The Mandolin Cafe Forum is a privately owned web site operated and paid for by Scott Tichenor. The intent of this virtual community is to create a healthy environment where people of all backgrounds can discuss mandolin family related topics. It's our intent to keep the focus related to this subject matter and we have established some basic guidelines to assist.
Music related businesses are allowed to financially support the cost of this site through the display of ads, but no input is sought from these advertisers in our operation, nor is any control exercised by them.
Vendors: for the good of our community we ask that all vendors of mandolin/music related products/services exercise good faith in clearly identifying themselves. Vendor participation is welcome and valued, and we expect you to be involved in discussions of your products. Visitors to the site arrive from all over the world and possess widely varying amounts of knowledge, expertise and experience with our subject matter. This is an international web site for mandolin, not a country-specific web site. All visitors should be able to clearly discern a business relationship at all times in discussions of products sold in the retail market.
Help our community prosper. Our focus in on mandolin-family related topics and as a condition of membership we ask that all members observe a few simple rules:
- We do not accept user names created with the intent to draw attention to matters of politics, sex and religion, nor those deemed inappropriate by the site owners.
- Avoid flaming or trolling – posts intended to create discord, antagonize others or create general mayhem. Be polite and courteous at all times. We expect spirited discussions and widely varying opinions that some may even find offensive, but exercise caution. A good rule of thumb is don't say anything on the forum that you wouldn’t say to someone in person.
- A profanity filter is in place and blocks most inappropriate language. Attempts to creatively use profanity by altering text will not be tolerated.
- Grievances, personal and corporate: The Cafe discussion forum is intended to be a nurturing community. While it is fair game discussing vendor corporate policies, public malevolent harassment of individuals, including posting names, email address, or any other personal contact information will not be tolerated. For example, a concern about a manufacturer's warranty policy or a reseller's return policy is permissible. Using the forum to malign or leverage personal advantage in a conflict is strictly forbidden. Though intent or motivation are not always provable, the moderators reserve full right in deeming whether or not comments made are consistent with policy, and may take action to edit, delete, or when necessary, revoke posting privileges.
- Ebay, online auctions, Cafe Classifieds, Patreon, GoFundMe, KickStarter Campaigns and like crowd-sourcing pursuits, direct dealer solicitations: while discussing the online auctions or classified ads of others is permitted, posting personal transactions for business, fund-raising or pursuits that are overly self-promoting is prohibited.
- Post only non-copyrighted mandolin-related images/attachments (includes audio files)--files not meeting our strict enforcement will be immediately removed. Mandolin Cafe, Inc. is registered with the U.S. government in regard to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") and vigorously enforces copyright laws. If in doubt, ask the site owner. We reserve the right to immediately remove any images or audio files that violate copyright law, are deemed inappropriate or not relevant to the long-term health and well-being of this community.
- Discussions started with the specific purpose or that end up used specifically for the purpose of antagonizing or calling into question a moderator's control of this forum or the site owner's right to enforce forum policy is forbidden and may result in immediate and permanent loss of membership and posting privileges. If you have concerns regarding forum policy contact a moderator or the site owner privately.
- Any use of this forum to solicit inappropriate contact inside or outside of the message forum for what might be considered sexual activity with minor children is a crime and will result in immediate permanent ban. The forum owner will take aggressive steps to identify and report such behavior to the legal authorities.
- Topics started for or end up being used to discuss religion, politics or sex as well as other hot button issues meant to create discord are prohibited. Posts or threads deemed inappropriate or unrelated to our subject matter are subject to immediate removal at the discretion of the forum owner and/or lead moderator.
- Avatars are available for use on this forum. They should be mandolin related. The only exception would be a picture of yourself, your family, a pet or your company, business or web site logo. As with general forum posting and signature guidelines, avatars that are political, sexual or religious in nature will not be tolerated. We will also not tolerate avatars used to make "statements" with an intent to mock, slander or defame other individuals, instruments or organizations. No animation.
- A 'signature' space is available for use and attached to each post you make. In keeping with the guidelines of this site, please refrain from attaching signatures or images with sexual, political or religious references.
- Refrain from using the forum as a market place, ie., a resource for selling, purchasing or trading. Please limit selling, buying and trading activities to the Classifieds section of this web site or other external locations.
- Posting someone's personal email address, phone number or address without their permission is prohibited.
- Use of the forum for any variety of general spamming or the selling of non-mandolin products will not be tolerated.
- Any threat or suggestion of physical violence in a disagreement is grounds for immediate suspension of membership.
- Use of the forum to aggressively market or sell various products and/or services or over-promotion of external web sites is not permitted.
- All user generated content, posts, and discussions, contained on mandolincafe.com are the intellectual property of Mandolin Cafe, Inc. Mandolin Cafe, Inc. reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users of mandolincafe.com with our own internal tracking.
- Posts dealing in the sale or transfer of tortoise-shell products protected by the 1973 Endangered Species act are not allowed and will be removed. This includes picks made from "antique" shells. The purpose of this forum is the discussion of music, not the correctness or incorrectness of this issue. Discussions that start or end up on this topic are subject to being closed at the moderator's discretion.
- The posting of copyrighted audio files, including offers to sell, purchase, trade or give away copies of copyrighted audio files including bootlegs of live shows is prohibited. This includes links to other sites where these materials can be obtained.
- The sharing of logins and passwords with another member or non-member, or a single individual using two separate logins is grounds for immediate loss of membership.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Mandolin Cafe, Inc. is registered with the DMCA and takes pro-active steps to regulate use of this site. We remove any attachments, images or other materials added to this site that do not meet DMCA's strict guidelines in regard to copyright infringement. Reports or concerns about this matter should be directed by certified mail on official business letterhead to our official agent of record as listed with the DMCA government office:
Scott Tichenor
(785) 760-3434
Mandolin Cafe, Inc.
1100 New Jersey St.
Lawrence, KS 66044-3354
Contact information: eadg@mandolincafe.com or use our Contact Us form.
The above guidelines cannot possibly cover every possible scenario that can arise on this forum. In times where the guidelines do not cover a situation it is up to the discretion of the forum owner to make decisions in the best interest of the community.
Vendors that advertise on the Mandolin Cafe or Mandolin Cafe Forum: as a condition of membership, individuals employed by a Mandolin Cafe advertiser are required to clearly identify themselves by their proper full name and employer. A link to your business web page is optional but recommended. This information can be easily added to your signature.
Privacy Statement
This website is operated by Scott Tichenor and Mandolin Cafe, Inc. and whose registered address is 1100 New Jersey St., Lawrence, KS 66044. We are committed to protecting and preserving the privacy of our visitors when visiting our site or communicating electronically with us.
This policy sets out how we process any personal data we collect from you or that you provide to us through our website. We confirm that we will keep your information secure and that we will comply fully with all applicable legislation and regulations. Please read the following carefully to understand what happens to personal data that you choose to provide to us, or that we collect from you when you visit this site. By visiting https://www.mandolincafe.com you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this policy.
Types of information we may collect from you:
We may collect, store and use the following kinds of personal information about individuals who visit and use our website: you may supply us with information about you by filling in forms on our website. This includes our Forum and Classifieds only. Any information that is visible publicly is made by your choice.
Information our website automatically collects about you. With regard to each of your visits to our website we may automatically collect information including the following:
technical information, including a truncated and anonymised version of your Internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, operating system and platform; information about your visit, including what pages you visit, how long you are on the site, how you got to the site (including date and time); page response times, length of visit, what you click on, documents downloaded and download errors.
Cookies
Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website and is necessary in retaining your Forum login. This allows you and only you to use the Forum while logged in. This is why the sharing of logins is forbidden on this site and your doing so may result in your permanent dismissal of posting privileges.
Disclosure of your information
We do not rent, sell or share personal information about you with other people or non-affiliated companies. We will use all reasonable efforts to ensure that your personal data is not disclosed to regional/national institutions and authorities, unless required by law or other regulations. Our site may, from time to time, contain links to and from the third party websites. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.
Changes to our privacy policy
Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate.
Contact
Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy policy are welcomed and should be addressed to us by using the site's Contact Us link at the bottom of every page on the Mandolin Cafe.
