Terms Of Use (TOU)

Latest Revisions: April 13, 2009

PLEASE READ THE TERMS OF USE BELOW.
These Terms of Use (the "TOU") state the terms and conditions under which AdviceYard and its affiliates (collectively, "AdviceYard," "our" or "us") provide you ("you," or "your") access to the AdviceYard.com^® and AdviceYard^TM.com (together with any sub-domains thereto and future sites operated by AdviceYard, the "Sites," which defined term includes the Services and Software, each as defined below).

BY ACCESSING, BROWSING, OR USING THE SITES AND SERVICES (AS DEFINED BELOW), YOU ARE DEEMED TO ACCEPT THE TOU, AS WELL AS OUR PRIVACY POLICY AND GENERAL DISCLAIMER (each of which is incorporated herein by reference), AS A BINDING AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE BOUND BY THE TOU, THE PRIVACY POLICY, OR THE GENERAL DISCLAIMER, PLEASE DO NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICES (as defined below). YOUR USE OF THE SITES AND SERVICES AND INFORMATION PROVIDED THEREIN MUST IN ALL CASES COMPLY WITH ALL APPLICABLE LAWS AND REGULATIONS.

1.DESCRIPTION OF SITES, SERVICES, AND SOFTWARE

2.ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS; CHANGES TO TOU

3.YOUR LICENSE TO USE THE SERVICES

4.ADVICEYARD PRIVACY POLICY

5.POSTINGS TO THE SERVICES

6.MODIFICATIONS TO THE SERVICES

7.DEALINGS WITH ADVERTISERS OR THIRD PARTY VENDORS

8.LINKS; CO-BRANDING

9.DISCLAIMER

10.LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

11.INDEMNIFICATION

12.TRADEMARK INFORMATION

13.CHOICE OF LAW AND FORUM

14.SEVERABILITY; ENGLISH LANGUAGE

15.HEADINGS

16.LOCATION OUTSIDE THE U.S.

17.ENTIRE AGREEMENT

AdviceYard.com provides users with access to a community-based question-and-answer service (the "AdviceYard.com Service") and certain software that may be used in connection using the AdviceYard Service, developing answers that the community constantly improves (the "AdviceYard.com Service." Please note that the Services may include information and software provided from our third party licensors. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any modifications, updates, new features, or enhancements to the current Services are also subject to the TOU.

AdviceYard provides the Services to you subject to the following TOU, which may be updated by us from time to time in our sole discretion. Each time changes are made to the TOU, a revised TOU will be posted on the Site. Your continued use of the Services, or any part thereof, following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of such changes. If you do not wish to be bound by the TOU, you should discontinue your use of the Services.

AdviceYard grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Services, including the Site and Software. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, or in any way exploit any of the content included in the Services, in whole or in part. You may download copyrighted material for your personal use only. Except as otherwise expressly permitted under copyright law, no copying, redistribution, retransmission, publication, or commercial exploitation of downloaded material will be permitted without the express permission of AdviceYard and the copyright owner. In the event of any permitted copying, redistribution, or publication of copyrighted material, no changes in or deletion of author attribution, trademark legend, or copyright notice shall be made. You acknowledge that you do not acquire any ownership rights by downloading copyrighted material.

Except as otherwise expressly permitted in this Agreement, you may not: (i) decompile, reverse engineer, reverse assemble or otherwise attempt to discover any source code, except as otherwise permitted by applicable law; or (ii) remove or alter any trademark, logo, copyright or other proprietary notices, legends, symbols or labels on the Services. You may not access the Services by any means other than through the interface that is provided by AdviceYard. Furthermore, you may not use the Services in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair the Services (e.g., you may not access the Services in an automated manner by use of "spiders", "robots" or otherwise), nor may you use the Services in any manner that could interfere with any other party's use and enjoyment of the Services. You are not permitted to retrieve and store in electronic or any other form any material part of the databases underlying the Services. All commercial and/or unauthorized use of the Services is strictly prohibited. You agree not to use or resell the Services for any commercial purpose, including, but not limited to, sending unsolicited commercial messages.

The Services remain at all times the sole property of AdviceYard or its third party licensors, and their use is subject to the copyright and trademark notices. All rights in the Services not expressly granted to you by AdviceYard under the TOU are retained by AdviceYard.

AdviceYard protects your personally identifiable data as set forth in AdviceYard's privacy policy (the "Privacy Policy"). The Privacy Policy explains our collection and use of personally identifiable information. We encourage you to review our Privacy Policy before you use the Services. 

Thank you for visiting Adviceyard.com (the "Site"), an [AdviceYard LLC] (together with its affiliates, ["AdviceYard,"] "us," "our," or "we") website. Your privacy is important to us. To better protect your privacy, we provide this notice explaining our online information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used at the Site and in connection with the various services we provide on or through the Site (the "Services"). This Privacy Policy is hereby incorporated in our Terms of Use and by using the Site and Services, you accept the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not accept the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Site or Services.

What We Track:

Every computer connected to the Internet is given a domain name and a set of numbers known as the "Internet Protocol" IP address. Like most web servers, when a visitor requests a page from the Site, our servers automatically recognize and log his/her domain name and IP address, along with the access times, referring web sites, platform, and browser type. The information collected is not personally identifiable and is used only to provide statistics about usage of the Site in the aggregate to improve the quality of the Site and Services, to better understand how people interact with us, to deliver advertising and measure its effectiveness, to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you, or to cooperate with law enforcement. We may use third party contractors to collect and aggregate such information.

Additionally, please note that none of the Services include "spyware," meaning the Services do not run any background processes that report information about your software or hardware configuration or your web browsing or purchasing habits.

How We Track It:

The Site and Services use either cookies and/or registry settings on your computer to store user information. A "cookie" is a small file containing a string of characters that is sent to your computer when you visit a website. Additionally, some ad networks may use web beacons in conjunction with cookies to compile aggregate statistics about usage on the Site. A web beacon is a transparent image, typically in GIF format that can recognize certain types of information on a visitor's computer, such as a visitor's cookie number, time and date of page view, and a description of the page where the web beacon is placed.

You may disable cookies on your web browser, thereby also rendering some web beacons unusable. You can use the Site and Services even if cookies are disabled, but this may impact our ability to adapt any of the Site or Services according to your preferences.

Personally Identifiable Information:

Personally identifiable information is information you provide to us that is uniquely associated with you, including your first and last name, a home or physical address, email address, and telephone number. Information identifying an entity other than an individual (e.g., a school or library) does not constitute personally identifiable information and is treated the same as anonymous information. Although you are not required to provide any personally identifiable information to use most parts of the Site or Services, registration and full utilization of some of our Services do require that you provide certain personally identifiable information. [First Name, Last Name, Zip Code]. In such situations, the amount of such personally identifiable information that you choose to disclose to us is completely up to you, although access to or use of some Services may be affected if such information is not provided. We have put in place procedures reasonably designed to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

In accordance with the United States' Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, as amended, we do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13.


Information Sharing and Disclosure:

Anonymous Information:
In addition to using the anonymous identifying information that we track for internal purposes in the manner, this information may also, on an aggregate basis, be shared with and used by third parties with which we have contracted (e.g., our third-party content providers and licensees of AdviceYard's services). Furthermore, in addition to AdviceYard providing its own advertising, AdviceYard uses third-party advertising networks to serve ads when you visit the Site. Ad networks include third party ad servers, ad agencies, ad technology vendors, and research firms. In the course of serving advertisements to the Site, our ad networks may place or recognize a unique "cookie" on your browser or use a "web beacon."

Please note that ad networks' use of cookies or web beacons, and that of any other third-party that has a link available on the Site, is subject to their own privacy policies and not this privacy policy.

Personally Identifiable Information:
We do not rent or sell your personally identifying information to any third parties, unless we have your consent. We may disclose your personally identifying information, however, in any of the following limited circumstances (i) if we have your consent; (ii) to our external service providers when necessary in order to facilitate, provides services to, and evaluate the Site and Services; and (iii) if we conclude that we are required by law or have a good faith belief that access, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of AdviceYard, its users or the public. Additionally, we may transfer personally identifiable information in the event of a transfer of ownership of AdviceYard the Site and/or Services, such as acquisition by or merger with another company.

Links and Co-Branded Sites:

This policy only addresses the Site and Services. Other websites, such as those to which we link or with which we co-brand, may have their own policies. These other sites to which we link or with which we co-brand might independently collect data, solicit personal information, or send their own cookies to you. We are not responsible for any use of information when you use such third party sites. Additionally, in many cases, co-branded services that are jointly provided by us and selected companies will contain the Sites' branding, but might not be hosted by us. In such cases, you should follow the privacy link on such site to determine which company's privacy policy protects the information you enter on such site. Even if the page is governed by a separate privacy policy, we might be entitled to receive information about what you do when using that service. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these other companies and to contact these companies directly if you have any questions about their use of this information.

Changes to This Privacy Statement:

AdviceYard may amend this policy from time to time by posting new text on the Site. Unless otherwise provided, the revised terms will take effect when they are posted. Once any changes that we make to this Privacy Policy become effective, your continued use of the Site or Services after such time will signify your acceptance of the new terms.

Questions or Suggestions:

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding this privacy policy, please contact AdviceYard by sending an email to: contact@advicyard.com

The Services may permit you to post, submit transmit, email, or otherwise make available questions, comments, or information (collectively, "Postings".) You may only submit Postings that you created or that you have permission to submit and that do not violate copyright, trademark, or any other rights of third parties. We do not claim ownership of any Postings that you may submit. However, by submitting Postings to any of the other Services, you grant us, our subsidiaries, affiliates, successors, and assigns a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, fully-paid, non-exclusive, and sub-licensable license to use, copy, display, distribute, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display the Postings (in whole or in part) and to incorporate the Postings into other works in any format or medium now or later known.

You may not upload, post, submit, email, transmit, or otherwise make available any Postings that (i) contain falsehoods or misrepresentations that could damage AdviceYard or any third party; (ii) are unlawful, obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, pornographic, harassing, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or encourage conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, violate any law, or are otherwise inappropriate; (iii) contain advertisements, solicitations of business or spam; (iv) disseminate or transmit any worms, viruses or other harmful, disruptive or destructive files, code or programs; (v) collect or store personal information about others or otherwise invade their privacy; or (vi) impersonate another person or forge headers or use any other method to disguise the true origin of the Posting. Additionally, you may not submit any Postings that violate the TOU.

You acknowledge that AdviceYard is not obligated to pre-screen content submitted by members, but that AdviceYard shall have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion to refuse or remove any content that is made available via AdviceYard by any user that violates the TOU or is otherwise objectionable.

AdviceYard respects the intellectual property of others and asks you to do the same. AdviceYard may, in appropriate circumstances and at its sole discretion, terminate your right to use any of the Services for any reason, including, but not limited to, if you are a repeat infringer. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement or your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please contact us at contact@adviceyard.com

AdviceYard reserves the right at any time, and from time to time, to modify, suspend, or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Services (or any part thereof) with or without notice. You agree that AdviceYard shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any such modification, suspension or discontinuance. 

AdviceYard may include advertisements on the Services, which are necessary for AdviceYard to provide the Services to its users free of charge. Your correspondence or business dealings with, or participation in promotions of, advertisers or third party vendors found on or through the Services, including payment and delivery of related goods or products, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such advertiser or third party vendor. Any question, complaints, or claims should be directed to the appropriate advertiser or third party vendor. Additionally, all product reviews and ratings are informative for those wishing to use them, but they do not guarantee any level of performance by a third party vendor in any transaction. You agree that AdviceYard shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings or as the result of the presence of such advertisers or third party vendors or product reviews or ratings on the Services. 

This policy only addresses the Services. The Services may provide, or third parties may provide, links to other World Wide Web sites. Additionally, in many cases, co-branded services that are jointly provided by us and selected companies will contain the Services' branding, but might not be hosted by us. Because AdviceYard has no control over such sites, you acknowledge and agree that AdviceYard is not responsible for the availability of such external or co-branded sites, and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from such sites. You should not attribute any views or information on such sites to AdviceYard. You further acknowledge and agree that AdviceYard shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, goods or products available on or through any such linked site. You should follow the link to the terms of use on the appropriate page for such sites to determine which company's terms of use governs such sites.

Anyone linking to the Services must comply with the following guidelines and all applicable laws: A site that links to any Service (i) may link to but not replicate any Service's content; (ii) should not create a browser or border environment around any Service's content; (iii) should not imply that AdviceYard is endorsing it or its products; (iv) should not misrepresent its relationship with AdviceYard or any Service; (v) should not present false information about AdviceYard or any Service; (iv) should not use any AdviceYard' trademarks, trade names, or logos without permission from AdviceYard; and (vi) should not contain content that is reasonably considered profanity, defamatory, vulgar, or otherwise unlawful. 

WE DO NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF THE SERVICES. ADDITIONALLY, THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. ADVICEYARD, AND ITS THIRD-PARTY LICENSORS, SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABLE, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGMENT.

ADVICEYARD, ITS LICENSORS AND SUPPLIERS MAKE NO WARRANTY THAT: (i) THE SERVICES WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (ii) THE PROVISION OF THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE OR ERROR-FREE, (iii) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICES WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, (iv) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SOFTWARE, SERVICES, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED OR OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICES WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS, OR (v) ANY ERRORS IN THE SERVICES WILL BE CORRECTED. NEITHER WE, NOR OUR LICENSORS OR SUPPLIERS, GUARANTEE THE RELIABILITY, ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, SAFETY, TIMELINESS, LEGALITY, USEFULNESS, ADEQUACY OR SUITABILITY OF ANY OF THE SERVICES. THE SERVICES MAY BE HARMFUL, UNTIMELY, INCOMPLETE, OR INACCURATE AND, ACCORDINGLY, YOU AGREE TO EXERCISE CAUTION, DISCRETION AND COMMON SENSE WHEN USING THE SERVICES.

YOU SHOULD NOT USE THE SERVICES FOR EMERGENCY PURPOSES OR TO SEEK OR PROVIDE DIAGNOSIS OR TREATMENT OF MEDICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL OR OTHER PROBLEMS OR DIFFICULTIES, OR AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, TAX, LEGAL, INVESTMENT, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. THE ENTIRE RISK FOR USE OF THE SERVICES IS BORNE BY YOU.

ADDITIONALLY, PLEASE REVIEW OUR GENERAL DISCLAIMER FROM THIS LINK, OR BELOW THIS, WHICH IS HEREBY MADE A PART OF THE TOU.

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE DISCLAIMER OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO A PORTION OF THE FOREGOING MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, IN WHICH CASE THE DURATION OF ANY SUCH IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS LIMITED TO THE MINIMUM PERIOD PERMISSIBLE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. 

The contents of all material available on AdviceYard.com and other related services (collectively, the "Services") of AdviceYard LLC ("AdviceYard") are intended to provide useful information for its users.

AdviceYard makes every effort to present accurate and reliable information in its Services, AdviceYard does not endorse, approve, or certify such information, nor does it guarantee the accuracy, completeness, efficacy, timeliness, or correct sequencing of such information. Information in the Services may or may not be current as of the date of your access, and AdviceYard has no duty to update and maintain the information, reports, or statements on the Services. Additionally, the information in the Services may be changed periodically without prior notice. All content in the Services is provided "as is." Use of such information is voluntary, and reliance on it should only be undertaken after an independent review of its accuracy, completeness, efficacy, and timeliness. [AdviceYard allows all registered members at any time to write and edit content in this service.]

None of the licensors, contributors, sponsors, administrators, or anyone else connected with the Services in any way whatsoever can be responsible for the appearance of any inaccurate information or for your use of the information contained in or linked from the Services.

AdviceYard also provides external links to other websites. AdviceYard makes no representation whatsoever regarding the content of any other websites that you may access from the Services. AdviceYard has no control over the content of these websites and cannot guarantee the reliability or accuracy of any information linked externally.

AdviceYard provides professional information (for example, medical, legal, or financial) for informational purposes only, which should not be construed as advice. No action should be taken based upon any information contained in the Services. You should seek independent professional advice from a person who is licensed and/or knowledgeable in the applicable area before acting upon any opinion, advice, or information contained in the Services.

The Services contain information on many medical topics; however there is absolutely no assurance that any information touching on medical matters is true, correct, or precise. The medical information provided in the Services is of a general nature and cannot substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in the Services. AdviceYard does not recommend or endorse any specific tests, physicians, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned in the Services.

The Services contain information on many legal topics; however there is absolutely no assurance that any information touching on legal matters is true, correct, or precise. The legal information provided in the Services is of a general nature and cannot substitute for professional legal advice. Always seek the advice of competent counsel with any questions you may have regarding a legal issue. As legal advice must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case, and laws are constantly changing, nothing provided herein should be used as a substitute for the advice of competent counsel.

The Services contain information on many financial topics; however there is absolutely no assurance that any information touching on financial matters is true, correct, or precise. The financial content in the Services is provided for your personal information only, is not intended for trading purposes, and cannot substitute for professional financial advice. Always seek advice of a competent financial advisor with any questions you may have regarding a financial matter. Information on this site is not appropriate for the purposes of making a decision to carry out a transaction or trade nor does it provide any form of advice (investment, tax, or legal) amounting to investment advice, or make any recommendations regarding particular financial instruments, investments, or products.

10. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

NONE OF THE LICENSORS, CONTRIBUTORS, SPONSORS, ADMINISTRATORS, OR ANYONE ELSE CONNECTED WITH THE SERVICES IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER CAN BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE APPEARANCE OF ANY INACCURATE INFORMATION OR FOR YOUR USE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN OR LINKED FROM THE SERVICES.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL WE, OR OUR LICENSORS AND SUPPLIERS, BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO ACCESS THE SERVICES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK DISRUPTIONS, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, OR ANY AND ALL OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES OR LOSSES, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY THEREOF, AND REGARDLESS OF THE LEGAL OR EQUITABLE THEORY (CONTRACT, TORT, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR OTHERWISE) UPON WHICH THE CLAIM IS BASED. NEITHER WE NOR OUR LICENSORS OR SUPPLIERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF THE SERVICES AND/OR ANY MATERIAL LINKED THROUGH THE SERVICES. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL ADVICEYARD, OR ADVICEYARD'S LICENSORS', DIRECT LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF USE OF THE SERVICES EXCEED THE GREATER OF (I) THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID ADVICEYARD FOR SUCH USE OR (II) $10.00. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT PERMIT SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY, AND THEREFORE THIS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

You agree to indemnify and hold AdviceYard, its subsidiaries and affiliates, and their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents harmless from and against any and all liability, losses, claims, demands or costs of any kind, including reasonable attorneys' fees and costs of litigation, arising from (i) your Postings or other content you submit, post, transmit, email, or otherwise make available through the Services, (ii) your use of or reliance on the Services, (iii) your connection to the Services, (iv) your violation of the TOU, or (v) your violation of any rights of another party.

The AdviceYard.com, AdviceYard and other Services names, trademarks and logos are trademarks of AdviceYard or its third-party licensors. Without our written prior permission, or that of applicable third parties, you agree not to display, or use in any manner, the marks of AdviceYard. The trademarks, logos, and service marks not owned on behalf of AdviceYard and that are displayed on the Services are the registered or unregistered marks of their respective owners. No rights are granted by AdviceYard to use such marks, whether by implication, estoppel, or otherwise.

The TOU and the relationship between you and AdviceYard shall be governed by the laws of the State of New York without regard to its conflict of law provisions. You and AdviceYard agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction and forum convenience of the federal and state courts located in New York, New York.

If any provision in the TOU should be held illegal or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, such provision shall be modified to the extent necessary to render it enforceable without losing its intent, or severed from the TOU if no such modification is possible, and the other provisions of the TOU shall remain in full force and effect. The controlling language of the TOU is English. If you have received a translation into another language, it has been provided for your convenience only.

The headings to the sections of the TOU are used for convenience only and shall have no substantive meaning or impact on the interpretation of the TOU.

If you are located outside the U.S., then you are responsible for complying with any local laws in your jurisdiction that might impact your right to use the Services, and you represent that you have complied with any regulations or registration procedures required by applicable law to make the TOU enforceable.

The TOU constitute the entire agreement between you and AdviceYard and govern your use of the Services, superseding any prior agreements between you and AdviceYard. Please note, however, that some Services may have additional or different terms related specifically to such Service only ("Service Terms"). The Service Terms are in addition to the general terms and conditions in the TOU. If there is any conflict between the TOU and the Service Terms, the Service Terms will govern with respect to that particular Service. Some terms contained in the TOU may not be applicable to a particular Service, in which case, such inapplicable terms will not apply to you with respect to that particular Service.

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the above Terms of Use, please e-mail Contact@adviceyard.com