The Commonwealth Conversation

The Commonwealth Conversation website is maintained for your personal use and viewing by the Royal Commonwealth Society. Access and use by you of this site constitutes acceptance by you of these Terms and Conditions which take effect from the date of first use.

Throughout this document the terms ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ refer to the Royal Commonwealth Society and the terms ‘you’ and ‘your’ refer to you the user.

1. WordPress
The Commonwealth Conversation website uses WordPress as its content management system. WordPress has its own Terms and Conditions of use, which all users agree to abide by when using the site. You can view the WordPress Terms and Conditions here http://en.wordpress.com/tos/.

2. ‘Conversation Starters’ and Comments
The Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) makes every effort to ensure that the information published on the Commonwealth Conversation website is accurate. However the RCS cannot accept any liability for the accuracy of information published by the authors of ‘Conversation Starters’ (articles uploaded onto the website) or comments made by users. Visitors who rely on this information do so at their own risk.

3. Acceptable use of  ’Comments’
Try to keep your comment short – up to a maximum of 300 words, or we may ask you to summarise it. By submitting a comment to this site you agree to abide by the following rules. The RCS reserves the right not to publish comments that contravene any of these rules.

• Personal identification: When you leave a comment on the website, do so with a username and your real email address. Do not represent yourself as another person.
• Conduct and use of language: Your comment should be within the scope of the topic under discussion. Comments should be civil and tasteful, and must not be malicious or designed to offend. Swear-words and profanity will not be accepted. No reference should be made to the personality of other participants nor should attacks be made on an individual’s character.
• Legal liability: You should remember that you are legally responsible for what you write. By submitting a comment you undertake to indemnify the RCS against any liability arising from breach of confidentiality or copyright, or any obscene, defamatory, seditious, blasphemous or other actionable statement you may make.
• Advertising, spamming and research: No advertising or promotion is allowed except where it is for an event, publication or similar item that has direct relevance to the subject of discussion. Information about locating and sharing knowledge and expertise is welcomed, but within the specific discussion provided.

We encourage open, lively debate but the decision to publish comments received via this site remains at the RCS’s discretion. Comments that violate any of the above rules will not be published. We will not edit any of your comments, but we may contact you if your comments contravene these rules.

4. Copyright and neighbouring rights
The material produced on this site may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium for research, private study, web-based discussion, or for internal circulation within an organisation. This is subject to the material being reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context.

Where any of the items on this site are being republished or copied to others, the source of the material must be identified and the copyright status acknowledged.

The permission to reproduce material does not extend to any material on this site which is identified as being the copyright of a third party.

5. Virus protection
The RCS makes every effort to check and test material at all stages of production. It is always wise for users to run an anti virus program on all material downloaded from the Internet.

The RCS cannot accept any responsibility for any loss, disruption or damage to your data or your computer system which may occur whilst using material from the Commonwealth Conversation website.

6. Registration and Privacy
The Commonwealth Conversation site does not capture or store personal information from site visitors, other than to log the user’s IP address and session information such as the duration of the visit to the site and the type of web browser used. Cookies are only used on the website if you choose to have your details remembered when posting a comment.

When submitting a comment to the website you will be required to provide a username and an email address, and to answer a random question to prevent spam. Your email address will be stored, but never published online. This data will be stored by WordPress for as long as you remain registered and the website is active.

We will only contact you in direct relation to the comment you submitted or to request feedback on this site. We may also send an email round to all users to update you on the Commonwealth Conversation, and you can unsubscribe from this email list at any time by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ button at the bottom of the email.

In handling all data the Royal Commonwealth Society is governed by the RCS Data Protection Statement.

7. Links to and from other websites
The RCS is not responsible for the contents or reliability of the external websites and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. Links to external sites should not be taken as endorsement of any kind. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and we have no control over the availability of the linked pages.

The RCS encourages you to establish hypertext links to the site. You do not have to ask permission to link directly to pages hosted on the RCS website. However, we do not permit our pages to be loaded into frames on your site. The RCS pages must load into the entire window.

8. Intellectual property
The names, images and logos identifying the Commonwealth Conversation are proprietary marks of the Royal Commonwealth Society. Copying our logos and/or any other third party logos accessed via this website is not permitted without prior approval from the relevant copyright owner. Requests for permission to use our graphics should be sent by email to conversation@thercs.org. Tell us how and why you wish to use our logo(s). Please include your contact details.

9. Disclaimer
We do not warrant that the functions contained in the material contained in this site will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that this site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or represent the full functionality, accuracy, and reliability of the materials. In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including, without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damages whatsoever arising from use or loss of use of, data or profits arising out of or in connection with the use of the Commonwealth Conversation website.

10. General
These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute arising under these Terms and Conditions shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. The Royal Commonwealth Society is a registered charity in England and Wales number 226748. Please direct any queries to conversation@thercs.org.