First things first. Understand that our privacy statement, terms of use, and advertisement policy may change from time to time. The changes will take place on this page, which means that you should visit it from time to time to make sure that you are working from the most recent version.

Information That ZHPMafia.com Gathers

ZHPMafia.com gathers information in two ways. One, it gathers information whenever someone supplies e-mail information to ZHPMafia.com. This happens whenever someone registers to be a member at ZHPMafia.com. Two, tracking information is collected as you navigate around the ZHPMafia.com site. I use Sitemeter to monitor traffic.

As for Facebook Connect users, ZHPMafia.com only collects information that you've made public through your Facebook page. Still, ZHPMafia.com does not use the information for any purpose whatsoever. We're not interested in spamming you, selling you something, or bothering you. As such, information provided to us through Facebook is of no consequence to us. Indeed, we will not share, rent, or sell any of your information with third parties. We simply want to provide the Facebook Connect application so that you'll have a better user experience at ZHPMafia.com.

Use of e-mail Addresses

ZHPMafia.com does not rent, sell, or share any of these e-mail addresses with third parties. From time to time, though, ZHPMafia.com will use email addresses to send monthly newsletters about the happenings at the site.


Use of Birth Dates

ZHPMafia.com does have access to birth dates that are provided to us at the time of registration. Although you may decide that you will not publicize your birth date to the general membership, the owner of ZHPMafia.com does have access to this information. Rest assured that this information is used for one reason: to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Beyond that, ZHPMafia.com has no reason to collect this information.

Outside of e-mail addresses and birth dates, ZHPMafia.com does not collect any other information from its readers. In other words, ZHPMafia.com does not collect any personally identifiable information from any of its readers.


Tracking Information Collected By ZHPMafia.com

Tracking information is collected both on an individual basis and in the aggregate through the use of "cookies." A cookie is placed on a reader's hard drive by a Web server and it is used to identify the pages that a forum member visits. ZHPMafia.com monitors how long members spend on each page and monitors how popular particular forums and threads are. In addition, ZHPMafia.com logs, when possible, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, reader's location, monitor size, and time and date that you arrived and departed the site.

ZHPMafia.com uses this tracking information to perform statistical analyses of its members so that it can figure out which threads and forums garner the most attention and so that it can make product-development decisions in the future. ZHPMafia.com may also use information collected to target, in aggregate, readers with advertisements that are most relevant.

Separately, any information that is disclosed by readers in the forum of ZHPMafia.com becomes public and may be used by ZHPMafia.com for publication and commercial purposes in any media that ZHPMafia.com utilizes -- either online or offline. What's more, ZHPMafia.com and its owner control the work that is displayed and made public on this site. That said, third-party members of this site, such as ZHPMafia.com users, do not have the right to distribute or sell any material that the original poster places on this site. In other words, a photographer or poster, who already holds a copyright in his or her material (before posting the material at ZHPMafia.com), does not lose that copyright protection -- vis a vis other users -- when he or she places material on this site.

ZHPMafia.com has contracted with Sitemeter, a third party, to track and analyze statistical usage and volume information from forum users. It does this by placing a cookie on the customer's hard drive. This information is used by ZHPMafia.com to track user behavior, which can be used to enhance the quality of the ZHPMafia.com site. Sitemeter's privacy policy can be found here.

For redundancy purposes, ZHPMafia.com also uses Urchin and Google Analytics software to track reader navigation around the ZHPMafia.com site. Like Sitemeter, Urchin and Google place a cookie on the hard drive of our readers' computers so that ZHPMafia.com can analyze reader tendencies, time spent reading threads and forums, and user interest in particular areas of the site.

In sum, ZHPMafia.com respects the rights and privacy of its members. Any and all information provided to ZHPMafia.com, that is not public, will remain private. No exceptions.

Disclaimer of Warranty; Limitation of Liability.

YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT USE OF THE SITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. NEITHER ZHPMAFIA.COM, ITS AFFILIATES, NOR ANY OF ITS RESPECTIVE EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS OR LICENSORS WARRANT THAT THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE; NOR DO THEY MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE SITE, OR AS TO THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY INFORMATION, SERVICE OR MERCHANDISE PROVIDED THROUGH THE SITE.

THE SITE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OTHER THAN THOSE WARRANTIES WHICH ARE IMPLIED BY AND INCAPABLE OF EXCLUSION, RESTRICTION OR MODIFICATION UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. ADDITIONALLY, THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES AS TO THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SITE.

THIS DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY APPLIES TO ANY DAMAGES OR INJURY CAUSED BY ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, ERROR, OMISSION, INACCURACY, INTERRUPTION, DELETION, DEFECT, DELAY IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, COMPUTER VIRUS, COMMUNICATION LINE FAILURE, THEFT OR DESTRUCTION OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO, ALTERATION OF, OR USE OF THIS SITE, WHETHER FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORTIOUS BEHAVIOR (INCLUDING STRICT LIABILITY), NEGLIGENCE, OR UNDER ANY OTHER CAUSE OF ACTION. YOU SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT ZHPMAFIA.COM IS NOT LIABLE FOR THE DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF OTHER USERS OR THIRD-PARTIES AND THAT THE RISK OF INJURY FROM THE FOREGOING RESTS ENTIRELY WITH YOU.

IN NO EVENT WILL ZHPMAFIA.COM, OR ANY PERSON OR ENTITY INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING OR DISTRIBUTING THE SITE OR THE CONTENT INCLUDED THEREIN, BE LIABLE IN CONTRACT, IN TORT (INCLUDING FOR ITS OWN NEGLIGENCE) OR UNDER ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY (INCLUDING STRICT LIABILITY) FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR SIMILAR DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOST PROFITS OR REVENUES, LOSS OF USE OR SIMILAR ECONOMIC LOSS, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE. YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION SHALL APPLY TO ALL USE OF AND CONTENT ON THE SITE. APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN NO EVENT SHALL ZHPMAFIA.COM'S TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES AND CAUSES OF ACTION WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING ITS OWN NEGLIGENCE) OR UNDER ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY (INCLUDING STRICT LIABILITY) EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, FOR ACCESSING THIS SITE.

Indemnification.

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless ZHPMafia.com and its affiliates (and their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents) from and against any and all claims, actions, demands, damages, costs, liabilities, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of your use of the site or any information you obtain from the site.

Intellectual Property

You represent and warrant that you own the content posted by you on ZHPMafia.com or have the right to grant the license set forth above (you're a copyright holder, for example), and you further warrant and represent that the posting of your content does not violate the privacy, contract, or publicity rights, copyrights, or any other rights of any person or entity.

You agree that if you do not hold a license, trademark, copyright, etc., of something you post (in a post or thread), that the owner of ZHPMafia.com may remove the post or thread upon learning of the infringement of the true holder's property.

ZHPMafia.com's Advertisement Policy

If you or your company are interested in advertising your wares at ZHPMafia.com, please contact me at marcus @ zhpmafia.com.

Selling your products, or proposing to sell your products, without my prior, written consent is prohibited. I reserve the right to immediately remove any and all threads and posts that I deem promotional or commercial.

FAQ:

Question: why can't I, a regular user, promote something that I am selling? I don't plan to make much profit.

Answer: the best way to explain this situation is to give you an analogy.

Imagine that you sell t-shirts. Imagine, moreover, that you go to the swap meet, where you'd like to sell your t-shirts. Instead of paying the venue owner for space at the swap meet, though, you decide that you'll bypass the owner and just set up a table -- without paying the owner for space.

Clearly, the owner, upon realizing that you have set up a t-shirt booth, without paying, will either ask you to pay to be on his property or ask you to leave.

ZHPMafia.com is no different. As the owner of this venue, I expect to be compensated when someone comes on to the property and sets up shop.

Question: if I would like to sell ZHPMafia.com branded merchandise, is that OK?

Answer: no. As the trademark holder of the ZHP Mafia and ZHPMafia.com names, I have the exclusive right to market, brand, and sell merchandise that bears the ZHP Mafia or ZHPMafia.com names.

That said, you can always contact me about entering into a licensing agreement.

Finally, we reserve the right to terminate or restrict your access to ZHPMafia.com if, in our opinion, your use of the site violates any laws, regulations, infringes upon another person's rights or violate the terms of service contained on this page. We also reserve the right to refuse (or change) your user name if it impersonates someone else, is protected by trademark or other proprietary laws, or is vulgar or otherwise offensive.