This website is owned and operated by Appalachia Sustainable Tourism Collaboration.

These Terms and Conditions set forth under which you may use our website and services as offered by us.  This website offers visitors free information for you to make better informed decisions.  By accessing or using the website of our service, you approve that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions:

 

In order to use the Appalachia Sustainable Tourism Collaboration website and/ or receive our services, you must be at least 14 years of age, or of the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction, and possess the legal authority, right and freedom to enter into these Terms and Conditions and a binding agreement.  You are not allowed to use this website and/or receive services if doing so is prohibited in your country or under any law or regulation applicable to you. 

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You recognize and agree that by uploading any content (including, but not limited to designs, images, animations, videos, audio files, fonts, logos, illustrations, compositions, artworks, interfaces, text and literary works) through any means to the website, you confirm that you own all relevant rights or received the appropriate license to upload/transfer/send the content.  You agree and consent that the uploaded/transferred may be publicly displayed at the website.  

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We may permanently or temporarily terminate or suspend your access to the website as a Member without notice and liability for any reason, including if in our sole determination you violate any provision of these Terms or any applicable law or regulations. You may discontinue use and request to cancel your Membership account at anytime.

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You agree to indemnify and hold Appalachia Sustainable Tourism Collaboration harmless from any demands, loss, liability, claims or expenses (including attorneys’ fees), made against them by any third party due to, or arising out of, or in connection with your use of the website or any of the services offered on the website.

 

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall Appalachia Sustainable Tourism Collaboration, be liable for any indirect, punitive, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including without limitation, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses, arising out of or relating to the use of, or inability to use, the information on this website or meetings in person.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Appalachia Sustainable Tourism Collaboration assumes no liability or responsibility for any (i) errors, mistakes, or inaccuracies of content; (ii) personal injury or property damage, of any nature whatsoever, resulting from your access to or use of our service; and (iii) any unauthorized access to or use of our secure servers and/or any and all personal information stored therein.

 

We reserve the right to modify these terms from time to time at our sole discretion. Therefore, you should review these page periodically. When we change the Terms in a material manner, we will notify you that material changes have been made to the Terms. Your continued use of the Website or our service after any such change constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms. If you do not agree to any of these terms or any future version of the Terms, do not use or access (or continue to access) the website or the service.

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You agree to receive from time to time promotional messages and materials from us, by mail, email or any other contact form you may provide us with (including your phone number for calls or text messages). If you don't want to receive such promotional materials or notices – please just notify us at any time.

 

These Terms, the rights and remedies provided hereunder, and any and all claims and disputes related hereto and/or to the services, shall be governed by, construed under and enforced in all respects solely and exclusively in accordance with the internal substantive laws of the United States of America, without respect to its conflict of laws principles. Any and all such claims and disputes shall be brought in, and you hereby consent to them being decided exclusively by a court of competent jurisdiction located in Washington D.C.. The application of the United Nations Convention of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is hereby expressly excluded.

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Appalachia Sustainable Tourism Collaboration offers its Members the ability to create group communities on our website.  All Members who create an account and join a group have a public profile that is publicly visible to site visitors, and that their public activity (such as their posts or comments) will be visible to other visitors of the website.

A Member of the website can always opt-out and exit the group communities and forums, and upon doing so, such user’s profile will not be publicly visible. Naturally, once this opt-out occurs such event the previous Member will not be able to use the community features (e.g. liking, commenting or writing posts).

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Please adhere to the following Forum Rules:

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1.  No Spam/Advertising/Self promoting in the forums. 

Appalachia Sustainable Tourism Collaboration defines spam as unsolicited advertisement for goods, services and/or other web sites, or posts with little, or completely unrelated content.  Do not spam the forums with links to your site or product, or try to self-promote your website, business or forums etc.  Spamming also includes sending private messages to large number of different users.  

However, the rules above will be less enforced on the Entrepreneur Incubator sub-forum on the specific thread that you create to help you with your goals or promote a business model; however, each post must be relevant and not just to bump your thread to the top of the page.  Such posts will be deleted by a Moderator and if needed a warning will be given.

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Do not ask for emails or phone numbers in posts or in private messages.  Your Member account will be deleted and your posts will be deleted.  

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2.  It is forbidden to post copyright-infringing material. 

Do not provide or ask for information on how to illegally obtain copyrighted materials. 

 

3.  Do not post "offensive" posts, images or links.

All material which constitutes harassment, defamation, or abuse is strictly prohibited.  Material that is sexually or racist, obscene, or otherwise overly discriminatory is not permitted on the Appalachia Sustainable Tourism Collaboration forum.  This includes Member pictures and videos.  Be hospitable and helpful when posting.  This is a web site for helping tourists and stakeholders make more informed decisions.

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4.  Do not cross post the same questions and ideas.

Please refrain from posting the same topics, questions, or ideas in different sub-forums.  There is usually one sub-forum which is most suitable in which to post your topic, questions, or ideas.

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5.  Do not PM Members asking for help.

Do not send private messages to any users asking for help.  If you need help, make a new thread in the appropriate sub-forum, and this will allow the whole community to help and benefit from the discussion.

If you are in a Group, then your posts will be only available to Members in the same Group.

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6.  Remain respectful of other Members at all times.   

All posts should be professional and courteous.  You have the right to disagree with your fellow Members in the Appalachia Sustainable Tourism Collaboration community and explain your perspective.  Keep in mind, you are not free to attack, degrade, insult, or otherwise belittle a fellow Member or the quality of this website community.  It does not matter if Moderator power you may have, you are expected to obey the rules.

 

General Forum Posting Rules and Guidelines.

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1.  Please use Search first.

This is found in the top right of the page.

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2.  Be descriptive and do not use obscure topic names for threads.

Please post a descriptive topic name.  Make good use of the subject heading.  Do not use attention getting headings that bait Members to your thread.

Do not use such examples as a topic heading:  "Help me, Hello, Very Urgent, I have a question, or best idea ever."

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3.  Remember that when others are helping you, they are doing you a favor.  

Be patient, help other Members out by posting good descriptions of what you need help with, and not being nasty at people with poor wording that is ungrateful.

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General Forum Questions

Am I allowed to have both a Tourist and Stakeholder account?  

No.  If you are banned from the Member forums, please do not create a new account.  If you continue to create new accounts after you have been banned, your IP address will be blocked from the forums. 

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What will happen if I break a rule?

If you break a rule, then you will either be warned or banned.  A ban of your user account may either be temporary or permanent.  The administrators and moderators also have the right to delete, edit, move, or close any thread or post as they see fit, without prior warning.

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What happens if I see a thread or post that is clearly breaking the rules?

Please report the thread or post by clicking on the three dots and choosing "report post."

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Where can someone find out who is in charge?

The Forum Moderators are currently Travis Stanley.  Once more Moderators appear, they can be seen on the forum rules and guidelines sub-forum.  

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How do I become a Moderator? 

All Moderator applicants must be a Member for at least 100 days and have at least 150 posts. 

You must be active in the individual forums you wish to moderate and also regularly create and respond to threads in those forums. 

You must also maintain a working knowledge of the subject matter.

Please be aware that applying to be a moderator does not guarantee acceptance and that moderators will only be appointed when needed. 

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Moderator Policy

In order to apply to be a Moderator you must be:

a forum regular

have been at the forum for over 100 days

be proactive

knowledgeable in the forums they would like to moderate

be polite and helpful towards other Members and give advice whenever needed and whenever possible.

visit the forum weekly, and be active and take part in discussions as often as possible, ideally at least a couple of times a week

take an active part in discussion between Moderators relating to the running of the forum.

help to keep unsuitable content out of the forums as much as possible​

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Please contact Appalachia Sustainable Tourism Collaboration for any clarification on the above.   

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