MatthewsPlace.com Community Standards:

MSF uses certain monitoring and filtering of the Site to attempt to enforce the Terms of Use, including these Community Standards.  Objectionable content and user behavior may nonetheless be found to exist.  Always use caution and common sense when using the Internet, especially when you are solicited to give any personally identifying information about yourself or with respect to financial information or transactions.  Users of this Site must also respect fellow users and understand that inappropriate content or conduct is unwelcome and could result in suspension of your account and even legal action against you.

As a user of the Site, you agree that your User Content, and your conduct on the Site will:

*treat others with respect and not make any offensive comments that are connected to race, religion, social class, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or disability;

* communicate appropriately and avoid profanity or any obscene, indecent, pornographic, sexual or otherwise objectionable content or language;

* be honest and kind and not defame, libel, ridicule, mock, disparage, threaten, harass, intimidate, abuse, bully, trick, defraud or mislead other users;

*avoid the promotion of violence;

*protect privacy and avoid soliciting or revealing any personally identifying information about yourself or another individual that could be used to identify, track, contact or impersonate you or another individual on any of the interactive features or user content forums or elsewhere, including  address, phone number, e-mail address, or credit card number.

* respect the personal choices of individuals and not identify, directly or indirectly, via any User Content medium including text or images, any other individual who has not consented to be referenced or connected to the MSF Site, or engaging in any otherwise “outing” of another person without their consent;

* be yourself and not attempt to impersonate any other party or disguise the source of your User Content or other information you submit to the Site, although you may remain anonymous if you choose;

*recognize that this is a nonprofit foundation and not engage in any commercial activities, including, any attempt to raise money for anyone or advertise or promote a product, service, pyramid scheme or other multi-tiered marketing scheme;

* resolve any disputes with MSF or other users peacefully and not disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm MSF and/or the Site;

* respect the security of our site and do not upload, use or transmit any malware, spyware, virus, worms, spider, Trojan horses, bots or any material that acts as a passive or active information collection or transmission mechanism or anything destructive or harmful to the Site; and

* abide by the law, these Terms of Use, or any other requirements or restrictions posted by MSF on the Site and respect the contractual, personal, intellectual property or other rights of any party, and do not engage in or promote illegal activity;

Please help us promote a just, peaceful and respectful environment by emailing us at INFO@MATTHEWSHEPARD.ORG to alert us of any violations of these Rules and Standards, or by flagging objectionable content through the use of the Flag button at the bottom of comments[A2].  We may make an effort to respond to these concerns within a reasonable time frame, but please understand that we are under no obligation to take any action to do so or to monitor or edit the Site or Services and that the Services may contain content which you personally find offensive.