Terms of Use of NevilleHobson.com

Version 1.2
May 28, 2007

I publish this weblog with two primary goals in mind:

Write commentary and express opinion on topical issues related to business, communication and technology
Engage with visitors in conversation and debate via the site’s commenting functionality, and via the various means of communication indicated in the contact page.

So I intend the blog to be primarily a place on the internet that contains my writings (and occasional audio commentaries). If you find this content of interest, then I hope it is also a place where you, me and other people can get together to talk about things of mutual interest.

The site also serves the purpose of providing visitors with some information about me and what I do professionally.

Everything I write in this blog represents my own views and opinions and do not reflect the views or opinions of anyone else unless expressly stated.

The following text sets out my terms of use that I would like you as a visitor here to understand and to observe. I don’t have many terms, just enough that I believe help make it clear to everyone what’s accepted here and what isn’t.

Note and Observe the Following Terms of Use:

All information you see in this site is provided “as is,” with no warranty or guarantee of accuracy. Treat all information here with the same caution as you would with any other professional weblog or website you visit, printed publication you read, or audio/video publications you listen to or watch.
Joining in a conversation (aka commenting) is open to every visitor – just type in your comments in a post, fill in the your details (name, email address and website) and click the submit button.
If you are a first-time commenter, your comment will go into a moderation queue which waits for me to approve or deny comments. Once you have been approved, you will be able to leave comments without moderation, ie, when you make a subsequent comment, it will be published on the site immediately.
This site uses a variety of means for anti-spam protection. At the vanguard is Akismet, an automated system that monitors every single comment, trackback and pingback and will stop any inbound activity it regards as spam. I tend not to disagree with anything Akismet says is spam. So if you have left a comment, sent a trackback or pingback that has not appeared on the site, the near-100% reason would be that it’s been trapped as spam (but see next two points).
I do not employ any censorship, unreasonable IP address blocking or comment-deny practices. I believe that diversity of opinion is everyone’s natural right. Indeed, different opinions are the seeds for great conversations. However, with that right comes a clear responsibility – a responsibility to respect the opinions of others, even if you disagree; and engage in discussion in a manner that does not foment or provoke offence, anger, hatred, abuse or any other anti-social behaviour that reasonable people would regard as unacceptable.
By leaving a comment in this site, you warrant that the information in your comment does not infringe on anyone’s intellectual property rights nor breaks any laws.
I will not allow comments, trackbacks or pingbacks here from people who are spammers, trolls, run splogs or who, in my sole determination, could create a negative effect for the site and its community. While I’m always willing to discuss such determination if required, the final decision on what to allow or not is mine.
You are free to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work in this site under the terms of its Creative Commons license:
- Attribution. You must give the original author credit.
- Non-Commercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
- Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a licence identical to this one.
Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from me. Your fair use and other rights are in no way affected by the above.

My Commitment to You:

Everything I publish here is written or produced in good faith and designed to further the two primary goals I mentioned at the start of this text.
I always endeavour to check facts that I mention in posts, especially where I’ve quoted from or referenced another weblog, website or other source (but note the caution in the first point in the Terms of Use)
If I learn that something I’ve written in this blog is inaccurate or just plainly incorrect, I will promptly correct the mistake via a further post and/or with corrective editing of the post concerned.
I will always give appropriate attribution to weblogs, websites and other sources I reference in my posts.
I respect the intellectual property rights of other people and organizations and will never knowingly use anyone else’s content in my site without their permission.
I will not use this site as a means to further any political agendas. I don’t have any such agendas.
I don’t receive any compensation, financial or otherwise, for anything I publish here. I would point out that posts which are cross-posted from For Immediate Release, my podcast blog, include reference to CustomScoop, the company which sponsors the ‘For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report’ podcast. I receive payment from CustomScoop as part of their sponsorship of that podcast.
I, too, observe the Terms of Use mentioned above, especially points 5 and 6.
When comments, trackbacks and pingbacks are waiting in the moderation queue, I will approve (or deny, if applicable) such comments, etc, as soon as practically possible. This is typically within an hour or so, although it might be longer due to time zone difference (eg, if you leave a comment during the night my time). Allow up to 24 hours if, for example, I am travelling.
I will respect your right to privacy by not sharing your email address or any other personally-identifiable information with anyone. The information you provide when you leave a comment or get in touch with me via my contact page is used only for the specific purpose of our being in touch.
I may update, add to, edit or otherwise change these Terms of Use at any time. If I do, I will make it clear that the text is different to what was here before via the version number at the head and foot.