The purpose of the GDA Applied Energy Leaders’ Blog (the “Blog”) is to provide an engaging forum in which GDA Applied Energy leadership not only shares timely information but also has a mechanism to listen to members and informally solicit their feedback. All users of the Blog (“Users”) are encouraged to participate in the online discussion process through the comment features of the Blog. These Terms of Use are intended to help Blog Users understand and differentiate between suitable and inappropriate use of the Blog, as well as to share best practices.
The Terms of Use are an agreement between the GDA Applied Energy and User. By accessing, browsing, or using this service, User agrees to be bound by these terms. GDA Applied Energy may at any time revise these Terms of Use by updating this posting; User’s continued use of the service following the posting of notice of a change will confirm User’s acceptance of the change.
Rules and Restrictions on Submissions
Users should exercise common sense and courtesy in submitting comments or materials for posting on the Blog (“Submissions”). Inappropriate Submissions would include, for example, comments or materials that:
make false or defamatory statements about others;
are obscene, vulgar, abusive, hateful or threatening;
harass or discriminate on the basis of race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference or other factors;
are invasive of the privacy rights of others (e.g., by including addresses, phone numbers or other personal information about third persons without their consent.)
Submissions may not include content or materials that violate the copyrights, trademark rights or other intellectual property rights of third parties.
Submissions may not contain unauthorized disclosures of proprietary or confidential information.
Users may not use the Blog in a manner or for a purpose that could violate federal or state antitrust laws. For example, the Blog may not be used to communicate with competitors about prices, discounts, market shares, sales territories, or other terms or conditions of trade.
Users may not use the Blog to promote or provide instructional information about illegal activities or for any purpose that may be illegal.
Due to the GDA Applied Energy’s status as a tax-exempt organization and legal limitations on its activities, User Submissions may not contain comments or materials supporting or opposing any candidates for political office or otherwise engage in political activity or activity inconsistent with the GDA Applied Energy’s purposes.
Users may not use or attempt to use the Blog for commercial purposes. Submissions may not include advertisements for goods or services, solicitations, “spam”, chain letters, surveys, pyramid schemes or the like.
Submissions may not include false or misleading representations of affiliation with any other person or entity. A User may not employ false identifiers to impersonate any person or entity or to misrepresent or disguise the true origin of any content.
The GDA Applied Energy believes that anonymous postings are neither necessary for purposes of this forum, nor consistent with the professional level of dialogue expected. Therefore, the User’s name (which must be provided) will be posted with the Submission.
GDA Applied Energy’s Right to Monitor and Administer the Blog
GDA Applied Energy reserves the right to monitor and administer the Blog and, in its sole discretion, to refuse to post any Submissions received or to remove Submissions that have been posted to the Blog. The GDA Applied Energy also reserves the right to disallow the use of any particular screen name or e-mail address, or to terminate any User’s posting privileges at any time.
Website Security
Users must respect the security of the Blog and may not attempt to gain access to areas private to the GDA Applied Energy or its members. A User may not upload, post or transmit any material containing software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt or limit the functionality of the GDA Applied Energy’s website, computer software or hardware, or telecommunications equipment. A User may not attempt to decompile, reverse engineer, modify or hack the website or underlying software to defeat or overcome any encryption or digital rights management technology implemented by the GDA Applied Energy, or to harm, disable, overburden, misuse or interfere with any other party’s use of the Blog or the GDA Applied Energy website, servers, networks or systems.
Ownership of the Blog and Blog Contents
All postings originated by the GDA Applied Energy and published on the Blog are protected by copyright and owned by the GDA Applied Energy. The GDA Applied Energy does not claim ownership of or copyrights in User Submissions. User understands that Submissions are not confidential. All Submissions by any User and postings made to the Blog by GDA Applied Energy are provided and licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial. Full terms of the license can be found here.
