Lovin My Sailor Terms of Service

Terms of Service

Overview

HeartsOfOurTroops.com (HOOT) is a forum based website for Military significant others. This site provides the love and support one may need while going through the military lifestyle. All branches are welcome to join!
While the administrators and moderators of this forum will attempt to remove or edit any generally objectionable material as quickly as possible, it is impossible to review every message. Therefore you acknowledge that all posts made in these forums express the views and opinions of the author and not the administrators, moderators and Super Moderators (except for posts by these people) and hence will not be held liable. Registration Agreement
You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, or any other material that may violate any applicable laws. You agree that the webmaster, administrators, moderators and Super Moderators of this forum have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic at any time should they see fit. Any information you post is at your discretion (as long as it does not violate OPSEC or another part of this agreement) and is not the responsibility of the administrative staff should you leave the website by choice or otherwise. Any image or idea sent for a HeartsOfOurTroops.com feature (such as the slide show or a banner) implies that HeartsOfOurTroops.com has your complete consent to use the photo for said feature. Images can be removed by request, as we are able, but never by demand.
Bashing service members, male or female, will result in an infraction. They are working hard to protect our country so lets respect them. Please keep racial and sexist comments off of the boards. You will receive a 3 point infraction for doing so. Same goes for bashing military significant others (bashing army wives for example). We are here for support. No bashing will be tolerated.
Bashing of another member is strictly prohibited and will not be tolerated. If it is found that a thread you posted is indeed about another member (even though they are not named) you will receive a 5 point infraction. If we feel it is about another member we will take the action needed whether you agree its about another member or not. You also may not attack or bash a member through their rep. Doing so will result in a 3 point infraction. This includes (but is not limited to) bashing HOOT in general. You may not make a post complaining about how HOOT is run or what other members do or do not do. If you have a problem please come to an administrator and we will take the appropriate action needed. For example you may not make posts complaining that no one responds to your posts (or anything along the lines of making a post complaining about the happenings on HOOT). All this does is cause drama and we try to make this site as drama free as possible. HOOT is a support group and not a popularity contest. If you do make a post complaining on the happenings of HOOT you will first receive a warning and then a 3 point infraction.
Remember that the Chat box is a part of Hearts Of Our Troops and the Terms of Service do apply there.
Please keep what happened on different boards/web sites and any personal problems off of Heartsofourtroops.com. This means you may not discuss problems you are having with another member on the HOOT boards PERIOD. It doesn't matter if you didn't bashed them or didn't put any names in it, if the HOOT team finds out it is about another member you will receive a 5 point infraction. We don’t think personal matters between you and another member should be posted for the world to see. We do not expect everyone to get along, but we do expect everyone to act maturely about it. If you have a problem with another member on the board do not announce it in the forums. Please take it to the admin or directly to the person through PMs. Once a thread has been locked you may not create a new topic with the same subject. You may make a thread apologizing if you see fit. If your post starts problems it will be locked and creating another thread will not be permitted. The only exception to this rule is the Shout Out forum. Once a thread reaches 50 pages, we will lock the thread, to avoid OPSEC and TOS violations. It's easier for us to view 50 pages instead of 500 pages. If you have any questions on what may or may not be posted after something is locked please come to the HOOT team for help.
When making a post it is OK to type "sorry if this offends anyone" it is not OK to elaborate into saying you "don't care if it offends anyone" or "that its too bad." (anything along those lines) This is considered rude and makes others feel unwelcome to post. You will receive a warning and then a 3 point infraction for this. Please try and be courteous to others and keep drama filled posts off the board.
If you decide to leave HOOT we will place your name in the "Deleted" user group. This takes your name off the membership list, marks your PM box as full so no one can PM you and under your user name it will say "Deleted". We do this so if you decide to come back you will not have to register and you will not loose your post count among other things. You will not have access to the forums once you are placed in this group. If you would like to be deleted you can either PM an administrator or make a goodbye post. Once an admin sees your post we will place you in the "deleted" user group. If you should decide that you would like to return to HOOT you are more then welcome to do so. Please email Admin@HeartsOfOurTroops.com and upon receiving your email you will regain full access to the site. If your goodbye post violates any part of this agreement your name will be placed on ban and you will no longer be welcome here at HOOT. Please keep the drama off HOOT. It is not OK to have more then one name on HOOT unless it has to do with one of our group activities. Pretending to be two different people is unnecessary and you will be placed on a permanent ban. Lying to members on HOOT will not be tolerated. If it is found out that you are in fact lying you will be placed on permanent ban. When the HOOT team feels a person is lying we go through an extensive investigation. Once our investigation is done and we feel you have been lying we have the right to place you on ban until you can prove otherwise. If no substantial proof is provided your name will remain on ban. If you can provide us with solid proof that you were truthful we will unban you. If you feel a person is lying please come to the administrative team (or one of our super moderators) and we will look into your concerns and go from there. Please note that posting your "proof" or questioning a member in a public forum will not be tolerated. All this does is cause more work for the administrative team and cause unneeded drama. Doing so will result in a 3 point infraction. Please understand that the HOOT team does not just point fingers and assume a person is lying. Therefore it may take time to figure out the situation. Please be patient. If an admin is unavailable please go to a Super Moderator. They have been instructed on what to do in these situations. Once a member is banned they no longer have access to HOOT. Because of this we will not allow any personal information about banned members to be posted (updates for example). Doing so will first result in a warning, followed by a 2 point infraction If a member has been banned it was for a reason. They are not welcome on HOOT. Allowing a banned member to have access to your account will result in your name being placed on banned. You too will no longer be welcome here. If you don’t have anything nice to say then please say nothing at all! Mature Language
Since the upgrade we lost the choice for user optional censors. Until we get this option back we will change the TOS. For now the Cursing rules are as follows: We have the word censors set up on all forums. If a word you use is on the censor list it will be posted with all "*" symbol. For example if the word dog was on the censor list when you typed it on the forum it will Post as ***. We understand you may want people to know which word you are trying to use so you may censor the word yourself. You can add the "*" or "-" symbol (a** or a--), Any symbols like this are acceptable. s#&t, b%*#h and other self censors like this are acceptable. We will not be giving anybody an infraction for using other symbols UNLESS it is a "letter like" symbol used to spell out a word ($hit, b!tch, @$$ etc). This is considered going around our cursing censor and you will receive a 2 point infraction. Social Groups do not have any censors in them, so it will be your responsibility to edit your curse words or you will receive an infraction.(This also goes for user profiles)
Curse word list

F*ck

sh*t

a**

b*tch

wh*re

sl*t

c*nt

d*ck

p*ssy

c*ck

f*g

sh*tty

bullsh*t

If you are unsure about a certain word, Please feel free to contact an Admin or Moderator.

Please note that this rule goes for signatures as well.

In your blogs you are more then welcome to go around censors as you see fit.

Signatures In Order to maintain our bandwidth you are only allowed a 20 line signature limit. If you purchase HOOT perks you are allowed a 30 line signature limit.
If you go over your limit you will be asked to fix your signature. We are not sign Nazi's measuring every siggy but if its noticeably too big we will ask you to change it. You are given 2 days to do so. After the two days if you have not fixed your signature we will remove your whole signature and you will receive a two point infraction. This also goes for anything we ask you to remove from your signature.
OPSEC We have the right to remove anything we feel violates OPSEC. We here at HOOT take OPSEC very seriously. Therefore if we feel OPSEC is being violated we will remove it and give you a warning/ infraction as needed. The first time you violate OPSEC you will receive a warning. Anytime after that you will receive a two point infraction.
OPSEC rules must be followed at all times! You may not discuss the following things: Current and future operations Travel Itineraries Operation planning information Entry/exit (security procedures) Capabilities and limitations Address and phone lists Budget information Building plans Port calls Readiness General morale VIP/ distinguished visitor movements Don’t discuss people’s names and billets in conjunction with operations No discussing anything that has not been released yet. You must provide a link if it is questionable. No discussing halfway points or referring to how many months are left in the deployment. Also no discussing how long your SO has been extended. This includes discussing percentages left on a deployment. (example: There is only 20% left on this deployment) No discussing flight times or pilots schedules. No placing such info in your siggy and/or title.
If you post any picture that includes your SO in uniform please make sure that their name tag has been edited out. You may not make a post showing your paper chain or any other kind of object you personally use to count down.
We here at HOOT do not allow any type of ticker (count up or down) pertaining to Military movements. If we find that it is a ticker related to the military but says till my birthday or whatever you will be banned for a week and receive a 3 point infraction. When dealing with a questionable ticker it will be removed from your siggy and you will be PMed. You can then explain it and if it doesn't violate and we give you permission they can put it back up.
Super mods have the ability to remove such items from your siggy.
Please understand that with a group of over 1000 members it is hard to determine what violates OPSEC and what does not so if we feel your ticker violates OPSEC we will ask for it to be removed. Please do not get rude with us if we make this request. Our job is to ensure the safety of our Military members and that's what we try to do.
These are many things that may not be discussed for further information about the OPSEC rules please follow this link. Please note that we try and catch as many violations as possible but it is nearly impossible to do so with as many members we have that post. If you see a violation please PM the HOOT Mod Squad and we will take care of it. Also if you do receive a PM about a violation please do not get rude with us if it is not a violation. Simply explaining that the information has already been revealed (or whatever the circumstances may be) will do. If you receive an infraction and you did not violate OPSEC please PM us and we will fix the problem. If your PM is rude we will not reverse your infraction. Our main concern is the safety of our military so anything we feel is objectionable will be removed. If it doesn't violate OPSEC and you think we might find it objectable please post a waiver at the end of your post explaining why it doesn't violate. IF YOU'RE NOT SURE DON'T POST IT!!!!!!!!!!!! Pregnancy Proof Anyone posting a pregnancy test picture must post it with their self in the picture or next to that days paper. If not we will delete it. Failure to not provide a correct picture will result in all post about your pregnancy to be deleted. If you still do not provide proof you will be banned until you can do so.

Anyone posting ultrasounds must make sure the date is visible. Or on top of that days newspaper with the date. If you are under investigation you may have to prove in other ways its yours. Date (or newspaper) must be visible in every ultrasound you post. Without proof you may only make one post about your pregnancy one time. All others wil be deleted until proof is provided.
Blogs Blogs are a place personal place for you to express yourself. The cursing rule does not apply to any blogs. As of right now until I can recode it the censors do block out the letters of curse words but feel free to go around censors in the blog area.TOS will be pretty lax in what you write on your blogs, but we do have some rules that we expect to be followed and if not the appropriate actions will be taken.

**OPSEC must be followed 100% while blogging or anywhere else for that matter.**

Bashing service members, male or female.

Bashing of another member named or not.

Once a thread has been locked you may not blog about the thread.

Lying to members on HOOT will not be tolerated.

Bashing HOOT or the HOOT team. Or complaining about how HOOT is run.

As far as the blog a post goes it is ok to use this feature as long as your not blogging negative about someone. If this feature gets abused I will remove it. If you constantly break blog rules all of your blogs will have to be reviewed by a moderator before they are posted.

Please note that we will not be monitoring the blogs so if you have a problem with a blog or see an OPSEC violaion you are asked to report it. Articles HOOT now has the option to promote any post to an article on the HOOT home page. This option may be used on posts you make on the boards. The only time your posts will be promoted if it is a helpful post to our members, mostly Military related. For example if you make a post with the 2010 Military pay dates we have the right o promote your post to an article. If your post gets promoted and you are uncomfortable with it being an article please PM Amanda and she will remove it.

Advertising
You may advertise links to other messages boards as long as you advertise Heartsofourtroops.com at the other board. For example if you put a link in your signature linking to another board, then you must put the HOOT link in your signature on the other board. Our only exception is military related forums. We find it rude to advertise another military related forum. We worked hard for our members and you should do the same. You wouldn't advertise K Mart at Walmart. the same thing applies here. You are limited to one advertisement link in your signature. When you make a post about another support group you must make the same post on that support group about Heartsofourtroops.com. Under no circumstances should you Spam others PM boxes about other groups. You will be banned.
We have an advertise and sell forum, Please keep things you are selling in that forum. If you post a thread selling something anywhere on the boards, it will be deleted. Your first offense will consist of a warning. Anything after that will result in an infraction. If you are not a contributing member you may not "Spam" our boards. Inactive members
Members remaining inactive for more then 30 days will be deleted. If you have registered on Hearts of Our Troops, but have not posted within 2 weeks, your account will be deleted. If your account was deleted due to in activeness you may re-register at a date more convenient to you. Please PM Ashley if you are going to be away longer and 30 days and wish to remain active.
Disciplinary actions:
Heartsofourtroops.com now uses the infraction system. This system is used as a disciplinary procedure. If you fail to follow the Terms of Service you will receive points (infractions) stacked against you. If at anytime your infraction level reaches 5 points you will be placed on a temporary ban. If your infraction level hits 10 points, you will no longer be welcome at Heartsofourtroops.
We have also implemented our warning system. If you receive a warning this will be noted on your account so the admins and moderators know if you have already been warned for a certain issue. Warnings will not affect your infraction points. Below is our different infractions and/or warnings:
Insulting another member will result in a 5 point infraction. This infraction will expire in a year. If you get two of these infractions your account will be placed on a permanent ban. The first time you will be placed on a temporary ban lasting a week. Attacking, Bashing or Insulting another member through their rep will result in a 3 point infraction. If you abuse this privilege appropriate actions will be taken. If this continues to be an issue with you we will erase all your rep and you will have to start over. OPSEC violation: OPSEC violation will result in a warning and if you continue to violate after this warning you will receive a 2 point infraction. This infraction will expire in a year. If it is noticed that most of your infractions are coming from OPSEC violations, your post will have to be view by an admin and approved before being put on the boards. If you continue to violate OPSEC we will permanently ban you.
Advertisement: Placing advertisements on the boards instead of in our advertise and sell forum will result in a waning and if the problem persists you will receive a warning, followed by a 1 point infraction if the problem continues. If you continue to Spam our boards then your post will need to be approved by an admin before they are posted.
Multiple User group Memberships: If you are found to be a member of more than one of the, Lovin My Sailor ,Lovin My Soldier, Lovin My Airman, Lovin My Marine or Lovin my Coastie user groups at a time without being in transition from one group to another (i.e., Your SO changes branches) you are allowed one week to remove yourself from the old group), you will be given a warning, followed by a one point infraction. If this becomes a repeated issue, you will be removed from all five groups permanently. There are other reasons (outlined above) why an infraction may be given. The infraction point has been stated above as well. Also once an infraction or a banned is placed if you start drama because of our decisions you will receive a 5 point infraction and will be banned for a week. If you have a problem with how things are run please come to one of the administrators and discuss it with us.
We have the right to give a warning in place of an infraction as we see fit. We also have the right to give an infraction in place of a warning. The administrators and all Moderators are allowed to give an infraction. Only the Administrators are allowed to ban a user However if no Admin is available to handle things and you start drama on the boards a Super Moderators have the right to place a temp ban on your account until an admin can handle the situation. Just because a Super mod places you on temp ban does not mean your name will remain there. Super mods have been given instruction to place your name on there for a week. This is because most temp bans last a week. Once an admin logs on and reviews the info you will receive an email stating either your name will be taken off ban, it will stay on a temp ban or you are no longer welcome here on HOOT. Please wait for this email before thinking you will no longer be allowed on HOOT. Though an infraction is given, the administrators can still reverse it, so if you think the infraction you received was unjust, please notify us and we will discuss your infraction. If it is decided you infraction was given for a good reason we will not reverse it at any time. Once you have an infraction it will stay.
Each incident will be examined on a case-to-case basis. We have the right to skip the infraction process and place you on ban as we feel its needed.

Please note that though your infractions can expire you will still be able to view your "records" to see which infractions you have received. If you begin to start problems after your infractions have expired we can look into past infractions and determine if you have in fact learned the rules of HOOT or not. If you continue to be a problem member we will ban you.

:NOTE:

Everything on HOOT is Copyrighted. If it is found that you are using our images, Rules, etc. without our permission you will be banned from HOOT and our lawyers will be contacted. If you submit anything to HOOT it becomes property of HOOT and also copyrighted. We may change any image sent in as we see fit. When submitting images to HOOT you are giving us the right to use and modify it as we please.

Your HOOT team So you are not confused on whom to go to here is a list of your HOOT Mod squad. If you click on the links it will take you to their profile (you must be registered to do this) Administrators
Amanda
Ashley
Becky
For a list of all our moderators and Super Moderators please follow this link and it will give you a list of our moderators and the forums they moderate. Please note that we do not get paid to keep these forums in order. Therefore we will not tolerate your rudeness. We have implemented these rules to keep HOOT as drama free as possible. If you don't like the way we run HOOT no one is forcing you to stay. By registering at Hearts Of Our Troops.com, you agree to the terms and conditions outlined above. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, please do not resister with HeartsOfOurTroops.com. If you are already a member and do not agree to these terms, Please PM an admin and we will delete your account. We reserve the right to change, modify, add or remove portions of these terms at any time. If we do decide to alter the Terms of service we will make a post in the Admin's Desk forum.
If you have any questions please feel free to email us at Admin@HeartsOfOurTroops.com and Happy posting! You may also contact each admin individually. Amanda@HeartsOfOurTroops.com Ashley@HeartsOfOurTroops.com Becky@HeartsOfOurTroops.com ~Amanda , Ashley & Becky~