Last updated on October 26, 2007.

Welcome to the online community at chapters.indigo.ca. The following Code of Conduct is meant to explain how to use the community site and also to help our members quickly and easily understand both acceptable and unacceptable behaviour standards. That said, the Code of Conduct is a guideline only. If you would like to understand how the site will be governed from a legal perspective, we suggest you review the Terms of Use, which also includes our Privacy Policy. This documentation also provides information on Technology & Security and Use of Personal Information.

Registration

Registration on the community is available to anyone 18 years of age or older who truthfully and accurately provides all required information (including a legitimate email address) and obtains a unique username and password. We do not allow anonymous contributions – to participate within the community we require our members to register using their real first name and last name, and a valid email address. As a member, you do not need to surface or publicly display your real name on the site; you may choose to show a pen name instead.

We invite and encourage customers, readers, writers, artists, and employees to create their user profiles, link to their web sites and blogs, invite their friends and colleagues, and discuss topics related to books, music, movies, current events, special interest, and the love of reading.

We invite and encourage authors to share their writing, publishing and literary endeavours. There will be many different kinds of people in our community. You may see badges which say “Employee” or “Trusted Advisor”. These are people who are either employed by Indigo Books & Music Inc., or who are affiliated with us. We attempt to make this as clear as possible on these persons’ profiles so that you understand the content you are seeing within the context of their role in our organization.

Community members have both the privilege of posting content and the responsibility to report potentially offensive content. We are a community-moderated environment; should our administrators receive such a report, they will investigate the content and make a decision based on our Terms of Use which includes our Acceptable Use Policy. Removing content from the community is completely up to the discretion of the community administrators in their sole discretion; we may or may not give a reason or explanation for the removal of content on the site.

Comments and Posting Content

We celebrate the written word and embrace open conversation; however, frankness does not include thoughtlessness. Our community standards encourage personal expression and constructive conversation. We don’t think there will be any surprises in terms of the types of communications we find unacceptable on a site built for and by booklovers.

But just in case, here’s a summary of unacceptable content and or behaviour:

• Anything that does not comply with our Terms of Use. We expect all users to use respectful, polite language, common sense, and to think about the implications of their postings before they publish their thoughts.
• Personal attacks, insults, spam, irrelevant commercial solicitations, or advertisements are always unacceptable.
• Clearly, any illegal activities that are outlawed by the government of Canada within the jurisdiction of the Province of Ontario are also not allowed within the community.
• Activities that might injure, threaten, stalk, or harass someone; which include defamation of character, slander and libel.
• We do not allow the posting of pornographic or obscene content or the uploading of sexually explicit pictures. Further, we do not allow members to link to external web sites or blogs that offer or specialize in sexually explicit pictures or pornographic/obscene content.
• Violation of copyright or trademark as described in the Terms of Use.
• Using the community as a forum to spread or promote promote hate speech which contains slurs or the malicious use of stereotypes intended to attack or demean a particular gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or nationality, conspiracy theories, terrorism or discuss contentious political issues or ideas.
• Asking or requesting help with your online order. We absolutely want you to have a great experience when you order an item from us – but unfortunately, the community administrators are not equipped to help you with your order. If you require assistance with an order, please see our Help section, or contact our Customer Service team.
• It is also unacceptable to co-op, spread or deploy content posted by other users on chapters.indigo.ca on. Only content that belongs to you or content that you have secured the permission to reproduce can be posted on other websites. If you post content without securing appropriate permissions from the owner of such content, then you may be in trouble with the content owners and we can't help you. In fact, you will also have violated our terms and we will have to delete any such content and possibly your profile.

Repercussions

We take action when we believe unacceptable content or behaviour is being displayed on our site. If someone publishes postings that are inappropriate we will remove the post and contact the poster privately. If those posts could be construed as a threat we will consider removing or banning the poster from the community. We understand that mistakes happen and will do our best to assist community members with the ability to correct posts. In fact, our motto is that if we are in doubt about the validity of a post, or if we believe it to libellous or offensive in nature, we will remove it and investigate the matter further. If we find we that the content has been removed without cause, we will reinstate the content.

For example, for the health of our community, we maintain the right to do any of the following at any time in our sole discretion, with or without prior notice:

• Restrict, suspend, or terminate your access to all or any part of our services
• Change, suspend, or discontinue all or any part of our services
• Refuse, move, or remove any content or information you have provided
• Refuse to register any username that may be deemed offensive

Reporting Content, Conflicts & Resolution

When we encounter conflicts and/or misrepresentation within the community, we will attempt to communicate privately and directly with the person(s) involved.

If you discover any content that is questionable or does not comply with the Terms of Use we encourage you and other community members to report this content using the ‘Report This’ link. Using the ‘Report This’ link allows any visitor to submit their opinion about content found on the site quickly and confidentially. We will investigate any received reports as soon as possible. In order to report content, you must be a member of the community.

Please do not report content simply because you disagree with what is said, or if someone criticizes your favourite books, authors, publishers or booksellers; or even your personal ideas and comments. That's not abuse; it's a difference of opinion. Discussions can become heated and passionate, especially among booklovers. Thoughtful discourse, debate and dissent are welcome and in fact necessary for a living, breathing community. But please — never forget that the person on the other side is human. If you're upset by something or someone, try to calm down before responding, or better yet, if you feel it is inappropriate, report the post to the community administrator.

Remember that the chapters.indigo.ca community is public space; please do not say anything to others that you wouldn't want a room full of people to hear.

Community Groups

Groups are a great way to connect with other people who have the same interests as you. Through our groups and bookclubs options, share information directly with other community members, plus add posts, pictures, video and comments. As with all community behaviour, we expect you to conduct yourself as you would if you were hosting a group or bookclub meeting at your home or other public venue.

As the administrators of the community, our policy is not to act as an arbiter or judge should interpersonal disputes evolve within a group or bookclub. If you join or create a group, you are personally responsible for respecting any rules or etiquette created by the group. Please note that the group’s creator or administrator is allowed to remove any member from their group if they believe that the person is not respecting the goals, purpose, or members of the group. Should you be removed from a group, we will not override or interfere with the decision of the group administrator, unless we receive multiple reports from other group members, indicating misuse of group or bookclub functionality.

Use of the Website

It probably goes with out saying, but our members are expected to obey the law while using our community. The community is intended for the purposes of social networking, for meeting other booklovers, for sharing your opinions about your favourite authors, poets, filmmakers, TV series, and musicians. We invite and encourage User’s to create their profiles, link to their websites and blogs, invite their friends and colleagues, and discuss topics related to books, music, movies, and events.
Users not to use the Website to do the following (for a complete list, please see the Acceptable Use Policy):

• harvest or collect contact information of other members in the community
• use the community in a way that could damage, disable, overburden or impair it
• use automated scripts to collect information or interact with members or the community
• register for more than one account, register for an account on behalf of an individual other than yourself, or register for an account on behalf of any group or entity;
• impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent yourself, your age or affiliations;
• post or otherwise make publicly available any personal or private information of any other person other than yourself
• solicit personal information from anyone under the age of majority or solicit passwords or personally identifying information
• use or attempt to use another members account without authorization from that member

More information can be found in the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.