Terms of Service & Privacy Policy

By accessing DarkPoetry.com, you agree to abide by the official policies of this site.  This page is divided into four main sections, the Rules of Civilization, the Billing Policy,  the Privacy Policy, and the Copyright and Trademark Information.

The Rules of Civilization

Violations of these rules can result in banishment from our community. The accused are sometimes given a second chance to change their ways, but if they slap us in the face after being given such a chance, they will be removed and actively blocked from the site. Typical punishments are described later.

1. Be polite. Being rude to other members is not acceptable.
2. This site is for original poetry only.  Also, plagiarism is a high crime here.
3. Hate speech is not permitted. If you are angry about something, focus on the concept, not the people involved.
4. DarkPoetry has no responsibility for the safekeeping of your written works. Make backups and keep them safe.
5. Only one account is permitted per human being unless explicitly authorized by an official representative of the site in writing.
6. Membership is voluntary and at-will. If you have a problem with another member, resolve it, change your name, or go elsewhere.
7. Due to prior abuse by former members, attempting to disguise yourself by using proxies or anonymizing tools is not permitted. If you find yourself blacklisted, you can test your IP and try to get it removed from the blacklist.
8. Membership fees are non-refundable after your first 2 weeks of membership
9. Do not critique the works of others without invitation; when you are invited, critique the work, not the author.
10. Make an effort to use proper spelling and grammar, and take any technical corrections offered with a humble heart.

Obviously, you also need to observe proper internet behavior, like not spamming members to go visit your blog, and so on.

Elaborations

You may use DarkPoetry.com to read and interact with our members or to post your own, original work. You are responsible for backing up copies of the work on your own computer.

Cases of copyright infringement are handled according to DarkPoetry.com's copyright policy.

DarkPoetry.com is only a medium in which the general public may post works. By accessing the pages of this site you agree not to hold us liable for any action of our members.  You may be held legally liable if you access DarkPoetry to steal poetry or other written works and publish them as your own.

Behavior Expectations: Any personal insults, abuse or other negativity which leads another member to feel uncomfortable on a personal level may result in any or all of the following happening to the offender.

• Suspension of account
• Termination of account
• Complete access ban

Any violation revokes your right to any refund of member dues and you may be blocked from rejoining the site.

Billing policy

Tell anyone and everyone on your credit card statement that the billing for DarkPoetry will appear as "GENIUSWEB" on your statement. It's really annoying for us to get phone calls asking what a charge is when a member doesn't bother to read this. But you did, so thank you!

Payments on Paypal are auto-renewing until you cancel your subscription on your Paypal account. Be careful to only cancel the subscription, not the payment, or you will undo the upgrade and have to start over.

Credit card payments can be auto-renewing if you select that option. You are fully in control of renewals, so please choose only what you can afford!

Members wanting to upgrade before their current membership has run out can request that a portion of the remaining time on existing memberships be redeemed in Ducats using the "cash in" feature. They can then make use of the usual means to upgrade, including by adding Ducats to their account.

Refunds are not available  to members who have been removed or suspended for rule violations, or after 14 days of membership have passed.

Ducats have no cash value, and therefore are not redeemable for cash.  They may be used like admission tickets, for  membership upgrades or other things  as permitted on the site.  You can also donate Ducats by sending them to DarkPoet to help pay for the substantial expenses involved in the upkeep of the site and server.

Privacy

We were respecting users privacy a long time before it became a part of the public consciousness.  We will treat you like we would like to be treated.  Here are some explanations for specific questions:

1. What's logged? Every login, major modification to your account, page access, and your IP address as well as any information your browser may send. The information is not used to target advertising, nor is it shared with any third party, but it is used to show you how many failed logins have taken place and other security tracking to ensure that the integrity of the site is maintained.
2. Why the cookies? Because we use them to track your login session, as well as verify identity. We may also use them for 'bookmarking' purposes for your convenience.  Tip: You should have your browser set to only accept cookies originating from the site you're on in general to be safe.
3. Do you sell my email address or other information? No. It is not shared with any third party, and it never will be.
4. In general: You should consider all information you post on the site as public, as with anything relating to the internet. If evesdropping concerns you, we provide SSL connections which makes that more difficult on an eavesdropper.

Copyrights & Trademarks of DarkPoetry

The purpose of trademark and copyright law is to ensure that we can protect our reputation and quality of service. To that end, we have to declare a few things which visitors and members must adhere to:

Trademarks

DarkPoetry ™:  DarkPoetry.com claims the word DarkPoetry, when used as a single word with no space between "Dark" and "Poetry" and a capital D and P as a trademark.

A Sanctuary From The So-Called Normal World ™  is a trademark of DarkPoetry.com.

Any use of a trademark must be approved in advance of its use by the management of the site, in writing.  Violations of the trademark require us to take legal action in order to protect it.  Don't force us to do that.

Copyrights

The Logo "DarkPoetry" in Old English Font is a copyrighted device owned by DarkPoetry.com, as are all graphics not credited to other sources in the credits page.