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Vendor and Membership Terms of Use

Discussion in 'Support' started by Jim, Feb 15, 2014.

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  1. Jim

    Jim Old Curmudgeon Founding Member

    Vendor and Membership Terms of Use
    Members TOU and Guidelines

    Welcome to Kitchen Knife Fora, (KKFora) the premier on-line forum for those in pursuit of and with an appreciation for high performance knives and use. Our goal is to provide the most comprehensive resource for discussing and reviewing all aspects of kitchen knife making and use.
    This site is filled with the friendliest bunch of people on the internet. They are dedicated to kicking back, shooting the breeze, and helping each other. Please keep in mind that this is a privately-owned forum. While having fun is the primary goal, there are several guidelines that the moderators and administrators would like to inform you of. Violations are subject to moderation/removal from the site.


    1. Product dealers/retailers and/or knife makers/sharpeners/hobbyists (etc) are not permitted to insert business related text/videos/images (references to your company, company name, products, or any services you may offer) and/or links into your signature line, your homepage url (within the homepage profile box), within any posts, within your avatar, nor anywhere else on this site. Market research such as asking questions regarding or referring to products/services that you make/offer for sale or posting pictures of finished or work in progress projects is prohibited. KKFora will not be used for the building of, or researching of, a business model and/or customer base. Announcing to the community that you run a knife related business is considered to be advertising and will not be tolerated. These features are reserved for supporting vendors and hobbyists.

    2. Realize that we take great pride in KKFora being a work-friendly, internet oasis for gentlemanly/ladylike behavior. This means that profanity, inflammatory comments regarding politics and/or religion, personal attacks, pornographic images, discussions of illegal or illicit activity, or any other coarse behavior as deemed inappropriate by the Administrators and Moderators, is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. More to the point, if it's likely to be offensive, or if you wouldn't say it to someone in person, it doesn't belong here. Skirting around the censors, that is bypassing them by either purposely misspelling or by using an HTML hack or method is not allowed and may result in loss of Membership. Offenders will be dealt with swiftly.

    Remember- The KKFora is the FRONT OF THE HOUSE!

    3. Comply with the requests of the Moderators. We will gladly discuss with you any requests we make. This can be done via private messaging so as to save anyone from any unnecessary public embarrassment.

    4. New members are welcome to purchase items from the Buy/Sell/Trade (BST) forum right away, but must wait until they've amassed 45 days of membership and 50 posts to use this forum to sell, trade, or post "want to buy" ads.

    4a. The BST forum was not set up as a profit center for individuals. KKFora discourages members from only posting sales and not contributing in other forums. The vast majority of your posts should be on the core forums if you plan to use the B/S/T forum.

    4b. Members without a bonafide internet or brick and mortar storefront may also be considered vendors (at the sole discretion of the mod team) and may lose their privileges in the BST forum if they are marking up items to unreasonable prices, or selling large quantities of items on the BST on a regular basis - again, both of these variables are at the sole discretion and classification of the mod team. We welcome members who wish to add further value to the membership of the forum by selling items here in the BST. However, this community is not intended to be the free storefront and marketing arm of any business. While we enjoy offering the BST thread as a service to our members, we see it as just a small portion of the site's greater good. Problems are incredibly rare, but you should know that transactions in the BST and KKFora auctions are ultimately not the responsibility of KKFora -- Caveat Emptor!

    5. To prevent abusive advertisement, no member shall direct other members, either through direct hotlink or indirectly through comments or other means, to any live eBay auctions or other auction sites. Do not post URLs, item numbers, or seller IDs or any similar information unless that e-Bay auction has a "buy it now" price or is contained within an eBay storefront. Members should also use good judgment in posting information that may reference specific active auctions, particularly if the extra attention drawn to it would be unwanted by other members who may be bidding.
    Please feel free to discuss eBay auctions only after they are closed.

    6. Links to sites, redirects or pointing to content that duplicate KKFora content is disallowed. KKFora is a free service for our members, and maintains a specific set of rules, posting limitations, and fee structure for those advertised goods, services, and outside information sources such as blogs and sites which have similar content to KKFora. In short, if it's a subject discussed on KKFora, links to other sites (including links to knife related blogs) may only be posted by approved and paid vendors.

    7. We realize that, upon discovering the joys of high performance knives, it is natural for some members to develop strong feelings about a particular brand(s) and/or product(s) they have recently discovered. A certain degree of passion is healthy and, it goes without saying, you are welcomed and encouraged to share it with the board. Indeed, this is one of the premises upon which this forum was founded!

    However, like anything else, there can be too much of a good thing. If left unchecked, exuberance for a new discovery can cross the line between "enthusiasm" and "proselytizing." Therefore, we expect that members will refrain from unduly repetitious posts about any given product. Enthusiasm is great; excessive, repetitive posts about the same product are tiresome and unwelcome.

    8. SPAM will not be tolerated on the site, Our definition of SPAM includes frequent discussion of your products outside of appropriate forums/threads, any attempts made to use the site as a means of making personal contact (via PM, etc.) with members who have not specifically sought said contact, and advertisement of items are not in keeping with the purpose of the site.
    8a. Kickstarter feedback and requests for participation in fundraising of any kind and massdrop "pre order" threads are not to be posted here at the KKFora and will be deleted.
    9. Any proposed "group buys" must be brought to the attention of the Mod team for approval prior to the posting of any such proposed endeavor.

    10. This website is based in and governed by the laws of Pennsylvania. Any attempts at promoting gambling, raffles or unauthorized use of this site for fund-raising is strictly prohibited. This would include, but is not limited to such things as charity events, “vote for me/someone I know is in a contest", solicitations for medical treatment costs, or political campaigns, etc.

    11. Individuals are only allowed to register once. If you have multiple individuals in your household that wish to be members and share an IP address, please inform a moderator.


    12. "Goodbye" posts or posts indicating that the member will no longer be participating at the KKFora will be treated as a request to have your account closed permanently and your membership removed from the KKFora rolls.

    13. KKFora is unique among forums of our type in that it is KKFora policy not to specifically endorse any preferred vendor or vendors. All are welcome, so long as they comply with the terms of use.

    14. Vendors are not to use the BST forum to sell items, or alert members of sales/promotions.

    15. In order to promote products in the Vendor Forums, you must have the appropriate paid membership in place and be a member in good standing. For more information, please contact a moderator to become a vendor.

    16. Finally, everyone should be aware that "Kitchen Knife Fora", "KKFora", and all combinations thereof when referring to knives; are trademarked and the sole property of Kitchen Knife Fora. All content submitted becomes property of Kitchen Knife Fora which is free to use any and all submissions for any non-commercial purposes.

    17. All members and vendors must read and agree to the rules in order to participate on KKFora.

    18. Remember that in the end, it's not solving acid rain or global warming. It's kitchen knives! Lastly, but most importantly, have fun!
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2015
  2. Jim

    Jim Old Curmudgeon Founding Member

    Vendors and Pro Craftsmen:

    If you are a Craftsman or Vendor and would like to show and sell your wares here-we have several subscription options to offer you.
    The choice of level is yours to make based on your needs.

    1. Professional Craftsman- an individual who partakes in a kitchen knife related trade or craft who is considered to be an experienced, accomplished, skilled, or master craftsman in his/her field. This individual may work in their trade/craft in either a full (or part) time capacity. Payment Options - 1 payment in full or 4 (automatically recurring) quarterly payments
    Have own sub-forum, increased PM limits, signature line banners & links, homepage links in profile, access to vendor's private forum fee - Subscription pricing is available upon request.
    2. Vendor - a primarily retail sales based business of kitchen knives, related kitchen tools, sharpening stones, etc.
    Payment Options - 1 payment in full or 4 (automatically recurring) quarterly payments
    Have own sub-forum, increased PM limits, signature line banners & links, homepage links in profile, access to vendor's private forum
    Fee - Subscription pricing is available upon request.
    Guidelines & Expectations for Vendors

    · You may not add or reply to product reviews on the forum for items you sell. This is to prevent "shilling" or posting of reviews for financial motives. If a Vendor wants to post a review for a product they clearly have no financial interest in please contact a Moderator and we can discuss it.

    · Unsolicited E-mail and PMs to members are strictly prohibited and are cause for immediate cancellation of membership at KKFORA.

    · You are not allowed to use the B/S/T forum to sell items or alert members to sales/promotions.

    · You should expect in-depth, specific questions about your products and be prepared to discuss manufacturing process and techniques

    · You must respect members’ opinions, and cannot argue with or badger members on negative reviews as long as they are factual and respectful, if you have an issue please contact the team.

    · You are welcome to respond to questions and participate in discussions in the various forums outside of your Vendor forum. However, you should not be plugging your sites or products in those forums. This is a delicate balance to maintain and KKFORA requests you be very careful about this. You can talk about your experience with various products and answer questions about technique or product but again, be careful! Anything that could be perceived as a sales pitch should be avoided. Err on the side of caution. If you are unsure whether or not your post is acceptable; send it to a team member. That’s what they are there for!

    · If you are a new Vendor to KKFORA we encourage you to read as many posts as you can in our forums. You'll see many of your peers are able to adhere to the posting guidelines and also add value in the other forums without making those discussions commercial in nature. You'll also quickly notice that our members regularly praise various vendors' goods and services. You can't have a more effective way to promote your outfit than letting satisfied members do it for you!

    ·Backlinks- we request links to be posted on your websites linking back to KKFORA.
    We're just asking for your help to build our search engine ranking through backlinks. It's critical for search engines to see links from here to your sites and from your sites to here - this helps us all - it's mutually beneficial
    · Do not contribute to re-directing discussion away from another vendor's product/service discussions. Be respectful of other vendors and avoid their forums.

    · If you want to do a product pass-around you are welcome to do so through your sub-forum. You will be responsible for setting the rules, responsibilities, coordination, etc. Showing, selling, or passing around of a non-paying (outside) vendor's wares/services is prohibited at KKFORA unless you are doing so on your (or your company’s) behalf strictly.

    · Skirting around the automated censors, that is bypassing them by either purposely misspelling or by using an HTML hack or whatever reason or method, is not allowed and could jeopardize your membership.


    Other Important Information for Vendors & Hobbyists:
    · Guidelines for Vendor Contests:
    · Vendors may, and in fact should, have fun thinking of creative ways of highlighting new products and services via contest giveaways. We think this should be a very fun forum and a rewarding one for vendors and members alike.

    · Vendors are allowed one contest per month.

    · As these contests are advertisements (albeit nice ones), vendors may not request anything more than creativity from our members. No money, no postage, no donations may be requested in exchange for a contest entry.

    · Contest entries may be solicited by the members to reply in the thread, via PM, via email, and/or via Vendor's webspace.

    · Vendors may not use the contest to collect member contact information for purposes of advertisement via private message or other means. To do so would be a violation of site Terms of Use, and would result in immediate suspension of Vendor privileges.
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2016
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