Place Design Scotland is a website about the places we might call home.
To fully engage with the site requires the taking out of an annual membership.
These T&Cs pertain to Place Design Scotland (hereafter known as ‘the site’), which is wholly-owned by newsdippermedia ltd (hereafter known as ‘we’ or ‘us’).
By using the site, you signify your acceptance of these Terms & conditions.
Our own content
We will seek to employ the highest professional and ethical standards during the production of our own content, including with regard to copyright and defamation legislation as it applies in Scotland and the remainder of the UK.
We will not seek to pass off, as our own, material that has been produced by others. Therefore, whenever possible, credit will be given where credit is due.
We will seek to correct, as speedily as possible, any inaccuracies in our own content, if necessary with new editorial to ensure readers are made as fully aware as possible that a correction has been made. Readers are encouraged to alert the site to inform it of possible inaccuracy.
Readers react to our content entirely at their own risk; we cannot be held responsible or liable for any consequences emanating from any of our own content being incomplete or inaccurate, either at the time of publication or having become so in the future.
Our own content will seek to avoid material that might be considered offensive, defamatory, libellous, fraudulent or misleading, or might lead to any discrimination or hatred on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, marital status or sexual orientation.
We will protect the identity of our sources and will seek to resist threats or any other inducements to influence, distort or suppress information we may have.
We may periodically contact you – including with invitations to take part in online surveys – seeking your views of our own content, with the aim of improving our service to readers.
The copyright of our own content belongs to us. Anyone wishing to use our own content must first receive permission from us, as the copyright holder, before it can be reproduced anywhere else, in full or in part.
Third party material
We reserve the right to decline – without notification or penalty – any third party material submitted to the site for possible publication.
We also reserve the right – and again without notification or penalty – to edit such material we choose to accept and publish on the site, including to correct spelling errors and to avoid possible defamation.
We are likely to remove any criticism or claims about third parties, not least on the grounds of being unable to provide a right of reply.
We are likely too to fudge claims of oneself as being ‘the biggest’, ‘the first’, the ‘No.1’, etc – without proof.
In particular, we reserve the right to decline third party material we consider to be offensive, defamatory, libellous, fraudulent or misleading. Plus material we believe might lead to any discrimination or hatred on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, marital status or sexual orientation.
Publication of third party material on the site by us follows moderation. This is primarily to avoid the publication of spelling or grammatical errors, plus material that might be considered defamatory, offensive, libellous or critical of others. It is not, and nor can it ever be, a pledge to check ‘facts’.
We therefore cannot vouch for the accuracy of third party material that is approved for publication and cannot be held responsible for the consequences of such third party material being incomplete or inaccurate, either at the time of publication or having become so in the future.
Third party material submitted to the site for possible publication is done entirely at the user’s own risk, including following the publication of any contact details and also as a result of any incompleteness or inaccuracy in the material they have had published, on their behalf.
The copyright of all third party material belongs solely to whoever has created and submitted it (or their authorised associates) for possible publication.
Readers wishing to use third party material must first receive permission from the copyright holder(s) before they can reproduce any of it, in full or in part.
Your privacy, links to other websites and cookies
As stated above, users of the site submit material for possible publication entirely at their own risk, including following the publication of any contact details.
We will not share contact or other details of users who have chosen not to make their details public on the site, except in the following circumstances: 1. Requested by law enforcement agencies, 2. to protect the rights or property of newsdippermedia ltd or, 3. to protect the personal safety of site users or the public.
Information such your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times and referring web site addresses may be used by us to assist in the continued operation of the service, to possibly improve the quality of the service, and to provide general statistics regarding use of the site.
Your information will not be used by us to snoop on your onward online behaviour.
Links to third party websites from our own content and that of third parties are provided solely for your convenience and, if you leave this site via such a link, you access these websites at your own risk. We assume no responsibility for the content of other websites to which our content, or that provided by third parties, might have links.
We encourage you to review the privacy statements of websites you choose to link to from our site so that you can understand how those sites collect, use and share your information.
A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. It cannot be used to run programmes or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.
One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. For example, if you sign up with the site and keep your cookies ‘enabled’, then you will be saved having to sign in on subsequent visits to the site.
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but, if you would rather, you can usually modify your browser setting – usually via ‘preferences’ – to decline cookies. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience all the interactive features of the site.
We secure your personal information on computer servers held in a controlled, secure environment that are protected from unauthorised access, use or disclosure and are also frequently ‘backed up’.
We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office and have sought to be ‘GDPR- compliant’, including by undertaking a comprehensive data audit, to reveal what data we hold and how we might use it and how we absolutely are determined to protect it.
Data about yourself
The data you provide on the site comprises your username or first and last names and email address.
We do not have access to passwords, created by members on becoming an user.
Nor do we hold details of anyone’s credit cards.
Your undertaking to the site
By using the site, you confirm the following, at the risk of incurring all legal and other consequences from any non-compliance:
* You are fully authorised to submit the material you are seeking to have published on the site, including – re the likes of photography and trademarks – from all relevant copyright holders;
* You have sought as far as possible to ensure that all the material you are seeking to have published on the site is accurate and as complete as possible.
* You recognise that, while we moderate material submitted for possible publication on the site, our scope is limited to correcting spelling and grammatical errors and amending or deleting content that does not comply with our T&Cs;
* Therefore, you shall indemnify and hold harmless us from and against any and all claims, losses, damages, liabilities, costs and expenses, including legal fees, as a result of material that you have sought to have appear on the site and which has been approved, following moderation, for publication on the site; and
* You will not seek to post content, or link to any external material, that may result in any hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, marital status or sexual orientation. Similarly, you will not seek to post content, or link to any external material, that may be defamatory, obscene, libellous, fraudulent or misleading.
Furthermore…
* You confirm that we will be usually, but not always, available to moderate material submitted to it for inclusion on the site between the hours of 0930 and 1630, Monday-to-Friday;
* You accept that we might be guilty, on occasion, of human error, and will seek to rectify any error as speedily as possible, insodoing incurring no financial or other penalty;
* You confirm that, should you find anything potentially offensive or inaccurate on the site, you will endeavour to alert us to it;
* You confirm that we reserve the right – without consultation, explanation or penalty – to restrict your access to the site’s facilities, in whole or in part, including by deleting you as a user from its database; and
* You also agree that the law applying to Scotland and the remainder of the UK shall apply to these T&Cs, notwithstanding the jurisdiction in which you are based, and you further agree that the courts of Scotland and the remainder of the UK shall have exclusive jurisdiction in respect of any dispute arising from or in connection with these Terms & conditions. Any rights not expressly granted in these Terms & conditions are reserved.
Our discussion forums
This site operates several online discussion forums, accessible in full only to fully paid-up members. Some are ‘public’. Others are ‘private’ or ‘hidden’ and potentially operated by accredited ‘organisers’ approved and appointed by us.
Forum content – public, private or hidden – appears only after after moderation by an administrator, along the same editorial lines as described above.
In other words, discriminatory or ‘offensive’ content will not be tolerated; ditto, content that seeks to criticise or, make claims about, others.
We reserve the right to amend or delete any proposed content, without consultation, explanation or penalty.
The aim of the forums is to encourage respectful and constructive dialogue. Anything that falls below that standard will simply not see the light of day.
It might be that the organiser of a private forum requires to instal their own, specific access requirements.
A forum might be sponsored or carry advertising that we deem appropriate and which, financially, might enable us to improve our overall service.
Sponsorship and advertising
This site – including its forums – is happy to consider sponsorship and advertising, but only certain types.
We will not accept sponsorship or advertising that promotes what we perceive to be the objectification of women, or promotes gambling, potential criminal activity, cigarette smoking, or the arms trade.
We reserve the right to reject – without consultation, explanation or penalty – proposed advertising or sponsorship that we consider to be ‘offensive’, ‘unethical’ or ‘exploitative’.
Refunds policy
We do not operate a refunds policy regarding the taking out of a paid membership to the site or any subscription allowing specific access to a particular forum.
Only services that have clearly not been used – such as media release or job advert posting – are potentially eligible for a refund, after around 30 days, by which time we will be able to confirm receipt of the original payment.
Our decision whether to offer a refund or not is final.
Future possible changes to our Terms & conditions
We anticipate there may be occasions when we update our Terms & conditions, to reflect any evolution of the site and its services. We therefore recommend you periodically return to check them for any changes.
Termination of service
We have the right to terminate an individual’s use of this site (whole or in part) without notice or explanation and cannot be held responsible or liable for any consequences that may emanate from such action.
We also have the right to close this site without notice and without any obligation to compensate users for loss of service.
Thank you for reading this.