This document will explain the relationship you (the Visitor) have with this Web site (Gadgetopia). It seems silly to have to point all this stuff out, but given the litigious society we live in, it’s sadly necessary.
First, Some Definitions
- Gadgetopia: Everything under the gadgetopia.com domain name.
- Post: Information originated by The Staff as “primary” content.
- Comment: Information submitted by a Visitor in response to a Post. This includes Comments contained on this site, and the information retained by this site in response to a Trackback ping.
- The Staff: The group of people who have the ability to submit Posts to Gadgetopia.
- Visitor: This is you — people who are not The Staff who come to visit Gadgetopia.
The Purpose of Gadgetopia
Gadgetopia exists to (1) provide interesting content that Visitors like to read, and (2) allow Visitors to take part in a discussion by reading and adding comments.
What’s important to understand is that Gadgetopia does not exist to give specific technical advice, though some may appear on the site from time to time.
Gadgetopia accepts paid advertising from a variety of sources, but is not primarily financed by any particular advertiser and is not designed to promote any particular product.
The Staff of Gadgetopia
A group of people — currently, seven people — write for Gadgetopia. People may come and go from this group without notice.
Gadgetopia is wholly owned by Blend Interactive, a Web development company located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
What You Agree to Understand About Posts
The Staff are not professional journalists. This means that you understand that just because information appears in a Post on this site, it’s not necessarily correct. The Staff tries to ensure that information is correct, but some incorrect information is going to slip through.
Additionally, there are biases and preferences among the staff of Gadgetopia. People like different things, and any comments, opinions, or recommendations made on this site are subject to those biases and preferences.
If you have an issue with any post on this site, please email The Staff at editors@gadgetopia.com.
What You Agree to Understand about Hyperlinks
There are a lot of hyperlinks on this site. But:
- The information on the other end of the link (the “target” of the link) is not guaranteed to be true.
- The staff of Gadgetopia does not necessarily endorse the information or Web site on the other end of the link. (Indeed, Gadgetopia has linked to some information specifically because it was incorrect to the point of humor.)
- The information on the other end of the link at any given time may not be the same information that was there when the link was created. (Remember that Gadgetopia has been around since 2002 and has posted thousands and thousands of links. We’re not in the habit of verifying all of the links that have been posted, so it’s a sure thing that some of those links point to different places than we we first published them.)
Bottom line: when you follow a link from Gadgetopia, The Staff makes no guarantees about what’s waiting for you on the other end.
If you have an issue with any link posted to this site, please email The Staff at editors@gadgetopia.com.
What You Agree To Regarding Comments
As a Visitor, you agree that Comments on this Web site are the sole responsibility of the Visitor who submits each one. People can and do submit incorrect information, libelous information, and information that’s just plain mean. Consequently:
- You agree that none of the Comments on this Web site can be considered absolutely true or false. You agree to analyze and interpret the information in Comments and draw your own conclusions.
- While The Staff monitors Comments and has the ability to edit and delete them, you understand that they cannot get to every Comment right away, and that Comments that violate the guidelines presented in this document may stay on the site for a period of time — perhaps indefinitely.
- You understand that just because a Comment does not get deleted, that doesn’t mean the staff of Gadgetopia agree with it, endorse it, or believe it to be correct. You understand that the volume of Comments submited to Gadgetopia may preclude the staff from reviewing every Comment.
- The Staff has the ability to prevent Comments on a per-post basis. But just because The Staff haven’t done this, you agree that this doesn’t necessarily mean The Staff agrees with the any or all of the Comments on the particular Post. Whether the Comments on a post are open or closed has no bearing on the quality or correctness of the information in the Comments.
- Hyperlinks will often appear in Comments. When this happens, they’re subject to the same guidelines as links in Posts.
If you have an issue with any comment posted to this site, please email The Staff at editors@gadgetopia.com.
What You Agree To When You Submit a Comment
Visitors — that means you — can add Comments to some Posts on Gadgetopia. When you do this, you agree not to:
- Submit copyrighted material
- Libel other individuals or companies
- Invade other people’s privacy by posting personal information
Once you submit a Comment, you agree that the content of that Comment no longer belongs to you. You give up any rights to the information on the Comment, and grant Gadgetopia a perpetual, non-expiring license to retain and reprint the Comment.
You understand that people can and do copy, quote, and otherwise steal information from Comments on Gadgetopia.
The Staff can edit or delete any Comment, without explanation. This can happen for a number of reasons: duplicate submissions, profanity or other questionable content, lack of legibility, etc.
The Staff may ban a particular IP address from submitting Comments. The Staff reserves to right to do this for any reason, without explanation.
Software running on Gadgetopia can prevent Visitors from submitting Comments that meet certain criteria. This is mainly to prevent comment spam, but sometimes this software will hold legitimate Comments for review.
In Conclusion…
It all boils down to this —
- Gadgetopia is a big collection of opinions, nothing more. Information on Gadgetopia should always be scrutinized, evaluated, and accepted or rejected based on its merits. While The Staff tries to publish accurate information, they can’t promise everything on this site is correct.
- Visitors can publish content to this Web site via Comments — content that is often not reviewed before publication. The warnings about content published by The Staff goes double for content published by Visitors.
- Visitors — such as yourself — need to take responsibility for what you do on this Web site. Don’t publish Comments that you know are false or misleading. (Yes, yes — we know sarcasm has its place, but the line is pretty obvious. Don’t cross it.)
One more time: If you have an issue with anything on this site, please email The Staff at editors@gadgetopia.com.
All that said, thanks for visiting and taking part in the ongoing discussion that is Gadgetopia.
