Terms of Use

These Terms of Use are the “rules” around what is appropriate behavior in using this website and social network.  You are held to these terms of use, so please read and understand them.  The purpose of this network - beyond having our own social network about Portland- is to introduce Portlanders to each other, provide a place to exchange ideas, ask questions, etc.

To make this a friendly place (as well as useful and non-threatening), please follow our simple “terms of use” guidelines.  If for any reason you can’t abide by these rules, please don’t use the site.  We control the site, so that means we get to make the rules for it.  Please understand that if you break the rules, we will have to ban you from the site—sorry, but we’ve gotta keep things under control.  We reserve the right to ban any member for any reason at our sole discretion. 

Spam

Please don't spam. Spam is annoying. We all hate spam (except some people actually like the Spam you can eat).  What is internet spam? Spam is posting the same message, sending the same message to multiple members, and generally harassing people with junk messages or advertising. You get the picture.  NO SPAMMING.  Please.  If you are reported for spam, or we think you are spamming on our site, we will have to ban you, and that’s no fun.  So, don’t do it.

Advertising and Promotion

We are all about promoting Portland and local businesses and people.  We love Portland and want to do good things here to give ‘props to our city and it’s wonderful people.  On the other hand, this site isn’t intended to become flooded with a whole bunch of empty advertising, because all the good useful information about Portland could get lost in all the static.  Plus, we pay for the running of our website from the advertising dollars we earn.  This doesn’t make us bad people or sharks, we are just making a living working very hard, just like you.  Show some respect.

So, while you MAY mention your business name in your personal account profile, or tastefully make mention of your business in your discussion threads, DO NOT use this site to excessively, blatantly advertise solely for the purposes of self promotion—otherwise you may be banned from the site.  There are plenty of free classifieds sites out there for that sort of thing —this isn’t the place for it.  So, NO EXCESSIVE ADVERTISING.  If you want to purchase advertising on our site, we would be utterly delighted to help you—please contact us.   Let me repeat this part so you won't get yourself banned from using this site - do not use this site to troll for new business clients for your personal gain, we want this to be an open, honest, helpful site that is totally legitimate and not deceptive for our members.  If we determine you are using this site to excessively self-promote your business, or that you are contacting members to do business off-line, or harrassing people by sending them private messages in attempt to seek new business, you will be banned. 

This also applies to donations and charities – please don’t use our site for requesting donations.  Have you seen how many pan-handlers there are in Portland?  A walk through Pioneer Courthouse Square might have you dipping into your pocket for spare change no less than 5 times on an average lunch break.  Enough already.  Nothing against pan handlers, but we don’t need more virtual pan handling on this site.  NO ASKING FOR MONEY OR DONATIONS.  We are all about supporting local Portland charities--they do amazing great works.  But, we want control over that type of information on our site to limit the number and types of postings.  So, if you have a worthy venture you would like posted, please contact us first for permission.

AND, same thing goes for promoting your latest business venture, pyramid scheme, or “get rich quick” idea.  Please, no such scams on this site. NO BUSINESS VENTURE INVITATIONS.

Unfortunately, we need to use our judgment here and we will delete content and ban members from Portland Neighborhood’s ‘Net who are just here to engage in shameless self-promotion and/or to make money.

Links Back to Your Website

Unfortunately, we have discontinued allowing business links in personal profiles, because people were joining the site just so they could add a bunch of links to their business and nothing else.  Bummer.  So, we took that option away, sorry!  We are just trying to keep the site meaningful for people who want to participate.  We offer cheap advertising options if you would like to place a paid ad on our site. 

Realtors and Related Businesses

The owners of this website are not Realtors, nor are we in the real estate business.  However, do have many visitors who are interested in moving to Portland or otherwise learning more about Portland real estate.  We have a paid advertising agreement with a local Portland realtor so that we can refer people to real estate services if they are interested.  Other realtors and related parties--just like other businesses--may include their own business name information on their personal member profile page only.   Please do not contact members individually for the sole benefit of promoting your real estate business--you may reply directly to members and answer questions, but please do not spam people or use this site simply as a way to troll for prospective new clients--people are here for information exchange and generally do not want to be bombarded with unsolicited messages.   Out of respect to our paid advertisers, we must strictly limit other real estate related promotion on the site.  If you are interested in advertising with us, please contact us.  Otherwise, please limit self promotion to your member page.  We may ban your account from the site if we deem you are not following these guidelines.

Insults and Harassment

There is nothing wrong with a respectful debate, disagreement, or constructive criticism.  Respectfully disagreeing with someone - including us - in a constructive manner is welcome. We want to make the site useful and valuable, and of course sharing your opinion (in a well mannered and reasonable way) is fine.

However, while you may have a good reason to be upset or angry about something, this isn’t the place for YELLING at people and getting downright nasty.  If we deem you are threatening, toxic, profane, abusive, and/or nasty—be prepared to be banned from using this site.   And, we will just have to use our judgement, so stay out of the gray areas.  Sorry, we get to make the rules ‘cause it’s our site.  If you don’t like the rules, you can go off and make your own website and post whatever you want on it.  (You meanie.)

And, no harrassing people, or online "stalking".  If you are deemed to be harrassing someone, you will be banned.

Also, no porn on the site, please.  We like to post and share your photos and other stuff, but this is an all-ages site so please don't post any porn or otherwise x-rated materials, or we will delete it (and you may be banned from the site). 

If You've Been Banned in Error

If you've been banned or had your account deactivated by us and you think it is in error, please let us know. We’re reasonable people. We will take a look and consider re-instating your account if there was a misunderstanding or error.

Our network (and these rules) might not be a great fit for everyone, so if these rules don’t work for you, that is ok, just don’t use the site. Banning people sucks, and we don’t like it one bit, so don’t make us go there and have to do it.

More Legalese and Disclaimer Stuff (the lawyers made us do it)

We will share what we think is unique, interesting, or special about Portland, a particular neighborhood, including places, restaurants, and businesses located there.  We are not paid by these businesses to list a link or to recommend them.  These recommendations are purely opinions, based on the experience of the individuals who wrote the content.  PortlandNeighborhood.com makes no claims or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of this website and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this website. We are not a part of, or related to the official City of Portland website, or their related websites.  No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, is given with respect to the contents of this website or its links to other resources.  Reference in this website to any specific commercial business, product, process, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by PortlandNeighborhood.com.

Your Privacy

Your privacy is important and we respect it.  We will not disclose any of your personal information to anyone (unless required by law), unless you give us express direction and permission to use your name and contact information as the author or submitter of content on the site.  You control what you post on the site, so please only post something you want to share, and use good judgment in not divulging personal information about yourself. Sadly, there are bad people out there who may do things like identity theft or other harrassing behaviors--don't make it easy to become a target--protect your privacy.  Never ever divulge personal, private information about another person.  You will be banned for that behavior.

Links

We appreciate your interest in sharing our site.  You do not need our permission to create direct links to the www.portlandneighborhood.com site.  In the interest of providing information, we may include links to other websites, but we do not authorize or have any responsibility for them, nor do we have any business ties to them.  We are not in any way responsible for the content or behavior of any linked websites, and we do not have any liability whatsoever for claims or damages against any web site maintained by a third party. Content and Privacy Policies are the responsibility of the respective owners of each website.

Whew!  That’s it.  By using this site, you consent to the terms as outlined above.  If you disagree with these terms, please do not use the site.   Thanks for following our Terms of Use, and we sincerely hope you enjoy the site!

Best Regards,
The PortlandNeighborhood’s ‘Net Team