Sunday, Jul. 07, 2002...2:15 pm

Disclaimer

This is my disclaimer. If you read my diary this indicates that you agree to abide by the disclaimer, whether or not you have read it. Please read through the categories that apply to you and respect my wishes. This disclaimer is based on "A blogger's disclaimer" which you can find here: READ ME

Personal relationships and privacy

Do not assume that you know everything there is to know about me simply because you read my diary on a regular basis. Any judgements you make will be based on the information I have provided you about me, which is probably vague, incomplete or embellished. Whatever opinion you form on me as a person, or my life as a whole, please remember that you might not know everything there is to know about me.

If you have a real life relationship with me (i.e. you know me by my real name in the real world, not just the internet world), you are forbidden to read this diary. You should view my weblogs/online diaries as no less sacred than a diary hidden beneath a mattress, locked tight with 'DoNotRead' written on the front cover. If you come across my diary and you do know me, let me know that you have read my site, especially if I did not tell you personally or never speak of it again. You must not continue to read it if you know me in real life.

Your presence at my diary must not impede my ability to express myself within it. Remember this is my outlet. If I know you, I may not want you to read certain things that I might write about you or others you care about, in order to spare your feelings, avoid drama or maintain my privacy. You should respect this and immediately stop going to my site, and never relay any information you gather at my site to others who might use it against me.

If I have written about you and you don't appreciate it, approach me about it and try to remain calm and polite. You are entitled to your privacy as well and for the most part I try to use vague nicknames to protect your anonymity when I do talk about you.

Ex-friends, lovers, estranged family members who have been cut out of my life, and people i have specifically told not to read my diary should refrain from reading it. If the relationship has ended, there is no reason you should get daily updates on my life. If you simply can't help yourself, do it quietly, and never repeat what you read or use it to hurt me.

Feedback and initiating contact

If you have come across my diary for the first time and spend time here sign the guestbook. Compliments will always be graciously accepted and appreciated. Criticisms and reproaches are fine if you have a problem with something, but try to remain constructive and not be an asshole. No one is forcing you to give out your opinions, so if you don't have anything remotely positive to say, it may be best to keep quiet.

Never assume I owe you any response. Try not to take it personally, because chances are it has more to do with my schedule than anything else. If you get upset and nasty about feeling rejected, don't be such a looser, I'm not worth it.

Don't be a psycho stalker.

I have the right to stop writing at any time for any reason I see fit, and at no point must I justify or explain these reasons to you or any of my readers. It's my diary, I can do with it as I please.

Offensive language and materials

The internet is a place that encourages free and creative expression, and as in any environment where people are given this freedom, conflict may arise. If I use language or materials that offend you, leave. Contacting me or my isp, demanding they remove the content or change my ways is absurd because you are viewing my content of your own free will by visiting my site. Simply stop coming here and you won't have to see whatever it is you don't like about my site.

Copyright and courtesy

Never use anything off my site, be it writing, images or html code, unless I say otherwise. I am very attached to my work and don't usually respond well when others help themselves to it. Copyright is protected by law and in effect the minute something is created, whether the author has a © notice or not. There are online tools where you can learn about copyright laws.

Under no circumstances should you ever direct link anything, this includes link buttons and any other graphics I may offer. Direct linking is when you type something like img src="http://www.yahoo.com/linkbutton.gif" to display the yahoo link button, instead of actually saving it and uploading it on to your server. It is essentially bandwidth theft, because it uses data transfer, and the owner of the server has to pay for it. Always save the image and upload it to your own server. At any rate, all my images are hosted by Diaryland and they have systems in place to stop this behaviour.