User policy

All users who register as local GreenAsh users are expressly bound by the policies of this site. That is, by undertaking the registration process, they are formally acknowledging their understanding and their acceptance of the policies by which they are bound, as users of this site. On the registration page, users are clearly told that by registering, they are aware of the policies that are in effect and that they are subject to.

Affiliate and anonymous users are not required to make such a formal acknowledgement. As such, they are implicitly bound by the policies of this site. Such users are not required to read the site's policies, but nevertheless are encouraged to do so.

The policies that currently apply to GreenAsh users are:

1. Resource use policy
2. Content posting and commenting policy

This policy was last revised on Saturday, 19 March, 2005, by Jaza. GreenAsh Services reserves the right to modify this document at any time, without notification.

Resource use policy

The GreenAsh resource library is a freely available collection of notes, essays, and other texts, designed to help you with your educational studies. Education should be free, and so should information. That's why anyone who registers with us (no cost involved) gets unrestricted access to all of our resources.

But although our resources are free for you to look at, each of them is still the intellectual property of its author. So as the saying goes, our resources are "free as in speech, not free as in beer". This means that while you may look at our resources all you want, there are some restrictions on what you can actually do with them.

The following list explains what you can do with our resources:

1. Read them.
2. Make your own personal copy of them (e.g. as a file on your PC, or as a print-out).
3. Use them as inspiration, as stimulus material, or as study guides, to help you produce work of your own.
4. Quote them (not in full) in your own work. If you do this, then you must acknowledge this web site, and the stated author of the resource, as your source (use this site's name - GreenAsh Services - and its official address - www.greenash.net.au - when making the reference).
5. Show copies of them to other people, after making sure that these other people have first registered as users on this site (see #1 in the next list).
6. Use them as teaching material for your students, after making sure that your students have first registered as users on this site (using our resources as part of paid teaching sessions does not violate #2 in the next list).

And this list explains what you cannot do with our resources:

1. Distribute copies of them to anyone else. If you want an acquaintance (e.g. friend, student, teacher) to look at them, then that person must also register here, and must access them through this site. This rule exists because if you give copies of our resources to your friends, then they may not be aware of the policies in this document, and hence are not bound by them. By forcing everyone to register on this site before viewing our resources, we are able to ensure that everyone is aware of (and accepts) the policies in this document.
2. Distribute copies of them for profit (i.e. sell them). We allow anyone to access our resources for free, and we demand that anyone else also allow our resources to be accessed for free. This includes but is not limited to: selling paper-based, electronic, or any other [forms of] copies of our resources; charging a fee for communicating to someone (who's looking for resources) the address of this site, or of any of its contents; or copying these resources onto a different web site, and charging a subscription fee for access to them.
3. Quote them without acknowledging their source, as explained in #4 in the list above.
4. State or imply that they are your own work, or the work of anyone else other than their true author. To do so means that you are committing plagiarism, a malpractice that is now strictly forbidden (often with severe penalties) by educational institutions worldwide.
5. Access them in any way, if you have not read and agreed to all the policies outlined in this document, and indicated your agreement [of these policies] to us by registering on this site.

All registered users, by creating a local GreenAsh account, have indicated that they accept these policies, and that they agree to abide by them when using the GreenAsh resource library.

This policy was last revised on Friday, 25 February, 2005, by Jaza. GreenAsh Services reserves the right to modify this document at any time, without notification.

Content posting and commenting policy

GreenAsh encourages the free and open exchange of information and opinion via the Internet. On this site, almost every page can be commented on by anonymous, affiliate, and registered users alike. Authenticated users can post new forum topics, and users with special privileges may post other content, such as articles and images.

While we are more than happy for you to become a participating member of the GreenAsh community - by posting content on this site - there are a number of rules that must be followed at all times. The following is a list of unacceptable content posting and commenting practices:

1. Malicious posting. Any attempt to compromise all or part of this web site, through the use of malicious posting practices, including but not limited to embedded scripting, SQL injection, or tag breaking, is expressly forbidden. This site employs a number of security measures that are designed to identify and to block the abovementioned techniques, so it is highly unlikely that such an attack on GreenAsh would actually be successful. But even the mere attempt to publish a malicious posting is forbidden, regardless of its effect or lack thereof. Any recognised attempts to post malicious content are logged, so that site administrators can then identify and act against the perpetrators of these offences.
2. Spamming. The posting of any material on this site that constitutes SPAM is expressly forbidden. SPAM includes but is not limited to: unsolicited advertising; irrelevant or 'flamebait' material; and links to external web sites that are included in a post for no legitimate reason. SPAM also involves such material being posted on this site in excessive (i.e. non-reasonable) quantities. As with malicious posting, measures are also in place to prevent comment SPAM from hitting this web site, and attempts to publish such comments are logged.
3. Foul language. The use of foul language in excessive quantities, or of particularly strong offence, is not allowed on this site. GreenAsh allows the use of mild profanities in moderation. However, users should be aware that this is a business site, not a personal site or an informal community site. As such, we consider it important to maintain a high standard for all the content on our site, and will not tolerate any user-contributed postings or comments that we consider to be damaging to our reputation or to this site's professional image.
4. Offensive behaviour. Any content that other visitors to this site may consider offensive or personally insulting is not allowed. This includes but is not limited to: remarks that may be deemed racist, sexist, or bigotist; remarks that are aimed at personally insulting other visitors; or inciteful or slanderous comments. As the Internet is a democracy, and as GreenAsh is a proud supporter of the Internet's democratic regime, criticism of GreenAsh - such as commenting on our services, our resources, or our posts - is allowed and encouraged, as long as the criticism is intelligent and substantiated, rather than unfounded or offensive in any way.
5. Criminal activities. Any attempts to post content of a criminal nature on this web site, including but not limited to child pornography, instructions on how to produce or assemble illegal devices (e.g. bombs or firearms), or the use of GreenAsh as a meeting-place for the planning of criminal activities, is expressly forbidden. GreenAsh Services is a registered Australian business, and as such we will not tolerate any content on this site that constitutes a breach of Australian or international law.
6. Inappropriate content. The posting of any content that we deem to be inappropriate is not allowed. This includes but is not limited to: pornography, or any attempts to represent pornographic content (e.g. as ASCII art); links to sites whose content includes online gambling, pornography, racial hatred, or anything of an illegal nature; or content that is of a particularly disturbing nature (e.g. horror themes, drug abuse). We cannot state strongly enough that intelligent and substantiated criticism does not constitute inappropriate content on this site. Ever. Content that ignites positive community discussion, or content that brings to light difficult or controversial issues, is encouraged rather than forbidden. If you feel that any content you posted on GreenAsh has been wrongly identified as inappropriate (and has been censored), then please send us a message explaining your case, and we will be more than happy to review our decision.

The administrators of this web site reserve the right to decide, on a case-by-case basis, what constitutes a breach of any of the abovementioned offences. Actions that may be taken against those who violate the abovementioned rules include (but are not limited to):

1. Editing, moderation, unpublishing, or removal of posts or comments from this web site;
2. For registered or affiliate users, the immediate suspension and/or deletion of GreenAsh accounts;
3. For anonymous users, the blocking of any or all logged IP addresses that can reasonably be associated with forbidden practices; and
4. In extreme cases, such as the posting of serious illegal content of a criminal nature, the handing over of all information we have to official government authorities - such as the police - and anything else that it is in our power to do, in order to help bring the offenders to justice.

This policy was last revised on Thursday, 24 February, 2005, by Jaza. GreenAsh Services reserves the right to modify this document at any time, without notification.