Terms of Service

Mountainx.com (the “site”) is a privately owned website that offers (through its blogs and other features) a forum that is offered for your entertainment, information and edification. This site may include a variety of features such as bulletin boards, blogs, event calendars and social networking, which help us keep in communication with our community of users. In addition to helping us, the site also keeps users in communication with one another.

Please be aware that the responsibility for the content of user-generated contributions lies with the user. This means that you – and you alone – are responsible for the material you post. In other words, we don’t control the information you provide.

If you have a privacy query or complaint, please contact webmaster@mountainx.com.

Specific conditions also apply for the use of this site:

• Do not attempt to restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the website and its features.
• Do not use the website to impersonate any person, group, business or other entity. Likewise, do not falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person, group, business or other entity.
• Do not use the site to incite or encourage others to commit illegal acts, or to cause harm to any person, group, business or entity. This includes the use of all forms of hate speech.
• Do not use this website to post libelous, pornographic, obscene, defamatory or otherwise illegal or offensive material of any kind. This includes the posting or transmission of any illegal software, or software of a malicious nature.
• Do not use this website to transmit or post any content which violates the protected intellectual property rights of another person, group, business or other entity. This includes the posting of personal information about other users without their express consent.
• Do not post unauthorized advertising, solicit the buying or selling of products or services, request donations of any sort or post information regarding other commercial promotions in any form. (An exception to this rule is our free, online classifieds, which have a separate user agreement.)

You also agree not to, and will not assist, encourage, or enable others to:

• Violate the Terms.
• Modify, adapt, appropriate, reproduce, distribute, translate, create derivative works or adaptations of, publicly display, sell, trade, or in any way exploit the site or site content (other than your content), except as expressly authorized by Mountain Xpress.
• Use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other automated device, process or means to access, retrieve, scrape, or index any portion of the site or any site content.
• Reverse engineer any portion of the site.
• Remove or modify any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notice that appears on any portion of the site or on any materials printed or copied from the Site.
• Record, process, or mine information about other users.
• Access, retrieve or index any portion of the site for purposes of constructing or populating a searchable database of events.
• Reformat or frame any portion of the site.
• Take any action that imposes, or may impose, in our sole discretion, an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on Mountain Xpress’ technology infrastructure or otherwise make excessive traffic demands of the site.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the site, user accounts, computer systems or networks connected to the site through hacking, password mining or any other means.
• Use the site or any site content to transmit any computer viruses, worms, defects, Trojan horses or other items of a destructive nature (collectively, “viruses”).
• Use any device, software or routine that interferes with the proper working of the site, or otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site.
• Use the site to violate the security of any computer network, crack passwords or security encryption codes; disrupt or interfere with the security of, or otherwise cause harm to, the site or site content.
• Remove, circumvent, disable, damage or otherwise interfere with any security-related features of the Site, features that prevent or restrict the use or copying of site content, or features that enforce limitations on the use of the site.

Termination

Mountainx.com reserves the ability to cancel or terminate your right to use any part of our website at any time and without notice.

Limitation of Liability

Under no circumstances shall Mountain Xpress or Mountainx.com be liable for any damages resulting from the use (or inability to use) this website or any of its features. By using this website, you acknowledge and agree that we are not liable for the conduct of any user of the site, or for any user-generated content. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, your sole option is to discontinue using this website and all of its features.

Takedown Policy for User-Generated Content

MountainX.com reserves the right to remove any user-generated content for any reason. This includes, but is not limited to, postings of libelous, defamatory or personally hostile nature. Users who post messages of this nature are subject to having their accounts suspended or terminated without notice.

All user accounts must be connected to a valid email address so that a Mountain Xpress moderator may contact you about your use of the site. If an account email is found to be invalid by either a test email going unanswered or an email to the address bouncing, your comments may be removed and your account may be blocked.

Commenting & Social Media Policy

By submitting comments on mountainx.com or any of our social media channels, you grant Mountain Xpress the permanent right to publish and republish your comments at any time, in any medium, for any purposes, including but not limited to editorial and advertising purposes.

The Golden Rule:

Our basic goal in allowing comments on Mountainx.com articles, letters or features, and on all our social media channels‚ is to try to bring meaningful information to the dialogue while staying respectful of others. Civility is the rule. Think before you post.

The specifics:

• Criticize the ideas, not the people. Ad hominem and personal attacks are not permitted.
• No trolling. Don’t make posts that are simply inflammatory, off-topic or perpetuating your personal soapbox (see below). Substance is a key to not being labeled a troll, but substance alone will not prevent you from being considered a troll. (Trolling the trolls also violates policy.)
• Stay on topic. Respond to the letter, article, blog, etc. Don’t be a troll (see above).
• No pornographic, sexually offensive, sexually explicit, objectifying material, inflammatory, violent, threatening or vulgar language. Simple rule. Xpress editor judgment applies here.
• No libelous material. If you believe you have information about a criminal or civil case, call us at (828) 251-1333 or email us at news@mountainx.com. Comments and social media accounts are not the place to make allegations or accusations.
• Respect the privacy of others. Do not post other’s, or your own, private phone numbers, addresses, pictures, etc.
• Be yourself. Do not attempt to impersonate another user or person, or use multiple identities in an attempt to dodge our comment policy.
• Keep comments to a reasonable length. Comments that are too long discourage further dialogue and may not be approved.
• No spamming. No commercial-oriented posts and no flooding with useless content‚ or content designed to encourage trolling other sites or to lead viewers to sites that violate these policies.
• Respect and abide by the decisions of the moderators. Self-explanatory. If you have issues with moderation, we want to hear about them, but the thread where the moderation took place isn’t the best approach. We may briefly answer questions in a thread, but prefer that you contact us. Your concerns will be addressed as soon as possible. But once a decision is made, honor it.

Keep in mind that our team of moderators does not work 24/7. If you submitted a post and it doesn’t go live within a short time, consider the day and time of your post, the possibility that your post may be under review, or the likelihood that we’re working on some other, more time-dependent aspect of our daily/weekly duties.

*Consequences for not adhering to the Mountain Xpress general policies include, but are not limited to, the following, not necessarily in this order:

• You will be reprimanded.
• Your comment will be held or removed.
• You’ll be moved to moderation.
• Your account will be banned.

Mountain Xpress reserves the right to remove any content, comments and/or Mountain Xpress accounts at any time for any reason, or for no apparent reason at all. Mountain Xpress will not amend, alter or remove user comments at the request of a user.

You are solely responsible for your interactions with other users of the site.

Contest Terms

• All contests are administrated by Mountain Xpress at 2 Wall Street, Asheville, NC, 28801
• Employees of Mountain Xpress or their family members or anyone else connected in any way with the competition or helping to set up the competition shall not be permitted to win the competition.
• There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter competitions and giveaways.
• Enter any and all Mountain Xpress contests here. Details for entry and contest period in each specific contest are explicitly stated in each MX Promo.
• No responsibility can be accepted for entries not received for whatever reason.
• Mountain Xpress reserves the right to cancel or amend competitions and these terms and conditions without notice, for any reason. Any changes to the competition will be posted in an appropriate place as soon as possible.
• Mountain Xpress is not responsible for inaccurate prize details supplied to anyone by a third party.
• No cash alternative to the prizes will be offered. The prizes are not transferable. Prizes are subject to availability and we reserve the right to substitute any prize with another of equivalent value without giving notice.
• Winners will be chosen at random from all entries received and verified by Mountain Xpress.
• The winner will be notified by email and/or letter within 24 hrs of the closing date. If the winner cannot be contacted or does not claim the prize within 12 hrs of notification (for MX Promos, unless otherwise stated) we reserve the right to withdraw the prize from the winner and pick a replacement winner. Mountain Xpress will cease picking new winners and will not award a prize after no less than 2 and no more than 5 attempts to distribute a prize.
• Mountain Xpress will notify the winner when and where the prize can be collected. Prizes are not distributed by mail.
• Mountain Xpress’ decision in respect of all matters to do with the competition will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
• By entering this competition, an entrant is indicating his/her agreement to be bound by these terms and conditions. Entry into the competition will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions.
• The competition and these terms and conditions will be governed by North Carolina law and any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of North Carolina.
• By agreeing to these terms winners are giving Mountain Xpress permission to use his/her name and image in any publicity material. Any personal data relating to the winner or any other entrants will be used solely in accordance with current North Carolina data protection legislation and will not be disclosed to a third party without the entrant’s prior consent.
• This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook, Twitter or any other social network. You are providing your information to Mountain Xpress and not to any other party.