Terms of Use

The Choad Network aka ChoadNetwork.com

Welcome to The Choad Network! Finally there’s a place to give a little something back to the choads of the world. Inside these hallowed halls of justice is a place to tell us who the choadiast people are and why they deserve the ridicule of your peers. The goal of this TERMS OF USE agreement, however, is to protect our legal rights, so this site can continue to operate and provide you with access to the free services available at this site. Please review these terms of use carefully, as they constitute a binding agreement which conditions your use of the site (the “Agreement”). If you don’t want to play by the rules of this Agreement, please leave the site; if you stay here, or if you come back, you agree to be bound by this Agreement.

Overview of what we do, and what the CDA does

ChoadNetwork.com (sometimes “we,” “us,” “our,” or the “Company”) is providing this public forum as a public service and is operating as a "common carrier" under the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (“CDA”), 47 U.S.C. § 230.  In general, the CDA is a federal law which provides internet sites some immunity from claims regarding postings, which is good—without that law, it could become impossible to run a social networking website. We are not a publisher or distributor of any of the content posted on this website by any user.  We claim immunity from liability to the fullest extent under the law and as provided under the CDA for content provided by you and other people on this site, and nothing in this Agreement waives or removes that immunity.

Your Agreement Regarding Responsible Conduct

You agree to act as a good citizen on this site and to treat other people with a modicum of respect. You are solely responsible for the content or information you publish, display, or otherwise communicate in any fashion through our website (“post”), or otherwise transmit to other users.

You agree to each of these things: (i) you will not impersonate any person, business, or other entity, this includes the living and the dead; (ii) you will not stalk or harass anyone, or any business or other entity, including ghosts and robots, (iii) you will not state or imply that any statements you make are endorsed by us, (iv) you will not use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other manual or automatic device or process to retrieve, index, "data mine," or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the site or its contents, (v) you will not post, distribute or reproduce in any way any copyrighted material, trademarks, or other proprietary information without obtaining the prior consent of the owner of such proprietary rights, (vi) you will not remove any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notices contained in any images or data you post, or this site; (vii) you will not interfere with or disrupt the services of the site or the servers or networks connected to the services of this site; (viii) you will not post, email or otherwise transmit any material that contains 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; (ix) you will not "frame" or "mirror" any part of the site, without our prior written authorization, (x) you will not post on the site, or transmit to other users or employees, any threatening, harassing, racially offensive, or illegal material, (xi) you will use the service in a manner consistent with any and all applicable laws and regulations, (xii) you will not engage in advertising to or soliciting other users of this site for any commercial purpose, nor will you transmit spam of any sort to other users; (xiii) you are solely responsible for your interactions with other users of this site, and promise us that you will take prudent precautions when meeting anyone through this website; (xiv) you will promptly notify us of any violation of the Terms of Use by other users of the site (please!).

Importantly, you also agree not to post or transmit any defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, obscene, profane, offensive, sexually oriented, threatening, harassing, racially offensive, or illegal material, or any material that infringes or violates anyone else’s rights (including without limitation copyrights, other intellectual property rights, and rights of privacy and to publicity). We also hate cyberbullies—it’s a choady thing to do, and you agree not to do it, ever. Don’t be “that guy.” (or gal) We don’t like him (or her).

To access or use or use our service, you must register with us. When you register, you agree to provide accurate, current and complete information about yourself, and to maintain and update your information to keep it accurate, current and complete. You agree that we may rely on your User Information as accurate, current and complete. You acknowledge that if your User Information is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete in any respect, we are free to immediately terminate this Agreement and your use of the service.  Our use of your user information is governed by our Privacy Policy, which is expressly incorporated herein and made part of this Agreement. [Minors may not use or access our service.  By using or accessing our service, you represent and warrant that you are at least eighteen (18) years of age.]

We reserve the right to immediately suspend or terminate your access to this site, without notice, upon any breach of this Agreement by you.

Identifying Information

This site is supposed to be fun. You therefore agree not to include any full names, phone numbers, street addresses, business names, E-mail addresses or other personally identifying information about any person or business.

Use of Our Stuff

Except for public domain material, this site is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. We do agree to grant you a non-exclusive license to use the material at this site while connected to this site (including, where available, to email individual posts, or the URL of a page to friends directly from this site). You are also granted a limited license to print one copy of any content posted at the site, but only for your personal use. Except as expressly provided above, all rights are reserved. Electronic reproduction, adaptation, distribution, performance or display is prohibited. Changes to or deletion of author attribution or copyright notices are prohibited. Commercial use of any of the Content is strictly prohibited. Use of any of our trademarks as metatags on other web sites also is strictly prohibited. You may not display this website in frames (or any of the Content via in-line links) without our express written permission. You may, however, establish ordinary links to our site without our written permission.

Other Folks We Link To

We provide links from our site to other sites as a convenience to our visitors, and, admittedly, to make a little money (not a lot—believe us). We have no control over linked sites and make no representations about any content, material, goods or services available at these locations. Links are not intended to imply sponsorship, affiliation or endorsement.

Changes to Terms of Service

These terms are subject to change at any time. We will likely not give you notice if the terms change. If the terms are modified or revised, you agree to be bound by such modifications and/or revisions, irrespective of whether you receive notice of such modifications or revisions.  So you should review the terms on a regular basis in order to ensure that you are in compliance with these Terms of Use.

Our Right to Police This Site

By using the site, you understand and agree that we do not regularly monitor posts on the site. We reserve the right, but have no obligation, to monitor and/or mediate disputes between you and other users.  You agree that the Company is not obligated to maintain back-up copies of any content posted on the site and shall have no liability for failure to maintain such content. 
We reserve the right, but have no obligation, to monitor the materials posted on the site. We shall have the right but not the obligation to remove any such material that in our sole opinion violates, or is alleged to violate, the law or this Agreement. You agree that we have this right, so don’t go crying when we take down a post, even if you think we’re wrong, you agree that we have the right to do it, if we believe it is appropriate. But you remain solely responsible for the content you post on the site.

You agree that we can terminate your use of this website, and take down any and all posts, at our sole discretion, at any time and for any reason. You agree not to sue us, or otherwise complain, if we bar your use of the site, remove a post or posts, or edit a post. Further, you agree that in any case where you feel you do have a legal claim against us, you will bring such cause of action arising out of or related to your use or access of our website within one (1) year after the cause of action accrues; otherwise, such cause of action is permanently barred. You also agree to bring any such cause of action in the federal or state courts sitting in Austin, Texas, and waive any complaints about convenience of forum.

Our users are anonymous. We do not keep records or record IP addresses. Under Section  230 of the CDA, we may "host" other user’s content without being liable for defamation/libel, privacy torts or any other causes of action.  Section 230 of the CDA creates a federal immunity to any cause of action that would make us liable for information originating with a third-party user of the service.  See, Zeran v. AOL, 129 F.3d 327, 330 (4th Cir. 1997).

We have no duty to respond to complaints about posts to our site.  Due to the amount traffic at our site, it is impossible for us to monitor all of the content posted on the site and to respond to all inquiries or complaints by users. The Company may provide the capability for a user to respond to, or to flag, content posted on the site that is objectionable or violates this Agreement, however the flagging of content does not necessarily mean that it will be removed from the site.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, we may elect to remove content, in our sole and absolute discretion, if we determine that the content violates this Agreement or the law.

Indemnification of Us by You; Our Disclaimer of Liability

This is a biggie, please read carefully. You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless ChoadNetwork.com, its officers, directors, managers, members, employees, agents, affiliates, and third parties, for any losses, costs, liabilities and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) relating to or arising out of your use of the service, including: (i) your breach of this Agreement; (ii) any allegation that any materials that you submit to us or transmit to the site infringe or otherwise violate the copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property or other rights of any third party; and/or (iii) any allegation that any materials you submit to us are libelous statements and/or (iv) your activities in connection with the site. This indemnity shall be applicable without regard to the negligence of any party, including any indemnified party or person.

You are completely responsible for any damages and/or legal fees that may be incurred by us as a direct result of any false, libelous, inappropriate or, otherwise, potentially damaging post(s) you put up about an individual(s) or business. We cannot, and will not be, held responsible for any damages and or legal fees incurred by any person as a result of any  false, libelous, inappropriate, or, otherwise, potentially damaging post(s) about an individual(s) or business.

What this means, in layman’s terms, is that if you put up a post that gets us sued or gets us in trouble, we’re going to give you the bill. And you will have the obligation to pay it. We’re computer guys, and we have really good lawyers, so between us and them, believe us, we can find you.

We disclaim all liability, regardless of the form of action, for the acts or omissions of all users of the site, (including unauthorized users, or "hackers") of the site.  It is possible that other users (including hackers) may post or transmit offensive, obscene or slanderous/libelous materials on the site and that you may be exposed to such offensive and obscene and/or slanderous/libelous materials. We are not responsible for your exposure to such information.

There are also a lot of idiots out there. We obviously cannot, and do not, guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information on this website. You are on your own there. Under no circumstances will we be responsible for any loss, damage, or claim resulting from any user’s reliance on information or other content posted on this site.

Rights in Content on The Choad Network

By displaying or publishing ("posting") any text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, or any other materials (collectively, "Content") on or through The Choad Network , you hereby grant to The Choad Network a worldwide , non-exclusive license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, sub-license, reproduce, and distribute such Content.

You also grant The Choad Network a worldwide , non-exclusive license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, sub-license, reproduce, and distribute the Content of any correspondence you send to The Choad Network, such as emails, letters, and/or facsimiles.

Without this license, The Choad Network would be unable to provide The Choad Network Services. For example, without the right to display Member Content, we couldn't show that great Choad File you just made, or to show screen-shots of our site in promotional materials. The license you grant to The Choad Network is non-exclusive (meaning you are free to license your Content to anyone else in addition to The Choad Network), fully-paid and royalty-free (meaning that The Choad Network is not required to pay you for the use of the Content that you post), sub-licensable (so that The Choad Network is able to use its affiliates and subcontractors such as Internet content delivery networks to provide and promote the The Choad Network Services), and worldwide (because the Internet and The Choad Network are global in reach, and maybe even larger than that).

Other Legalese

This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Washington and all applicable federal laws, including the CDA. This Agreement, accepted by you as soon as you register and/or access our site, and any other terms of use posted on our site, contain the entire agreement between you and us regarding the service and your use and access of our site.  Any conflict between the terms of this Agreement and the terms of any other legal notice, agreement, or policy appearing on our site shall be resolved in favor of this Agreement. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.
Opinions, statements, or other information or content made available through the service, but not directly by the Company, are those of their respective authors, and should not necessarily be relied upon. Such authors are solely responsible for such content.