1. Definitions.
The "Psych Central Network" is the interactive online service operated by Psych Central on the Internet, consisting of free information services and content provided by Psych Central, affiliates of Psych Central and other third parties. "Subscriber" means each person who establishes or accesses a connection ("Account") for access to and use of the Psych Central Network (known herein as "the Psych Central Network"). The the Psych Central Network includes Psych Central, the Psych Central Community, Psych Central Blogs, and other websites that carry the Psych Central designation.

2. General.

(A) This Agreement, which incorporates by reference other provisions applicable to use of the Psych Central Network sets forth the terms and conditions that apply to use of the Psych Central Network by Subscriber. By using the Psych Central Network (other than to read this Agreement for the first time), Subscriber agrees to comply with all of the terms and conditions hereof. The right to use the Psych Central Network is personal to Subscriber and is not transferable to any other person or entity. Subscriber is responsible for all use of Subscriber's Account (under any screen name or password) and for ensuring that all use of Subscriber's Account complies fully with the provisions of this Agreement. Subscriber shall be responsible for protecting the confidentiality of Subscriber's password(s), if any.

(B) Psych Central shall have the right at any time to change or discontinue any aspect or feature of the Psych Central Network, including, but not limited to, content, hours of availability, and equipment needed for access or use.

3. Changed Terms.
Psych Central shall have the right at any time to change or modify the terms and conditions applicable to Subscriber's use of the Psych Central Network, or any part thereof, or to impose new conditions. Such changes, modifications, additions or deletions shall be effective immediately upon notice thereof, which may be given by means including, but not limited to, posting on the Psych Central Network, or by electronic or conventional mail, or by any other means by which Subscriber obtains notice thereof. Any use of the Psych Central Network by Subscriber after such notice shall be deemed to constitute acceptance by Subscriber of such changes, modifications or additions.

4. Equipment.
Subscriber shall be responsible for obtaining and maintaining all telephone, computer hardware and other equipment needed for access to and use of the Psych Central Network and all charges related thereto.

5. Subscriber Conduct.

(A) Subscriber shall use the Psych Central Network for lawful purposes only. Subscriber shall not post or transmit through the Psych Central Network any material which violates or infringes in any way upon the rights of others, which is unlawful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, vulgar, obscene, profane or otherwise objectionable, which encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any law, or which, without Psych Central's express prior approval, contains advertising or any solicitation with respect to products or services. Any conduct by a Subscriber that in Psych Central's sole discretion violates these Terms, restricts or inhibits any other Subscriber from using or enjoying the Psych Central Network or any of its services will not be permitted and may result in Subscriber's account being terminated without notice. Subscriber shall not use the Psych Central Network to advertise or perform any commercial solicitation, including, but not limited to, the solicitation of users to become subscribers of other on-line information services competitive with the Psych Central Network.

(B) the Psych Central Network contains copyrighted material, trademarks and other proprietary information, including, but not limited to, text, software, photos, video, graphics, music and sound, and the entire contents of the Psych Central Network are copyrighted as a collective work under the United States copyright laws. Psych Central owns a copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement and enhancement of such content, as well as in the content original to it. Subscriber may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, or in any way exploit, any of the content, in whole or in part. Subscriber may download copyrighted material for Subscriber's personal use only. Except as otherwise expressly permitted under copyright law, no copying, redistribution, retransmission, publication or commercial exploitation of downloaded material will be permitted without the express permission of Psych Central and the copyright owner. In the event of any permitted copying, redistribution or publication of copyrighted material, no changes in or deletion of author attribution, trademark legend or copyright notice shall be made. Subscriber acknowledges that it does not acquire any ownership rights by downloading copyrighted material.

(C) Subscriber shall not upload, post or otherwise make available on the Psych Central Network any material protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right without the express permission of the owner of the copyright, trademark or other proprietary right and the burden of determining that any material is not protected by copyright rests with Subscriber. Subscriber shall be solely liable for any damage resulting from any infringement of copyrights, proprietary rights, or any other harm resulting from such a submission. By submitting material to any public area of the Psych Central Network, Subscriber automatically grants, or warrants that the owner of such material has expressly granted Psych Central the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate and distribute such material (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed for the full term of any copyright that may exist in such material. Subscriber also permits any other Subscriber to access, view, store or reproduce the material for that Subscriber's personal use. Subscriber hereby grants Psych Central the right to edit, copy, publish and distribute any material made available on the Psych Central Network by Subscriber.

(D) Subscribers are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the Site, including, without limitation: (i) accessing data not intended for such User or logging into a server or account which the User is not authorized to access; (ii) attempting to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization; (iii) attempting to interfere with service to any User, host or network, including, without limitation, via means of submitting a virus to the Site, overloading, "flooding", "mailbombing" or "crashing"; (iv) sending unsolicited e-mail, including promotions and/or advertising of products or services; (v) forging any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any e-mail or newsgroup posting. Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability.

(E) Subscriber shall not conduct any type of research on the Psych Central Network, or any website, service or subset of the Psych Central Network, including the Forums at the Psych Central Network for the purpose of publication or to fulfill a set of educational requirements for an educational institution. Research prohibited includes naturalistic study of behaviors, members, or users of this website, empirical, qualitative, or quantitative research of either scientific or non-scientific inquiry, for the purpose of publication, either publicly (for instance, in a peer-reviewed journal) or privately (for instance, a Master's thesis or college research paper). Personal research for one's own use is allowed.

(F) The foregoing provisions of Section 5 are for the benefit of Psych Central, his subsidiaries, affiliates and his third party content providers and licensors and each shall have the right to assert and enforce such provisions directly or on his own behalf.

(G) The foregoing provisions of Section 5 may be supplemented or superceded by specific provisions known as the " Community Guidelines" for any of the Psych Central Network's online communities. When in conflict, the Community Guidelines provisions will take precedence over this Section.

6. Disclaimer of Warranty; Limitation of Liability.

(A) SUBSCRIBER EXPRESSLY AGREES THAT USE OF the Psych Central Network IS AT SUBSCRIBER'S SOLE RISK. NEITHER Psych Central, HIS AFFILIATES NOR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS OR LICENSORS WARRANT THAT the Psych Central Network WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE; NOR DO THEY MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM USE OF the Psych Central Network, OR AS TO THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY OR CONTENT OF ANY INFORMATION, SERVICE, OR MERCHANDISE PROVIDED THROUGH the Psych Central Network.

(B) the Psych Central Network 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 THE LAWS APPLICABLE TO THIS AGREEMENT.

(C) THIS DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY APPLIES TO ANY DAMAGES OR INJURY CAUSED BY ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, ERROR, OMISSION, 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 RECORD, WHETHER FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORTIOUS BEHAVIOR, NEGLIGENCE, OR UNDER ANY OTHER CAUSE OF ACTION. SUBSCRIBER SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGES THAT Psych Central IS NOT LIABLE FOR THE DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF OTHER SUBSCRIBERS OR THIRD-PARTIES AND THAT THE RISK OF INJURY FROM THE FOREGOING RESTS ENTIRELY WITH SUBSCRIBER.

(D) IN NO EVENT WILL Psych Central, OR ANY PERSON OR ENTITY INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING OR DISTRIBUTING the Psych Central Network, BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE the Psych Central Network. SUBSCRIBER HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION SHALL APPLY TO ALL CONTENT ON the Psych Central Network.

(E) IN ADDITION TO THE TERMS SET FORTH ABOVE NEITHER, Psych Central, NOR HIS AFFILIATES, INFORMATION PROVIDERS OR CONTENT PARTNERS SHALL BE LIABLE REGARDLESS OF THE CAUSE OR DURATION, FOR ANY ERRORS, INACCURACIES, OMISSIONS, OR OTHER DEFECTS IN, OR UNTIMELINESS OR UNAUTHENTICITY OF, THE INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN the Psych Central Network, OR FOR ANY DELAY OR INTERRUPTION IN THE TRANSMISSION THEREOF TO THE USER, OR FOR ANY CLAIMS OR LOSSES ARISING THEREFROM OR OCCASIONED THEREBY. NONE OF THE FOREGOING PARTIES SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY THIRD-PARTY CLAIMS OR LOSSES OF ANY NATURE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOST PROFITS, PUNITIVE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. NEITHER, Psych Central, NOR HIS AFFILIATES, INFORMATION PROVIDERS OR CONTENT PARTNERS WARRANT OR GUARANTEE THE TIMELINESS, SEQUENCE, ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THIS INFORMATION. ADDITIONALLY, THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES AS TO THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE INFORMATION.

7. Monitoring.
Psych Central shall have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor the content of the Psych Central Network, including chat rooms and forums, to determine compliance with this Agreement and any operating rules established by Psych Central and to satisfy any law, regulation or authorized government request. Psych Central shall have the right in his sole discretion to edit, refuse to post or remove any material submitted to or posted on the Psych Central Network. Without limiting the foregoing, Psych Central shall have the right to remove any material that Psych Central, in his sole discretion, finds to be in violation of the provisions hereof or otherwise objectionable.

8. Indemnification.
Subscriber agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Psych Central, his affiliates and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents from and against all claims and expenses, including attorneys' fees, arising out of the use of the Psych Central Network by Subscriber or Subscriber's Account.

9. Termination.
Either Psych Central or Subscriber may terminate this Agreement at any time. Without limiting the foregoing, Psych Central shall have the right to immediately terminate Subscriber's Account in the event of any conduct by Subscriber which Psych Central, in his sole discretion, considers to be unacceptable, or in the event of any breach by Subscriber of this Agreement. The provisions of Sections 5(B), 5(C), 5(D), 6, 8, 10 and this Section 9 shall survive termination of this Agreement.

10. Trademarks.
Psych Central, the Psych Central Network, and each of their logos are trademarks of John M. Grohol, Psy.D. All rights reserved. All other trademarks appearing on the Psych Central Network are the property of their respective owners.

11. Third Party Content.
Psych Central is a distributor and a publisher of content supplied by himself, third parties, and Subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including information providers, Subscribers or any other user of the Psych Central Network, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of Psych Central. Neither Psych Central nor any third-party provider of information guarantees the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content, nor its merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. (Refer to Section 6 above for the complete provisions governing limitation of liabilities and disclaimers of warranty.)

In many instances, the content available through the Psych Central Network represents the opinions and judgments of the respective information provider, Subscriber, or other user not under contract with Psych Central. Psych Central neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Psych Central Network by anyone other than authorized Psych Central employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. Under no circumstances will Psych Central be liable for any loss or damage caused by a Subscriber's reliance on information obtained through the Psych Central Network. It is the responsibility of Subscriber to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Psych Central Network. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.

12. Miscellaneous.
This Agreement and any operating rules for the Psych Central Network established by Psych Central constitute the entire agreement of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof, and supersede all previous written or oral agreements between the parties with respect to such subject matter. This Agreement shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. No waiver by either party of any breach or default hereunder shall be deemed to be a waiver of any preceding or subsequent breach or default. The section headings used herein are for convenience only and shall not be given any legal import.

Last reviewed:
  On 1 Oct 2006
  By John M. Grohol, Psy.D.