THE HYBRIDIZERS FORUM Terms of Service
last updated: July 22, 2008

Acceptance of Terms

The Hybridizers Forum is provided to you free of charge under these Terms of Service. By visiting any portion of THE HYBRIDIZERS FORUM web site, forums and/or participating in services or events you are indicating your agreement to be bound by these Terms of Service. THE HYBRIDIZERS FORUM shall not be liable to you for any breach of these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to these Terms of Service please do not view the site or participate in services or events.

These Terms of Service may be updated at any time with or without notice. THE HYBRIDIZERS FORUM may supplement these Terms of Service with additional terms pertaining to specific content, services or events.

By selecting the "Click to Enter The Hybridizers Forum" you acknowledge that you have read and agree to abide by all of the rules and conditions described within these Terms of Service.

THE HYBRIDIZERS FORUM Mission and Guiding Principles

THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM is an on-line community devoted to facilitating the growth and education of both new and veteran orchid hybridizers, the discussion of orchid hybridizing and collaboration on common projects.

THE guiding principle that all members must abide by is courtesy.  Passion for a subject is great, but courtesy is a necessary component of community. Please endeavor to treat others with courtesy, even if you object to their opinions. You can attack their arguments, but please do not attack other people. Be kind and courteous. People that are disruptive to the community will have their accounts disabled. We want people to feel safe, as the purpose of this forum is to share information with a wide range of people. THE HYBRIDIZERS FORUM is first and foremost a community. Please help us nurture and build it.

Membership Levels

THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM has a tiered membership structure.  This is in place to encourage participation and offer additional benefits to contributing members.  This also allows experienced members the opportunity to collaborate on sensitive projects without risk of exposure of forum skimming from lurkers and guests.

Public sections of the forum are maintained to release information into the public domain that is no longer proprietary and deemed to potentially be of value to the great community outside the forum. The public sections are read only to guests.

The Member section of the forum contains most of the content and the majority of the active discussions.  Users are granted Member status by sending a request to the forum administrators with additional information as specified on the “How to Join” page.  Potential users are asked to give personal information about their orchid and hybridizing experience so we can validate that they are in fact a legitimate grower and not a spammer.

The Hybridizer section of the forum contains in depth research and projects on advanced topics. Hybridizers often collaborate on projects and work together to achieve common goals. This section of the forum is by invitation only based on the contributions of each individual member.

Membership Rules

1. Membership activation is at the sole discretion of the administrators of THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM.  We reserve the right to activate and deactivate Member accounts for any reason (including, but not limited to the conditions below).
   
   
2. Participation and contribution in forum discussions and projects are vital to the health of the community.  Inactive accounts will be subject to deactivation after 9 months (270 days) of inactivity.  Logging into the forum and only lurking is not considered activity and is highly discouraged.
   
   
3. Members are highly encouraged to maintain updated profiles.  Members are required to include their real First and Last name in their profile to further build trust and community.
   
   
4. Courtesy is expected at all times.  Disruptive and/or abusive behavior will not be tolerated and will result in account deactivation.

Membership Level Requirements

THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM has a tiered membership structure.  This is in place to encourage participation and offer additional benefits to contributing members.  This also allows experienced members to collaborate on sensitive projects without risk of exposure of forum skimming from lurkers and guests.

The Public level of the forum is accessible to all guests and has no requirements for read only access.

The Member level has the following requirements:

The "Member" membership level is assumed to be the level of the majority of the members of the forum. The contribution requirements and expectations are not as high but not eliminated all together.

1. New "Member"s must activate, update their account and begin posting to the forum within 30 days or the account will be deactivated. We have to create accounts manually and ask that if you are going to join, that you please sign in and participate in the community. Accounts will only be re-activated under extenuating circumstances;
   
   
2. Active Membership is required of all members of The Hybridizers Forum.
   
   
   • Members are expected to participate in THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM community on a regular basis. Posts of a relevant nature are important to the overall health of the forum. Lurking and skimming is highly discouraged. The admin's retain the right to deactive accounts that abuse the system;
   • Inactive "Member" level accounts will be deactivated after 270 days (9 months) of inactivity.  

The Hybridizer level has the following requirements:

The "Hybridizer" membership level has been created to streamline the membership on the forum and help continue to focus the forum on its goal of providing a discussion area on the topic of orchid hybridizing. The Senior and Advanced membership levels have been deleted, partially because those sections of the forum were not being fully utilized. This membership level is by invitation only and members must first meet the following requirements before being considered for the "Hybridizer" level.

1. Active membership on the forum for at least 60 days; 
   
   
2. Members must be an Active Hybridizer or an Active Contributor on the forum of relevant hybridizing content.  Discussions of crosses in the planning/in progress stages and/or photos of flowered crosses will be used as a metric for meeting this requirement.
   
   
3. Active Contributor of relevant content on the forum on a regular basis including the following:
   

• The total number of quality posts on the subject of hybridizing, lab techniques, etc resulting in reasonable discussions and an overall contribution to the knowledge base on the forum; including but not limited to the author of the posts. We want to encourage new hybridizers, so individuals showing a desire to learn and develop their skills by posting questions and comments that result in discussions of hybridizing techniques will go towards this requirement. Experienced and existing hybridizers will need to be making quality posts about the subject matter to meet this requirement;
  
• The number of quality posts over a period of time. This will likely be assessed on 2 month time periods. The Admins have watched some members log in every day and not contribute any posts for weeks at a time. It is our opinion that an Active Contributor should probably contribute more often than that;
  
• Inactive "Hybridizer" level accounts will be changed to "Member" level after 90 days of inactivity. If you know you are going to be out for an extended period of time please just send us a PM or e-mail in advance.  We are willing to make allowances when we know ahead of time. This isn't meant to be a punitive measure, it is just meant to keep the Hybridizer-level members and the forum active.  

These criteria are complex and subjective;  the rank of Hybridizer is achieved through invitation and will be determined on a case by case basis by the forum admin's. We will endeavor to be fair and make decisions based on what is best for the community.

Photo Usage and Posting Guidelines

General Rules:

Only post your own images or images you have permission to post from the original owner;

You may link to photos that you do not own, that are published on other web sites.  Please give appropriate credit and the link to the other site should be visible;

All images are the property of the original owner/photographer and should not be copied, posted or used for any other application without the written consent of the owner;

We reserve the right to remove any and all images that do not follow the rules and guidelines described here within.

Image Sizes:

THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM software allows members to attach and store images on the forum’s server as an added service.  Images are restricted to 500k and images below 250k are strongly recommended to ensure we have plenty of space well into the future. If disk space becomes a problem, we will lower the file size cap;

Try to keep the largest dimension of images you post to 500 pixels.  Images larger than 500 X 400 pixels cause technical issues on some screen resolutions.  Again we ask that you not post anything larger in order to maintain the integrity of the forum.

Forum Content

First and foremost, THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM is about topics relating to the best practices of orchid breeding. This includes hybridizing techniques, breeding goals, orchid culture and lab techniques. Members are highly encouraged to stay on topic. As a whole, the content of threads should be considered something that will be used as a long term resource. So we ask that you think about what you post and if it seems like something that is completely off topic or is just not at all related to hybridizing that you have a second thought before you post it. Again, think Quality over Quantity and as a general rule shoot for 90% good related content and up to 10% courtesy posts and/or humor;

Off topic general banter will be removed by the admin's on a regular basis to maintain the integrity of the forum content. Again some light humor off and on is not a big deal, just please keep in mind what we are all here for. If you want to share some witty repartee with another forum member and it isn't likely to be of interest to everybody else, or is not directly related to hybridizing orchids please consider sending a PM or an e-mail instead of posting;

No "scraping content" and re-publishing of ANY information from THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM without written permission from the principals;

At any time you may be given access to "Private" areas of the forum. Please do not share, distribute or discuss any content from a "Private" area with anyone in or outside THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM that has not been granted access to the "Private" data. While we highly encourage the sharing and collaboration on projects, many of the members of the forum also run business and must maintain a certain level pf proprietary information in order to stay competitive in a very difficult market. These areas of the forum allow individuals to share sensitive information at a reduced risk of exposure. Anyone found to be releasing information clearing marked as private or proprietary will be subject to account deactivation;

At the same time, please do not re-publish content from other forums and/or sites without written permission.  The only exception is reference from published scientific works where appropriate credit and references are given;

THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM administrators have the ability and express right to edit, delete, move and/or modify any post for any reason;

Do not suggest or promote any illegal activities;

Please refrain from talking politics, religion, etc., EXCEPT where it relates directly to the topic of orchid hybridizing or conservation. Just because we are all interested in orchids doesn't mean we have similar political views; those are appropriate for other fora that are focused on those topics. If you really need to broach that subject with another member, PM them; if they do not like your politics, they can block further PMs from you, but it doesn't get a hostile interaction out in public view where it could disrupt others.

Offensive language should be avoided. While we currently do not have any members that are minors, the forum is not limited to members over the age of 18.  So please use appropriate language when possible.  We do not want to have to police or edit posts, but reserve the right to do so if a post gets out of hand.

Disclaimer of Warranties

You expressly agree that use of THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM and all services and events is at your sole risk. THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM makes no warranties to the content, service, events or availability of THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM.

THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM and its partners take no responsibility for the actions of members or the thoughts and ideas expressed herein. Members post all information at their own risk and acknowledge that while the forum is reasonably secure, THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM can not be help responsible for information that is released outside the forum either by another member or malicious attack from outside the forum.  Every effort is made by THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM administrators to maintain a safe, private and secure environment, but because of the inherently public nature of an internet based system that security and privacy can not be guaranteed.

Opinions published here are those of the poster and do not necessarily reflect the values or beliefs of the forum organizers or members.

Privacy Policy

THE HYBRIDIZER'S FORUM will not sell or distribute personal information about our participants such as an email address to any third party. Members selling or distributing information about participants and/or content from the forum will have their accounts disabled.

Every effort is made to maintain the security and privacy of the content and personal information of the membership.