PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE JOINING OR USING SERVICES ON THE CITYTOOLS, LLC WEBSITE HENCEFORTH REFERRED TO AS "THE SITE".

BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SITE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH BELOW. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, YOU MAY NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SITE AND SHOULD IMMEDIATELY CEASE SUCH USE.

CITYTOOLS, LLC MAY MODIFY THIS AGREEMENT AT ANY TIME, AND SUCH MODIFICATIONS SHALL BE EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UPON POSTING OF THE MODIFIED AGREEMENT ON THE SITE. YOU AGREE TO REVIEW THE AGREEMENT PERIODICALLY TO BE AWARE OF SUCH MODIFICATIONS AND YOUR CONTINUED ACCESS OR USE OF THE SITE SHALL BE DEEMED YOUR CONCLUSIVE ACCEPTANCE OF THE MODIFIED AGREEMENT.

Membership and Billing

You can find the specific details regarding your CityTools account at anytime by clicking on the "Your preferences" link, located on the left menu on the Site. Basic membership in CityTools is free and there are a variety of free services on the site. Those services that require payment will be clearly marked at all times.

Beta programs and Free Trials

Periodically CityTools may introduce new features and products in a beta (test) program. These programs are free of cost. Some products in beta testing will eventually be paid services. You will receive advance notice of any such change and will have an opportunity to opt out of the program.

On occasion CityTools may offer free trials to encourage prospective customers to try our services. If you elect to participate in such a free trial, at the end of the trial period you will have an opportunity to convert to a full paid service. If you decline to convert your account at the end of the trial, any content you uploaded to the site will be deleted 14 days after the conclusion of the trial period.

If a free trial is offered, it is intended for new customers only and may not be used by customers who already subscribe to the service on trial.

Monthly Subscription for Paid Services

Once you complete the registration form for a paid monthly service, we will begin billing your Payment Method (typically, invoices or credit cards) for the monthly subscription fees corresponding to your subscription program. All prices listed on the website include applicable taxes. Your membership will automatically renew for successive monthly subscriptions, without prior notice to you, unless and until you cancel your membership or we terminate it. You must cancel your membership before it renews each month in order to avoid billing of the next month's subscription fees to your Payment Method. YOU MAY CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AT ANY TIME.

By signing up for a CityTools monthly service, you are expressly agreeing that we are permitted to bill you a monthly subscription fee. The subscription fee will be billed at the beginning of your subscription and on each monthly renewal thereafter unless and until you cancel your membership. We will automatically bill your Payment Method at the first of each month. In the event your membership begins after the first of a month, we will bill you on a prorated basis for the remaining days in the month you started service in. Full regular monthly billing will commence in the first complete month of your subscription. All fees and charges are nonrefundable.

We may change the fees and charges in effect, or add new fees and charges from time to time, but we will give you advance notice of these changes by email. If you want to use a different Payment Method or if there is a change in your credit card validity or expiration date, you may edit your Payment Method information by clicking on the "Your preferences" link, on the left menu of the site. If your Payment Method reaches its expiration date, your continued use of the service constitutes your authorization for us to continue billing via other methods.

Cancellation of paid services

You may cancel your subscription to CityTools services at anytime, and cancellation will be effective immediately. To cancel, click the word "Cancel" on the "Your profile" page and follow the instructions for cancellation under the heading "Cancel Subscription" for the specific service you intend to stop. WE DO NOT PROVIDE REFUNDS OR CREDITS FOR ANY PARTIAL-MONTH OR PARTIAL-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION PERIODS. Once you cancel a monthly CityTools service access to that particular service will be terminated and all relevant uploaded files and text will be deleted. Your basic CityTools account and access to free services and/or specific paid services you wish to continue will not be affected by the cancellation of one service.

Right to Terminate

We reserve the right to terminate or restrict your use of our service, without notice, for any or no reason whatsoever.

Copyrighted Material

You acknowledge the images and text, including but not limited to, text, music, sound, photographs, video, graphics or other material contained on your CityTools account is owned or licensed by you. You are solely responsible for obtaining all such necessary permission at your sole cost and expense before uploading any such material to the CityTools service.

Licenses

By submitting content to CityTools for publication, members grant the CityTools site perpetual, non-exclusive rights to present this content to the public.

In some cases, such as news stories or features created on the site, submissions may fall under the Creative Commons license, which allows non-commercial sites that also use Creative Commons licenses limited permission to re-publish content you create on CityTools.

When content falls under Creative Commons licenses, it will be clearly marked on the content creation and editing pages. Links providing full details to the terms of the license will be available on such pages.

Members who agree to distribute content to the CityTools news and classified networks, which consist of commercial publishing entities, grant those entities limited commercial use rights to such content. The granting of such rights is always at the discretion of the member creating content.

Specifically, CityTools members who choose to distribute their content expressly permit:

News stories may be published one time in print or online by subscribers to the CityTools news and classified network services. Such publication must be accompanied by full attribution to both the author and to Citytools in whatever manner is customary for the publishing partner. Such content may not be included in electronic archives at the publishing sites. Other than free one-time use grants, members who choose to release content for distribution retain all other rights to their work.

Classified advertising may be published continuously by subscribers to the CityTools news and classified network services for up to one month.

In all cases, any publication of such content may not be edited to materially change the thrust of the content or mis-represent the author's work.

Any content designated to be distributed through the CityTools news and classified networks may be edited for length, assuming acceptable industry practices. Subscribers of the CityTools news and classified network services may not attempt to misrepresent the origin or author of any content received through the network.

Publishing members who subscribe to CityTools news and classified network services are under no obligation to publish any or all of the content in the public networks. However, if a publishing member elects to use content in the public networks it agrees to adhere to these stated terms.

Acceptable use

Use of CityTools' non-commercial areas -- such as news comment areas or citizen journalism areas -- for blatantly commercial purposes is prohibited. CityTools offers ample opportunities for commerce. Members must confine commercial activity to those areas.

At all times members should be mindful of remaining on topic for the service in question. Persistent and deliberate off-topic posts in interactive areas may result in the termination of your account.

Harassment of third parties in CityTools' interactive areas is prohibited. We believe in spirited debate, however the deliberate and consistent targeting of another individual for scorn or regularly and intentionally antagonizing other members may result in the termination of your account.

Intentionally skewing the results of rating systems, polls or the like by circumventing protections against multiple votes will result in the termination of your account. Fairplay is an essential part of any community and we will do everything in our power to ensure fairplay on CityTools.

Profanity

CityTools strongly discourages the use of profanity or patently vulgar language on CityTools sites. We encourage you to behave in a civil manner to other members of this online community. CityTools may disable the accounts of members who use language that is flagrantly racist, hateful or obscene in nature. Uploading pornographic material is expressly prohibited, please see following sections for more details. We make allowances for certain items that may contain profane words as part of the title. An example of such an item might be a music CD with profanity in some of the song titles.

Spam and unsolicited e-mail

CityTools expressly prohibits members from using its services to deliver unsolicited e-mail (spam) to third-parties. Using CityTools email services to distribute spam will result in the immediate cancellation of service.

We recognize that from time to time, a third-party might opt in to a mailing list and later forget that he/she has done so and regard the mail as spam. CityTools will not regard such circumstances as a spam incident, provided it seldom happens. If a subscriber exhibits a repeated pattern of such complaints, the account will be terminated and no refunds will be provided.

All e-mails sent using CityTools services will contain a link to automatically unsubscribe to a given list.

Adult Images and Text in CityTools services

CityTools users are expected to follow all applicable laws relating to the displaying of pornographic material. With regard to artwork, nudity is permitted to the extent it is part of a legitimate general news event or a piece of art that may be considered fine art, such as certain paintings, photographs, carvings, figurines and other similar materials.

Examples include, but are not limited to, Michelangelo's David, a painting of a nude male or female, and nude photography. In other words, nudity is permitted, provided that it has a purpose beyond simple titilation. CityTools staff will be the final arbiter in this regard.

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY IS ILLEGAL, and the possession of such materials violates the law in the United States. CityTools does not permit the displaying any item that depicts nude minors (under 18 years of age).

CityTools does not permit the displaying of obscene materials as they violate laws in the United States. While obscenity is not easy to define and depends on the standards in your community, CityTools prohibits items depicting bestiality, rape sex, incest, or sex with graphic violence or degradation.

We at CityTools value artistic freedom and wish to create a vibrant community that permits many voices to flourish. However we also intend to create a climate where everyone feels comfortable. If you choose to use strong language, be sure that it's defensible and used in moderation.

Any violation in these terms may result in termination of your CityTools account. No refunds or credits will be given in the event of termination due to inappropriate material.

For questions or more information

Please e-mail us at info@citytools.net