Purpose

To establish terms, conditions for use and a privacy policy for High Sierra Topix (HST).

General Disclaimer

Information presented on the HST website is collected, maintained, and provided for the convenience of the user. While every effort is made to keep such information accurate and up-to-date, HST does not certify the authenticity of any information that is provided on this website. Under no circumstances will HST owners or staff be liable for any actions taken or omissions made from reliance on any information contained herein from whatever source nor will HST be liable for any other consequences from any such reliance.

Conditions of Use

By visiting the HST website, users agree that they will not use the site for any unlawful activity, or use it in any way that would violate the terms and conditions of use. This website is governed and construed by the laws of the State of California. Any use of the website shall comply with all local and State laws and regulations as well as with all United States federal laws and regulations. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this website are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under State law and Federal statutes including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act. HST staff monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or to otherwise cause damage to the HST website. Anyone using the HST website expressly consents to such monitoring.

Users agree to any information they submit to this website being stored in a database and publicly displayed. By submitting content including but not limited to text, photographs and documents to the HST website users grant the operators of HST a non-commercial license to post that content on the HST website. Further, users grant the operators of HST a non-commercial license to post or otherwise syndicate submitted content on the HST Facebook, Twitter and other social media website accounts under the HST name or brand.

Posting of any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-oriented or other material that may be offensive or violate any applicable laws will not be tolerated. Related actions may result in permanent banning. By registering for a HST member account user agrees that the webmaster, administrator and moderators of HST have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic at any time. An explanation for doing so may or may not be provided. A warning may or may not be offered.

Promotional Links / Content / SPAM:
Post content or member profiles containing links or other information where the intent is to advertise or promote third party websites, products or services will not be tolerated. Offending posts and member accounts will be deleted immediately unless prior authorization to publish the content was provided in writing by HST. For questions regarding what is or is not acceptable, please contact HST staff via email or the PM feature of the HST forums.

Indemnification / Hold Harmless

By using the HST website, user agrees to indemnify or hold harmless HST owners and staff for any occurrence resulting from an act of user’s use of the HST website. HST will take all reasonable precautions to safeguard the confidentiality of user information, but is not liable for any injury caused by the disclosure of that information, whether caused by security breach, accident, inadvertence, or any other act resulting in disclosure.

Copyright / Trademark

The HST logo, slogans, brand and banners are trademarks of HST. Any use of the materials stored on the HST website is prohibited without the written permission of HST. HST retains and holds in trust for its members all intellectual property rights including copyrights on all text, graphic images and other content. This means that the following acts or activities are prohibited without prior, written permission from the HST: (1) modification and/or re-use of text, images or other website content from the HST website host server; (2) distribution of HST’s Website content; or (3) “mirroring” HST Website information on a non-HST server, through use of an “iFrame” or “hotlinking”. These restrictions to not apply to public use of RSS feeds provided by the HST Website.

External Linking Policy

The HST website may contain links to local, state, and federal government agencies and to other, non-government websites. The sole and limited purpose of the permitted external links is to provide information that is relevant to Sierra Nevada backpackers, campers, hikers, climbers, fishermen and women, skiiers, snowboarders, and other interested visitors. Since HST has little to no control over third party websites, we do not warrant that third party websites are accurate or reliable or that they have operational links. The user acknowledges and agrees that HST is not liable in any way for the content, accuracy, reliability, viewpoints, policies, or products provided by these external resources.

HST reserves the right, at any time and without notice, to:

  1. Deny a link that does not meet the criteria set forth in this policy;
  2. Deny or discontinue an external link at any time if the website provides or promotes false, slanderous, illegal, infringing or incorrect information;
  3. Remove any external link if the nature of the organization to which the link relates no longer complies with HST’s external link policy;
  4. Determine how and where External links will appear on its website; i.e. what page the link appears on and where the link is placed on the page;
  5. Revise this policy without prior notice when HST owners and staff consider such revision to be in their best interests.

Furthermore, newly registered HST forum members or members whom haven’t meaningfully contributed to the community are prohibited from posting, including in their profile or profile signature what appear to be promotional links to their blogs, online photo galleries or other websites without prior authorization from the HST Admin team.  At any time HST reserves the right to remove off-site links or require a reciprocal link (quid pro quo) in exchange for allowing use of an off-site link.

Privacy Policy

Types of Information Collected:
The information collected by HST via its website is either information that is voluntarily supplied to HST, or information gathered on usage patterns and preferences as visitors navigate the website, read e-mail newsletters. or use other services that are tied to the HST website.

Cookies

To help make the HST website more responsive to the needs of visitors, a standard feature of browser software, called a “cookie,” is used to assign each visitor a unique, random number that resides on their computer. The cookie does not identify the visitor, just the computer that a visitor uses to access the HST website. Unless a visitor voluntarily identifies himself/herself, HST does not know who they are; even if the visitor has been assigned a cookie. The only personal information a cookie can contain is information supplied by the website visitor. A cookie cannot read unrelated data off of a computer. Cookies are used to help deliver a better, more personalized service. For example, HST uses cookies to track the pages and services on its website visited by users. HST owners and staff can build a better website if they can identify which pages and features are visited and how often.

Browser Level Information and IP Addresses:
The HST web server automatically collects limited information about computer configurations when visitors are on the HST website, including the type of browser being used, the operating system that is running, the resolution of a user’s computer monitor, the website or search engine that referred the visitor, and the visitor’s IP address. An IP address is a number that is used by computers connected to the Internet to identify each computer so that data such as the web pages viewed can be properly transmitted. HST uses IP address information solely for the purposes of systems administration and trouble-shooting purposes.

Email Addresses and PM Feature:
By default registered user e-mail addresses are used for confirming account details and activating an account following registration. Optionally, e-mail addresses may also be used to 1) reset and send new passwords, 2) send notification of new personal messages (PM’s), and 3) send notification of new content posted to a forum or thread subscribed to by a user. Registered users of the HST forums may modify subscription and notification settings in the User Control Panel.
In very rare cases, the mass-email function of the HST forums may be used by the website’s operators to send urgent updates and announcements. This administrative power has only been accessed twice in more than a decade and will not be abused.

Other Disclosures & Notices:
HST may occasionally release information about website visitors when appropriate to comply with the law, or to protect the rights, property or safety of visitors to our sites, the public, our members, or our staff, agents, partners and affiliates.

Much of the HST website is a high traffic public space crawled by numerous search engines. Visitors should refrain from posting or otherwise providing personal, confidential  or otherwise sensitive information.