shall be no third party beneficiaries to this agreement.

The failure of The Bump to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the Terms of Use is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the other terms and provisions of the Terms of use shall remain in full force and effect.

You agree that your Nest Baby member account is non-transferable and any rights to your account or contents within your account terminate upon your death.

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 any services provided in our Area or the Terms of Use must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.

The section titles and other headings in the Terms of Use are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.