Disclaimer

Terms of Use & General Disclaimer

Effective November 21, 2009: If you need to leave additional links to related material, then please do so through trackbacks from your site! In order to protect our readers, links inside the comment text are permanently moderated due to comment spam and dangerous shortened links. Our apologies for any inconvenience.

Content Validity:

Agent Genius does its very best to bring its readers the most entertaining content under the stars, however, it is impossible to guarantee the validity, accuracy, and facts of every post and every comment- after all, wasn’t OJ found Not Guilty? Most would swear he done it, but even after all of the dust settled, he was acquitted and set free, yet convicted in a civil trial. Times change, things change, and new facts evolve, so posts are dynamically updated by commenters based on the popularity of the subject matter.

Content Accuracy:

We at Agent Genius do our very best to validate all material we write in posts, and are believed to be accurate to the very best of our ability at the time of publishing. If we do make a mistake (which we will because we’re all human) we will do our very best to retract or update our readers in active posts. Blog comments are open and accessible to any bozo with an internet connection; this being said, we cannot speak for the accuracy, thoughtfulness, or intelligence of the commentator, and comments should not be taken as advice or suggestion- use at your own risk.

External Links:

There will be times that Agent Genius links to other sites and we do out best to link check every link, but typos do happen.  As a safeguard to you, we don’t allow links in comments but when we make exceptions, we strictly prohibit URL shorteners or tracking links by commenters in an effort to allow you to see exactly where you’re clicking with less worry of viruses or inappropriate material. We advise you to click carefully if you are in a sensitive area, around children, or your workplace, as not all content is guaranteed to be sensitive to your feelings, eyes, health, heart, or those of those looking over your shoulder, nor those lifeless IT guys that get off on snooping your hard drive.

Photographs and Graphic Images:

Agent Genius writers do their very best to either purchase stock photography or use creative commons images, but mistakes do happen. If you believe an image of yours was used and not given proper attribution, let us know, we’ll create proper credit.

Libel and Defamation:

The content on Agent Genius or your feed reader is the opinion of the writer, and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or thing, especially those with the ability and desire to fight back.

Responsibility:

Each Agent Genius writer’s content is their own, not their employer, volunteer group, membership organization, church, or other agencies which they might be seen as represented, including that of Agent Genius. Agent Genius itself is an outlet for each individual writer’s thoughts and opinions on whatever they wish to write, and Agent Genius does no editorial review of each post prior to publication. Each writer writes and each reader reads at their own risk.

Personal Views:

Blogging is much like a street corner conversation over a hot dog and coke. All articles are views and opinions of the writers that receive like feelings, views, and opinions on the article subject matter. Both the writer and commentator are responsible for their own statements no matter how stupid or offensive you may find them to be.

Protection from Commenters:

Agent Genius is not responsible, nor will be held liable, for anything anyone says on Agent Genius in the post comments, nor the laws which they may break in their country or ours through their comments’ content, implication and intent.

Do No Harm:

It is not the [intention] of Agent Genius to harm, it is our “intention” to do no harm. We have never and will never intentionally injure others, defame, or libel. “Harm” is subject to interpretation, not facts. Everything in or on Agent Genius is opinion and advice, not counsel. What is written on Agent Genius shall not to be taken as fact, nor absolute. If you accept the advice, tips, techniques, and recommendations, and are injured, we [Agent Genius] are not to be held responsible- instead you should immediately seek professional medical, mental, or parental assistance, take two aspirin and never call us in the morning.

Disclosure of Paid-to-Blog:

Agent Genius is a bootstrap success story which means we survive on ramen noodles and water. We [Agent Genius] receive no monetary benefit from articles, reviews, or opinions.

Language Issues:

Agent Genius will be held harmless from all issues relating to language, punctuation, or any other issue relating to grammar, characters, or formatting. Agent Genius should be translated at your own risk and makes no ratings claims in any language- even English.

Advertisement:

Agent Genius has to keep the lights on and we do sell ad space, however, we do not sell product reviews in any form or fashion.  We do not control content or what topics our writers write about.  Writers are required to disclose any financial relationships with us (Agent Genius). Writers are prohibited from writing about products or services in the form of paid endorsement.

Copyright:

All material on Agent Genius is all rights reserved.

Agent Genius:

By the very nature of Agent Genius, it is our intent to be a positive influence on the internet. We are not a so-called bubble blog, nor do we favor insults, negative spin, or intent to harm. We do our very best to provide entertaining, stimulating, fun, but insightful commentary that inspires positivity. If something on Agent Genius is believed to have offended you, is incorrect, or you feel damages you in some way, send us an email at talk [at] agentgenius.com. We’re very approachable and want very much to provide our readers the most honest and factual commentary possible and are willing to listen to reason- just let us know and we’ll do our very best to resolve the issue. However, if the information is deemed true and accurate and you wish to give your input to the article or comments, then engage the conversation by commenting.

Comment Policy

Automated Moderation:

Agent Genius only moderates the first few comments made by a user in order to verify that it is (a) from a human, (b) that it is human, and (c) they’re still human. Once you have been approved x (not disclosed) times, you are free to roam about the cabin.

Administrative Moderation:

Agent Genius Administrators are the moderators of this forum and reserve the right to place in moderation comments they believe are offensive- such as:

• Personal attacks, slams, flaming
• Grandstanding, soap boxing,
• Comments that are not addressing the topic of conversation
• Threats of any kind, innuendo, defamatory statements
• Spam, excessive linking (more than two), signature links
• Attacks on commenters

We encourage opinions on all topics and believe open and free dialogue should take place even if a comment is contrary to the post in opinion as we intend to encourage productive dialogue. If you are an offender you will still be allowed to comment at Agent Genius, however, your comments will be placed in moderation to be approved by a moderator.

Having stated all of that, it has always been the policy of Agent Genius to contact the commenter directly before moderation and request that they retract or amend their comment to fit within the tone and guidelines of Agent Genius, however if abuse is sustained, we reserve the right to permanently moderate without notification. That is why it is very important that the email address you provide us via comment form be accurate in order that administrative moderation not become necessary.

Lastly, Agent Genius is not required or compelled to provide any explanation privately or publicly of any sort for moderation of any comment or commenter if we deem your tone to be abusive to the community. So, before you press submit, ask yourself, is this how I would enter into conversation if I were face to face with this individual?

Comment Privacy:

We do not like anonymous commenting, however we will tolerate it only ifthe email address provided is active. A courtesy email will be sent to the anonymous commenter, and if they respond, the comment may stand so long as it is in keeping with our comment guidelines. We verify email address accuracy because you the commenter are responsible for the statements you make, not Agent Genius.

We will protect the privacy of all commentators at Agent Genius. This means your identity is held in the highest confidence as well as your email addresses. We will not sell, loan, or use your email address for any other reason but to notify you of follow up comments or goings on at Agent Genius.

Agent Genius comments are enabled to be connected to your Twitter account- we do not see your account information or password, nor do we store any of your personal Twitter information when using this feature.

Language:

The Agent Genius preference is a Safe for Work environment and appreciates your understanding.

Proper Linking & Signatures:

The link to your own website has a designated slot in the comment form and that is the only place a link to your site is necessary. Signatures should be two lines only and no linking is necessary.

The Name line in the commentform can be something fun and unique, however, we would really like to know who is commenting. Squeezing your name into your clever phrase is just good etiquette. Because the comment phrases are featured on the home page, we do reserve the right to place in moderation the attached comment.

Trackbacks are encouraged, in order to grab the correct permalink, simply click on the title of the article you’re linking to and copy it from the address line to ensure a proper ping takes place. Use of our content without a proper link is a violation of our copyright policy.

Comment Editing:

There are times that we spot horrendous typos in comments and will correct spelling from time to time, however, we do not believe that it is necessary to edit typos because it is a language most of us speak fluently. If however you really mess up a comment, contact us and we’ll do our speedy best to rescue your copy cred.

Comment Ownership:

Your words, you own them, and you’re responsible for them, however, by placing your comment on Agent Genius you give us the right to republish your comment in any fashion we see fit. So comment carefully, the Internet can be a very permanent place.

Updates to Policy

We absolutely reserve the right to modify these terms at any time and without warning