1. GENERAL
1.1. This site, hereafter also referred to as Nikonians,"we", "us", "the community" and "the site", is privately funded, owned and managed by Bo Stahlbrandt of Germany and José Ramón Palacios of Mexico. Both of us are Nikonians, that is, we believe in the Nikon technology and we use Nikon photography equipment extensively. This site is not related or affiliated in any way to Nikon Corporation nor to any of its subsidiaries and/or affiliates.

1.2. We want to provide an open, easily accessible and honest community for Nikon users on the web. All of our members are encouraged to openly and respectfully communicate on this platform. We believe in good manners, that friendliness is good manners and that all have a right to friendliness. We don't take breaches to these Terms of Use lightly.

2. BASIC GUIDELINES
Our guidelines are based on the following principles:

2.1. We believe everyone has something to contribute to the community, no matter the level of expertise. No questions are stupid; they force us to re-think on issues and the answers. In other words, don't hesitate to post. The more you post, the more you read, the more you read the more you and all of us learn.

2.2. We believe that each member is basically honest and is capable of showing respect towards other community members and be friendly.

2.3. Basically, we do not perform censorship of contributed material, but we feel that sometimes it may be necessary to disable certain contributions. This is especially true if the material includes or refers to violence, is of a pornographic nature or if it bashes other community members. Images containing nudity are not allowed in the forums or at the galleries. Exception to this is the Fine Art Nude Photography Gallery and Forum (please see Section 2.9 below). You should also refrain from contributing material which does not show respect for the living, e.g. pictures of animals being killed. Images of people being murdered are not allowed. Human respect being a keyword here.

2.4. Promoting type of contributions are not allowed. If you want to advertise your own business and if you are a registered, paying member at Nikonians, you can though post at our Orange Pages Biz Directory; you can also post messages in the I Want to Sell forum. Other types of promotions and/or ads will be removed without prior notice. You may though place an advertisement in our newsletter. If you're interested in becoming a sponsor or an advertiser please get in touch with us

2.5. Do not place references in the forums to items you're selling on another site. Links of any kind to online auctions are not allowed and will be removed. Auctions at Nikonians are not allowed.

2.6. This is a photographic site for Nikon camera users, no debates will be allowed on political, ethnic, sexual or religious issues; any message that is considered to incite a debate on such subjects will be considered off-topic and deleted at the sole discretion of moderators and/or administrators. Similarly, images which are overtly provocative based on political, ethnic, sexual or religious issues may be deleted at the sole discretion of moderators and/or administrators. Possible exceptions to the above are reporting news images in the Photojournalism Photography forum, where moderators may allow more discretion latitude.

2.7. We therefore encourage good discussions and interesting contributions, but reserve the right to disable any contributed material in our sole discretion and without prior notice. That is, even if we often may give a warning in advance, this may not happen.

2.8. Nikonians is now a resource quoted all over the WWW and indexed in major search engines. We will appreciate your efforts to check correct spelling for clear readability, improved search ability and to avoid misunderstandings. If you are using MS-Windows Internet Explorer you may download a free spell check utility here: http://www.iespell.com

2.9. The Nikonians Nude Gallery and its companion, the Nude Photography Forum, are the only places where nudity is allowed. These are intended for mature audiences only, therefore they have a built-in safeguard age requirement. In addition, they are only available to Silver, Gold and Platinum contributing members. We expect nude images to be artistic. Use Nikonians Nude Photography Gallery Curator Pascal Baetens' work as a reference. Your work presented should be focused on photography/vision and not on trying to show explicit sex acts or any physical attributes in a overly erotic way. If you're insecure if a contribution fits, just say so in an email sending it to the editorial team including the photograph before posting. It's for sure a fine line, but we do not want to see unnecessary censorship, nor pictures which might be offending or abusing. Again, human respect being a keyword here. Should you have moral or religious objections or impediments to nudity, please do not enter the Nude Photography Gallery and/or Forum.

3. POSTING, LINKS TO IMAGES, UPLOADING AND ATTACHING IMAGES
3.1. The uploading of images to our forums and the members galleries are a privilege we grant, as our way to say thank you to those who currently contribute to our operations costs in amounts of or above 25 (less than 7 cents a day) for Silver Membership status and up. We must nevertheless limit quantity, size and weight of photo posts in the forums in the interest of a pleasurable experience for all visitors. All registered members may post topics and link to their photographs at other sites, but we ask all to abide by the same rules as if posted at Nikonians directly.

3.2. In the forums, do not post any images not made by a Nikon camera or a Nikon mount camera. If you want to share images taken with other cameras/formats, these pictures can be be posted in the Other Camera Systems forum only.

3.3. Do not post anywhere images not belonging to you. Do not create combined images of pictures not belonging to you. Do not post combined pictures of which you are not the legal owner. If you want to post an image which was not taken by you (i.e. you do not have the copyright), please ask both the originator and the editorial team for permission before doing so. Failing to abide to international copyright laws is illegal.

3.4. Traffic is an important cost component but Nikonians is more concerned about a big number of visitors who are not on broad band Internet and/or may go through numerous hops to get to our sites; please help by posting in the forums a prudent number of images per post; or a reasonable number of links to outside images per day.

3.5. In the forums, please limit the image size to no more than 1,200 pixels on the longest side. This is to accommodate those who have smaller monitors, members who have monitors set at low display resolutions and those not on broad band Internet connections or in remote areas of the globe.

3.6. In the forums, there is a maximum 300KByte limit to each image posted, and you will get an error message trying to upload any bigger image file. This makes for a better experience for dial up users and helps keep network traffic costs down.

3.7. Do not post your image, or reference/link to your image more than once, i.e. do not repeat your postings or references/links.

3.8. Whenever you include an image in your postings, it is expected from you to include the technical data of the shot, camera, lens, film, etc. so viewers can see what various combinations can produce.

3.9. If in your post you are linking to your own images from your web site or from any other server (including the Nikonians galleries), please try to link only to images complying with the size requirements above. Please also state the size of the image in terms of pixels, and file size. This will warn those on slow modems.

3.10. If you add a signature to your posts please make it short and not political, ethnic, religious or controversial. You may include a link to your personal homepage if not commercial, however we ask that you reciprocate by becoming an Official Nikonians Webring member and add to your homepage the links provided. Sites in the webring will get greater exposure to a wider audience and user feedback. Signatures may not contain links to sites owned by corporations or institutions. These sites are nevertheless welcome to apply for advertising.  

3.11. Making a post in the Forums solely to attract traffic to a personal website is not allowed; such posts will be removed. You are nevertheless welcome to apply for advertising. 

4. REGISTERING AT NIKONIANS
4.1. Registering at Nikonians gives you a free of charge trial membership that may be extended indefintely if you are active. We ask you though to adhere to the rules mentioned on this page when registering. Member registrations not complying with these rules will be removed without prior notice. See also Section 6, Member conduct below.

4.2. Anyone who is interested in, owns or plans to buy Nikon photography equipment may register at Nikonians.

4.3. You must use your real first and last name when filling out the first and last names in the registration form.

4.4. Using an email account in the registration where this account is from a site which is not considered proper, such as sites with content of sex, violence or devil worshipping are not accepted and will automatically terminate the account.

4.5. Using an inaccessible email account when registering will automatically terminate the account.

4.6. Making multiple registrations will automatically terminate all registered accounts. Exception to this rule are new registrations by members whose Basic membership has been deactivated and cannot afford to reactivate at a Silver or higher level. In such cases, members can re-use the same email account they previously registered.

4.7. It is not allowed to use an offensive or controversial username.

4.8. It is not allowed to use misleading usernames, e.g. "IAmTheModerator" or "NikonCanada".

4.9. Members are expected to become financial contributing members if and as soon as they happen to like this community and appreciate its unique social value and the resource it is for their enjoyment and progress as photographers. We really need your support to sustain the growth of the community and keep enhancing it. Althoughh the main purpose of a paying membership is to have the pride to contribute to the growth of the community, Nikonians makes its best efforts to say thank you with rewards and other benefits. To see the current benefits of upgrading your membership click here. One of those benefits is the eligibility to participate in our photo contest and in tours and workshops.

5. YOUR ACCOUNT, PASSWORD AND SECURITY
5.1. You will receive a password and account designation upon completing the Nikonians registration process. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the password and account, and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password or account.

5.2. You agree to immediately notify Nikonians of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security. Nikonians cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with this.

5.3. You agree to keep your account information current, profile, email address, etc.

If you believe that someone is misusing your account
Please get in touch with us and inform us about it.

6. MEMBERS CONDUCT
6.1. You understand that all materials, such as data, information, software, photographs, articles, reviews, stories, forum postings or other materials ("content"), whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, are the sole responsibility of the person from which such content originated. This means that you, and not Nikonians, are entirely responsible for all content that you upload, post, email or otherwise make available via the site.

6.2. Nikonians does not control the content posted via the site and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such content (see Disclaimer of Warranty below). You understand that by using the site, you may be exposed to content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable to you.

6.3. You agree not to use these sites to:

b) Upload, email, post or otherwise make available any content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as information from an employment relationships or learned under nondisclosure agreements).

c) Upload, email, post or otherwise make available or engage in solicitation of illegal copies of software and/or, of any content that infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party.

d) Upload, email, post or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail", "spam" or any other form of solicitation.

e) Upload, email, post, or otherwise make available any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment.

f) Interfere with or disrupt the site or servers communication infrastructure connected to the site, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the site.

g) Engage in any form of solicitation of any illegal act.

h) Violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, including, but not limited to, regulations of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, any rules of any national or other securities exchange, including, without limitation, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and any regulations having the force of law.

i) Upload, email, post or otherwise make available any content that deliberately and repeatedly bashes any brand, product or company. If you wish to make a complaint or other negative comment in respect of any brand, product or company, then make it once and be sure you have documented facts to support your remark.

7. LICENSES, OWNERSHIP AND COPYRIGHT ISSUES
7.1. If you contribute material (information, data, software, photographs, articles, reviews, stories, forum postings, etc.), you also automatically grant us an irrevocable, royalty-free, transferable and worldwide right and license to modify, publish and reproduce that material in perpetuity, for the purpose of operating, displaying, distributing and promoting the community and its services without any compensation to you. This also means that you, as the legal owner of the contributed material, automatically and implicitly - through the submission - declare yourself as the rightful owner of the contributed material and that all so called moral rights which may be raised out of this material have been waived. None of the material shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on the part of Nikonians and/or it's owners.

7.2. In the event that Nikonians would like to use the contributed material for anything not related to the purposes mentioned in 7.1, we will contact the owner of the material to negotiate terms of usage beyond the rights already granted through the submission of the material.

7.3. Copyright stays with the legal owner, the contributor.

7.4. Submitting the property of another, without the consent of that owner, may also subject you to legal liability for infringement of copyright, trademark, and/or other intellectual property rights

7.5. By registering, member agrees that although the member retains the copyright of his own images or other works posted on Nikonians forums, all posts belong to and are the property of the Nikonians. This is required for displaying such content at Nikonians. Nikonians is not responsible for loss of posts, modifications, copying, republication, distortion, quoting or other use of the posts by other users or third parties. Member hereby waives any right to make any claim against Nikonians or other users for any use of a post, including but not limited to any modifications, copying, republications, distortions, or quoting.

8. NO COPY AND NO RESALE
8.1. You agree not to reproduce, recompile, duplicate, copy, nor to sell, resell or exploit for any commercial purposes, any portion of the site, its content, use of the site or access to the site.

8.2. You must not use the site to violate anyone's copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights, including those of Nikonians.

9. LINKS TO THIRD PARTY SITES
9.1. Nikonians contains links to third party web sites ("third party sites"). Since we have no control of such sites, we do not endorse, have not reviewed and are not responsible for the content or availability of such third party sites.

9.2. You acknowledge that you use third party sites at your own risk and that Nikonians is not responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss which may result of such usage in connection with products or services available on third party sites, nor for the content or the quality of the service(s) provided at such third party sites.

10. RECEIVING EMAILS
10.1. As a registered user at Nikonians, you will receive emails from us from time to time. We do not send out emails often, but when we do we feel that the information is important and that all registered users should be informed about that specific issue. Typically, these emails are not sent out more than twice a month and are very short. Our emails are only sent out to registered users.

10.2. If you don't want to receive any emails from our community, you may send us an email and we will remove your account. This also means that your registration at Nikonians is canceled completely.

If you have received unsolicited email through the site
Please get in touch with us and inform us about it.

11. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY
Nikonians assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in any provided information, software or other data (hereafter referred to as "materials"). ANY MATERIALS LOCATED ON THIS SITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. Nikonians further does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links or other items contained within these materials. Nikonians shall not be liable for any special, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including without limitation, lost revenues or lost profits, which may result from the use of these materials. Nikonians does not provide or support the provision of legal advice. The law of the many jurisdictions represented by the membership vary widely on the legal issues raised in questions and the answers you read on the forums. Accordingly, you should seek authorized counsel for your questions in your specific jurisdiction and not rely solely on the general viewpoints expressed here.

The materials on these sites are subject to change without notice and do not represent a commitment on the part of Nikonians in the future. Nikonians does not warrant and disclaims any responsibility or liability in regard to system performance, availability, data protection, or reliability. By using Nikonians.org you release Nikonians from any liability or loss of, or damage to, or errors in, data, information, images, posts, member records, member status or any information you post, upload or which pertains to you.

ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions regarding these terms, or any other questions, you can get in touch with us online.

Legal advice on links found on this site leading to external pages according to German law:
Aufgrund des Urteils vom Landesgericht Hamburg vom 12. Mai 1998 sind die Betreiber einer Homepage gegebenenfalls verantwortlich für die Inhalte externer verlinkter Seiten. Aus diesem Grund distanziert sich NIKONIANS.ORG an dieser Stelle ausdrücklich von den Inhalten aller von uns verlinkten externen Seiten.