Guidelines

Guidelines for Membership and Participation in the Poppy Community

These Guidelines are for all who visit this Site and participate in it in any way, including, without limitation, those who create their own personal pages, participate in readers’ groups, invite friends, send messages, or upload or embed photos or videos. We will do our best to keep this community a place where all members feel safe and comfortable. As in all communities, real and virtual, guidelines are necessary. To ensure a pleasant atmosphere, all participants are required to abide by the following guidelines. We reserve the right in our sole discretion to terminate your account, deny you access to this Site, and/or not post any matter you contribute or to delete your material if you fail to comply with these Guidelines.

1. By participating in this community, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, as well as to these Guidelines.

2. If you have something to tell or send to your favorite author, we can't guarantee that She'll be able to respond or write you back, but your messages will be read.

Please be aware that the poppy authors and Hachette Book Group do not accept or read unsolicited story ideas or manuscripts. So, if you send any idea or manuscript through this Site, it will be deleted and, however sent, will not be forwarded to the author or any Hachette Book Group employee or otherwise responded to.

Also, please note that, by submitting content to this Site, you are deemed automatically to grant us the perpetual, worldwide right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, distribute, perform and display such content (in whole or in part) in any and all media, and to license others to do so. You also grant us the right to include with any such use your username.

3. You agree to choose an appropriate username (no obscene words or phrases), provide accurate information (i.e., full, true name and current, valid e-mail address), and promptly update this information if it should change. You acknowledge that you will not impersonate any other person, including any other member of this community. All material and information that you submit shall be true.

4. Please do not join the community more than once. This can cause confusion and disruption in the community. Anyone registering with more than one username will be notified to choose one only. Duplicate accounts will be deleted.

5. Your words are your own. Lively participation is vital to the community's success, but please remember that we are communicating without the benefit of body language and voice inflection. Words can sometimes be misinterpreted. It is imperative that participants converse in a courteous, respectful manner. Differing opinions and viewpoints are normal and foster lively debate, but please keep your comments relevant to the subject being discussed and not about the person who offers a differing opinion than your own. Personal attacks, harassing, offensive, vulgar, abusive, hateful or bashing comments — especially those aimed at sexual orientation, gender, race, color, religious views, national origin or disability — and threats, whether aimed at participants, the author, Hachette Book Group or others are not allowed. You can and will be held legally liable for what you do and say.

6. Any opinions and recommendations expressed in the community are those of the person expressing such views and not those of the authors or Hachette Book Group ; the authors and Hachette Book Group will not be responsible for and do not assume any liability for the comments and opinions expressed by participants. You agree to hold Hachette Book Group, the authors, and their respective affiliates, employees, and those who administer this Site free of responsibility for any potentially damaging content posted by you or other participants. You acknowledge that we do not control and do not edit the specific content of your messages by participants.

7. Any unlawful, harmful, threatening, sexually explicit, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, racial and/or ethnic slurs; hateful content; or otherwise objectionable material, including profanity and/or redacted profanity (symbols, such as * and #, used in place of letters), as we determine in our sole discretion, is prohibited.

8. Your safety and privacy — as well as those of others — are important to us. Posting personal information may seem like a friendly gesture, but do you really want to disclose your phone number publicly or make it available to a stranger? Please, keep your own and anyone else's personal information private. This includes street addresses, phone numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers, the name of your children, schools, etc.

9. Do not post or incorporate any copyrighted or trademarked material, including material from the author’s books, unless you have the express written consent of the copyright or trademark owner to do so. This includes text, graphics, graphic files, pictures and advertisements from other web sites, etc., whether uploaded or embedded in your communications.

10. This Site is not the place to seek customers or clients. Solicitations and/or advertisements will be deleted.

11. Please be polite! Posting the same material repeatedly, anywhere on this Site is prohibited. Duplicate material will be deleted. Please do not copy another participant’s material and post it in another part of this Site or anywhere else. We discourage disruptive conduct; persistent off-topic comments; and comments that incite others to violate the Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, or Guidelines.

12. Content on this site is for information and entertainment purposes only and is in no way intended to be a substitute for professional (e.g., legal) consultation or advice.

13. Those who administer this Site will do their best to monitor material that you and others provide to the site, but please remember that those who do that may not be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you find objectionable material, it is best not to comment about it on the Site. Instead, send an email message about your concerns to alice.morley@hbgusa.com. Also, please report any misuse or misconduct by email to alice.morley@hbgusa.com. As soon as possible, we will review the situation and determine what action, if any, needs to be taken. Occasionally, we may need to communicate with you personally concerning your participation or related matters. Those communications are not intended to be made public, and you agree not to post those communications on the site or anywhere else.

15. We reserve the right to modify these Guidelines in whole or in part from time to time and we will notify you by posting revised Guidelines to the Site. Your continued participation on the Site after the revision will constitute your acceptance of the revised Guidelines.

Dated: May 1, 2009