ASSTR Acceptable Use Policy
(last modified 2005-09-27)
Effective immediately for new accounts;
effective 2005-10-27 for any accounts created before 2005-09-27.
As a haven for free speech, ASSTR prides itself on a willingness to accept virtually any genre of erotic literature. At the same time, ASSTR cannot permit the hosting and distribution of material that violates the law or the spirit and mission of ASSTR. The purpose of this policy is to convey to all persons who maintain an ASSTR-provided author or collector account ("Account Holders") and ASSTR site visitors what content ASSTR deems acceptable for posting.
1. Copyrighted Material
In short, Account Holders are expected and required to comply with all applicable copyright law. If an Account Holder wishes to post any material to his/her account for which he/she does not own the copyright, consent from the copyright holder must be obtained prior to the posting of that material. This consent may come in the form of written communication from the copyright holder or a statement contained within the work indicating it may be redistributed under certain specific conditions. Examples of copyrighted content that an Account Holder may wish to post to his/her ASSTR account includes images, audio, and text created by other persons or entities.
As with all Account Holder activity, ensuring compliance with applicable law is the sole responsibility of the Account Holder.
2. Advertisements
In general, ASSTR does not permit the use of its services for any kind of promotional endeavors or other advertising of goods or services. Except when expressly permitted in writing by ASSTR, an Account Holder in no way may attempt to benefit economically through the posting of content to his/her ASSTR Account. Any link or other reference to a third party good or service which, in the sole discretion of the ASSTR administration, is posted in an attempt to create economic gain for the Account Holder or any third party is prohibited.
Account Holders are prohibited from posting incomplete part(s) of their
work to ASSTR with the intent to entice other persons into agreeing to pay for
the remaining portion(s) of the work. Included in this prohibition are
"teaser" stories that contain part of a work with a third party web site link
or other instructions for the reader to acquire additional parts of the story.
Under no circumstances may an Account Holder ever cause a graphical banner advertisement to be displayed on an ASSTR-hosted website. Explicitly excluded from this prohibition are non-profit "web movement" displays for campaigns such as yellow-ribbon, W3C certification logos, etc.
3. 3rd-Party Linking
Account Holders are permitted to link to any third-party site they wish provided that link is posted for the sole purpose of benefit to the site visitors or society as a whole. Links, whether textual, graphical, or otherwise, posted for the purpose of any kind of gain, including but not limited to financial, economic, and traffic, are prohibited.
Linking to any third-party web site that contains excessive advertisements is highly discouraged, although not prohibited provided it is compliant with all other terms of this policy. Particularly in cases where multiple user complaints are received, ASSTR will likely exercise its right to require such link(s) be removed from ASSTR-hosted content. Account Holders are encouraged to warn visitors about any links contained on their ASSTR-hosted web sites that link to heavily advertisement-laden web sites.
4. Images
In general, ASSTR discourages its Account Holders from the excessive use of images on their ASSTR-hosted web sites; the reasons for this are both philosophical and economical. The purpose of ASSTR's existence is the free online distribution of erotic literature. Persons wishing to post and visitors wishing to view pornographic images may visit many other web sites that specialize in such material. Additionally, excessive use of images consumes precious and costly network bandwidth that could be used for other purposes that are more in-line with ASSTR's core mission. Excessive use of images includes the posting of image galleries and large images (images over 50KB in size).
ASSTR has taken measures to discourage the excessive use of images by limiting the speed at which some images are served. ASSTR servers prioritize text content higher than image content; thus, large images often take long periods of time to appear when attempting to view ASSTR-hosted web pages. This system helps minimize bandwidth costs while allowing ASSTR's core services to continue operating as smoothly as possible for all visitors.
5. Content Involving Minors
For the purpose of this policy, "minor" is defined as any person under the age of eighteen years. As most persons familiar with ASSTR are aware, ASSTR permits stories that contain characters who are minors. The fundamental logic behind this policy is that if no child is involved in the creation of a story, no harm to any real child results from the creation or distribution of the work. The U.S. Supreme Court reached a similar conclusion in its ruling against the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (CPPA).
However, ASSTR believes it is imperative for all users of its services to maintain at all times the fundamental distinction behind fantasy and reality. For this reason, ASSTR expressly prohibits two types of material involving minors:
- Any photographic or illustrated visual depiction that is or could be mistaken for a minor, fully clothed or otherwise, is strictly prohibited. Any images containing children, especially when combined with stories containing underage characters, cross the line of good taste and approach too closely the line separating fantasy from reality.
- Material that provides guidelines, instructions, etc. or otherwise induces the engagement in any illegal activity, particularly the sexual exploitation of a minor, is strictly prohibited. Examples of such material include guides that provide information on how to seduce a minor.
6. Penalties
As specified in the ASSTR Site Terms and Conditions, the ASSTR administration reserves the right to terminate an Account Holder's ASSTR account at any time and for any reason. At the sole discretion of the ASSTR administration, penalties for violations of this policy range anywhere from a warning for minor first-time offenses to account termination for willful violations and/or repeat offenses.
7. Enforcement
The responsibility for compliance with this policy and all applicable law rests entirely with the Account Holder. ASSTR will not, as an ordinary practice, monitor the activities of its Account Holders to ensure that they comply with ASSTR policy or applicable law. When ASSTR becomes aware of harmful activities, however, it may take any action to stop the harmful activity, including but not limited to, removing content, shutting down a web site, implementing screening software designed to block offending transmissions, denying access to ASSTR services, or take any other action it deems appropriate.
8. Revisions and Applicability
In any case where the information contained in this policy conflicts with the ASSTR Site Terms and Conditions, the ASSTR Site Terms and Conditions apply. With regard to changes to this policy, the provisions of the ASSTR Site Terms and Conditions, section 4 apply.
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