Here is a list of questions and answers about the Terms of Service (ToS). The contract to which every user agrees to when they register a forum on Jcink.com. It is important to note that use of Jcink.com forums constitutes an acceptance of these terms. It is your responsibility to know these terms and adhere to them as ignorance is not a viable excuse.

The Terms of Service serve as legal protection for Jcink, Jcink.com, the staff of Jcink and, in part, Admins using Jcink services.

The ToS also serves to allow Jcink (and staff) to act to deal with malicious users, threats to other user's and the service. (Which keeps the service available to everyone.)

There is also a ToS because there are rules imposed upon Jcink.com through Google Adsense (how Jcink.com is funded). Google Adsense is an advertising program that has its own set of rules which users are required to follow to be eligible for payments. And given that Jcink.com depends upon the revenue generated from Adsense, Jcink.com and all sites must follow the ToS.

For example, one major rule of Adsense is “No mature content.” This is because advertisers do not want their ads associated with mature or adult content, so it is not permitted on the free service.

It's important to note that there are two versions of the Terms of Service. Most of the content-rating questions in this FAQ pertain to the free service. Each question is suffixed with with the associated terms of service. Questions related to Premium Service, which is paid, are also marked.

To view the Terms of Service(s):

• Terms of Service (Premium)
• Terms of Service (Free)

The highest level of content allowed on a JFH forum is generally considered to be:

• PG-13 (Motion Pictures Rating system)
• TV-14 (TV rating system)
• T (Electronic Software Rating Board )

Examples of popular media that fit within this level are:

• Batman: The Dark Knight
• Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
• Criminal Minds

There are no content rating restrictions on the Premium Service, legal adult content (porn, mature writing, etc) is permitted.

Mature content includes:

1. full frontal nudity (typically images/video, though extremely detailed written works could qualify here too),
2. graphic sex scenes,
3. graphic violence (like detailed torture scenes or body mutilation),
4. intense imagery (like surgery),
5. full depictions of hard drug use (ex- Cocaine, Heroine, LSD).

For the Terms of Service purposes, it does not matter whether the content is written in story form, a picture, a video clip or an audio track.

As a side reminder, Jcink.com (and by extension all Jcink Forum sites) go by the highest rating… So claiming to be PG-13 means you cannot have content that is rated R to be classed PG-13. If it would get an R rating then you are not PG-13 and you are violating the ToS.

No.

Free forums may not contain mature content, period. It doesn't matter if you have a hidden, staff only, password-protected mature section… According to the Terms of Service you are in violation. And as a side note, if you are found with a mature section it can actually be an aggravating factor in deciding outcomes of any reports.

Yes. Refer to Premium Service: content freedom.

On its own cursing is not much of an issue. It would require a substantial amount of uncontrolled cursing for this to be a terms of service issue on its own. (So a dozen or so swear words in a topic wouldn't likely get a forum shut down on it's own. It would take a lot more than that.)

It is at your discretion. Refer to Premium Service: content freedom.

This is a hard question to answer because every case is investigated separately and the resulting action will vary on a case by case basis. However standard procedure is to issue warnings first. Though if those get ignored or the board owner refuses to comply then yes, the forum will likely get erased.

Massive violations, repeat offenses or illegal boards however may get erased with no notice given.

Remember, it is your responsibility to ensure that your forum adheres to the Terms of Service.

This often comes up for roleplay sites and the answer is somewhat of a grey issue.

In general celebrities (or their managers) own the copyright to their image. Which means using any celebrity's image is potentially a copyright infringement (unless the image has been publicly declared as free to use or you've been granted special permission). Most celebrities either don't know or care enough about roleplay to bother sending take down requests (or perhaps even view it as free publicity). This doesn't mean it is perfectly ok to use their image though.

It is well within their right to send take down notices to stop people from using their image. And if one were received then the board would have to comply and remove the image.

In this matter it doesn't matter whether the celebrity in question is a child or not. Though child celebrities may have people watching out for them more and thusly may be quicker to send take down requests.

More info here.

Generally you should file a report if someone doing something blatantly against the Terms of Service. Like if they've got threads full of porn or are using the forum to sell drugs or child pornography. (If you see those… Report it at once.)

It's not worth filing a report if they don't have anything actually against the ToS though. Even if a site is rated Mature or R, if they have no content of that sort then they technically aren't breaking the ToS. (Though if they do later get offending content then report them.)

When a situation arises that you have determined needs to be reported, here are the things you should do:

• Gather links to offending content and include them all in the report. The more evidence you provide the better. It saves JFH staff time to hunt down issues and determine whether there really is an issue going on or not.
• Take the time and explain what the issue is.
• Submit only 1 report.

Here are some things NOT to do:

• Send vague reports. (More evidence is better.)
• Contact sites you've reported. (Or are about to report.) Contacting the site's staff only tends to make matters worse.
• Send multiple reports or get your friends to mass-report a site either. It only slows the investigation down. Plus many reports of poor quality may hurt your case.
• Fabricate evidence or issues. JFH staff can tell when things don't look right or make sense.

If someone has stolen original content from you (that you own the rights to) and posted it on a Jcink board… Your first step should be to contact that person and request the content removed. However if that fails (EX- they refuse to remove the content) then you should:

1. Gather evidence. (Collect links of the offending content. Take screenshots for comparison purposes. Gather all correspondence with the member showing that you asked them to remove the content but that they didn't. Make sure to include datestamps to provide a timeline.)
2. file a Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) report with the information provided. (This report authorizes Jcink, or an entity acting on behalf of Jcink.com, to forcibly remove the offending content.)

If you've done nothing wrong then the report gets closed and you'll never heard from us about it. We're smart enough to see when people are being set up and know better than to fall for such traps or schemes.

First off, every report that is file is investigated thoroughly by Jcink.com staff. That means reports can take anywhere from 24 hours to a week or more to do a thorough investigation. So be patient, Jcink.com staff is investigating the matter thoroughly. Once an investigation is concluded, a decision is reached. If it's deemed necessary to contact the reported board, they will be sent an email from an official Jcink.com email address. You, as the reporter, will not likely be contacted about any results.

If the report is deemed not to need action (EX- no sufficient evidence, falsified, or otherwise a non-issue ) then nothing will happen and no one will be contacted about this matter. Furthermore repeat reports will get ignored. Every report submitted to Jcink.com is treated seriously and confidentially (within ToS provisions).

WARNING - Submitting multiple and/or falsified reports can get you blocked/banned from sending reports or quite possibly from all of Jcink.com.

Yes. You can dispute it (politely of course, because sending an irate email will not get you what you seek) however do not get your hopes up. Boards that were deleted for gross violations (ex- illegal content) will not likely be reinstated.