TERMS OF ACCESS TO THE WEBSITE (INCLUDING TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE ACCEPTANCE OF ADVERTISMENTS)

The websites listed in Appendix A, and the subdomains of it ("the Website") along with the publications in Appendix B ("the Publication") are published and operated by NWN Media Ltd. Mold Business Park, Wrexham Road, Mold, Flintshire CH7 1XY, registered in England no. 167825

Use of and access to the Website is subject to the following terms, which include:

Copyright Notice and Licence;
Submitting Content;
Terms and Conditions of Acceptance of Advertisements;
Data Protection Notice and Cookie Policy;
Registration Terms and Conditions;
Forum House Rules;
Swear Word Policy; and
Disability Access Statement.

Access to particular areas of the Website may be subject to additional terms to which you must consent in order to use those areas.

BY ENTERING THE WEBSITE YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS THEN PLEASE LEAVE THE WEBSITE IMMEDIATELY.
Links. No metatags hyperlinks or other forms of linkage whatsoever to any other site may be imposed on the website without the prior express written consent of the Publisher.
Viruses. If you knowingly send or infect the Website with a virus, Trojan horse, worm, etc then the Publisher retains the right at its sole discretion to pursue you for all legal fees (including its own and those of any third party), damages and other expenses that may be incurred by it as a result of your actions.
Liability. The Publisher accepts no liability in respect of the content of any third party material appearing on the Website or in respect of the content of any other website to which the Website may be linked from time to time. The Publisher makes no warranty in respect of the contents of this Website and accepts no liability for any loss or damage whatsoever and however arising whether directly or indirectly as a result of access to and use of this Website including without limitation acting or failing to act in reliance on any information contained herein.
Indemnity. You understand that you are personally responsible for your behaviour while on the Website, and agree to indemnify and hold the Publisher, all other companies within NWN Media Ltd, subsidiaries, affiliates, and their officers, directors, employees and agents harmless from and against any loss, damage, liability, cost or expense of any kind (including legal fees and costs) that they may incur in connection with a third party claim or otherwise, in relation to your use of the Website, access to the Website, your violation of either these Terms or the rights of any third party, disclosure of membership passwords and any other matter in connection with your participation in the services on the Website.
Force Majeure. The Publisher does not warrant that functions contained in the Website content will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that the Publisher or the server(s) that makes it available are free of viruses or bugs.
UK Law. Save where specifically indicated otherwise, the Website and its contents are targeted only at UK residents and goods and services offered are available only to UK residents. Any legal proceedings arising as a result of content of or use of the Website shall be subject to the laws of England and Wales.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE AND LICENCE

Ownership. Except in the case of the Forums and any other content you create, the copyright in the Website and its contents belongs to the Publisher, or has been included with the consent of other copyright owners. Reproduction in any form, printing or downloading of part or all of the contents is forbidden save in accordance with the licence granted below.
Licence to copy for personal use: You may print copies of any item in hard copy provided that you do not edit alter amend or delete any part of it or combine it with other material. You may recopy the material to individual third parties for their personal information only if you acknowledge the Website as the source of the information by including such acknowledgement and the address of the Publisher and the Website in the copy of the material AND you inform the third party that the material may not be copied or reproduced in any way. You may not supply the material to any third party for commercial gain.
No Transmission. No part of the Website or the contents thereof may be reproduced on or transmitted to or stored in any other web site or other form of electronic retrieval system.

SUBMITTING CONTENT

Ownership. If you submit content to the Publisher (including without limitation any text, photograph, graphics, video or audio) , you grant the Publisher a licence to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, create derivative works from, distribute and display in public that content in any form and media on or in connection with the Site, at no cost to us and for as long as we require and you warrant that you own or have rights to the intellectual property in such content and have the right to grant this licence. You waive any moral rights in your contribution. You will indemnify us and keep us indemnified from and against all costs, claims, damages and expenses made against or incurred by us as a result of a third party alleging that the use of such content by us infringes the intellectual property rights of a third party.
Submissions. When submitting content, you agree not to do any of the following:
- defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate or infringe the rights of any person or entity (including, but not limited to, rights of intellectual property, confidentiality, or rights of privacy);
- upload or transmit any material which is unlawful, indecent, defamatory, hateful or racially, ethnically or otherwise offensive or objectionable, politically sensitive or of an obscene or menacing character, or that may cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety;
- upload or transmit files that contain software or other material protected by intellectual property laws unless you own or control the rights thereto or have received all necessary consents;
- upload or transmit any materials that infringe any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights of any third party;
- upload or transmit material that you do not have a right to make available under any law or contractual or fiduciary relationship (such as confidential information);
- upload or transmit any computer viruses, macro viruses, trojan horses, worms, corrupted files or anything else designed to interfere with, interrupt or disrupt the normal operating procedures of a computer;
- use the system of uploading or transmitting content (or any part thereof) in a way that may cause the system (or the servers or networks connected to the system) to be interrupted, damaged, rendered less efficient or such that the effectiveness or functionality of the system is in any way impaired;
- where you are not the author of any material you are uploading or transmitting , delete any author attributions, legal notices or proprietary designations or within the material;

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF ACCEPTANCE OF ADVERTISEMENTS (WEBSITE AND NEWSPAPER)

NWN Media Limited (Registered No 00167825) whose registered office is Wrexham Road, Mold, Flintshire CH7 1XY (Publisher) owns, publishes and prints a portfolio of newspapers, magazines and websites (Publications) and Orders for the insertion of Advertisements in such newspapers and websites are accepted subject to the following terms of acceptance.

Definitions
- Advertisement: The advertisement: the subject of the Order to be printed in the Publisher’s Publications (whether in print or on website);
- Advertiser: The advertiser of the product or services promoted in the Advertisement or making the announcement in the Advertisement;
- Buyer: The person placing an Order whether advertiser, advertising agency or media buyer and for the avoidance of doubt, in placing an Order the Buyer is contracting with the Publisher as principal notwithstanding that the Buyer may be acting directly or indirectly for the advertiser as an advertising agent or media buyer or in some other representative capacity;
- Confirmation: The written booking confirmation dispatched by the Publisher to the Buyer
- Copy: The advertising copy supplied to the Publisher whether in the form of artwork, film or illustrative material and words to be typeset and laid out by the Publisher
- Order The Order: for the placing of an Advertisement on the Publisher’s standard order form from time to time or in such other manner as the Publisher may specify and any booking confirmation provided by the Publisher and the order and confirmation together with these terms shall constitute the contract between the Buyer and the Publisher;
Application of Terms
1. The placing of an Order verbally or in writing shall amount to an acceptance of these terms and any terms stipulated on an order form or elsewhere by the Buyer shall be void insofar as they are inconsistent with these terms which shall govern the Order and any variation to these terms shall have no effect unless confirmed in writing by a duly authorised officer of the Publisher. The Buyer acknowledges that it has not relied on any statement, promise or representation made or given on behalf of the Publisher which is not set out in the Order. Nothing in this term shall exclude or limit the Publisher’s liability for fraudulent misrepresentation.
2. The terms of the Recognition Agreement between the Newspaper Society and the recognised Advertising Agencies, or between the Newspaper Society and the Newspaper Publishers Association are deemed to be incorporated in these terms from such Agencies.
3. Terms of Access to any of the Publisher’s Website can be found at www.nwnmedia.co.uk
Buyer's warranties
1. where the Buyer is acting on behalf of an Advertiser, it is authorised by the Advertiser to place the Advertisement with the Publisher;
2. any information supplied in connection with the Advertisement is accurate, complete and true;
3. the Advertisement is not defamatory and is legal, decent, honest and truthful, complying with the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion, with any relevant codes of practice and with the requirements of all relevant legislation (including subordinate legislation, the rules of statutorily recognised regulatory authorises and the law of the European Economic Community) for the time being in force or applicable in the United Kingdom;
4. all necessary authority and consents have been secured in respect of the use in the Advertisement of pictorial or other representations of (or purporting to be of) living persons, and of references to any words attributed to living persons and any material the copyright in which vests in a third party
5. the reproduction and/or publication of the Advertisement by the Publisher as originally submitted or amended will not breach any contract or infringe or violate any copyright, trademark or any other personal or proprietary right of any person or render the Publisher liable to any proceedings whatsoever;
6. in relation to any financial promotion (as defined under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000), the Advertiser is, or its contents have been approved by, an authorised person within the meaning of that Act, under the Financial Promotion Order 2001, or under any other legislation subordinate to the Act.
Bookings
1. Orders are accepted subject to acceptable Copy being submitted to the Publisher on time and space being available in the relevant publication. While every endeavour will be made to meet the wishes of the Buyer, the Publisher does not guarantee the publication of any particular Advertisement or the date of insertion.
2. When copy instructions not constituting an official Order are issued, they shall be clearly marked "Copy instruction - not an Order".
3. Advertisements appearing on one of the Publisher’s websites may only contain hyperlinks or metatags with the express prior permission of the Publisher and only linking to the Advertiser's own website
4. The Publisher reserves the right to:
  1. refuse any Advertisement or if already accepted to cancel the Order at any time by giving reasonable notice before the next insertion, but in that event the Buyer shall not be liable for payment of the difference (if any) between the rates for the series specified in the Order and the usual price for the series of insertions which has appeared when the Order is stopped;
  2. require any alteration it considers necessary or desirable in any Advertisement.
5. The copyright for all purposes in all artwork, copy and other material which the Publisher or his employees have originated, contributed to or reworked shall vest in the Publisher.
6. Any material submitted by the Buyer is held by the Publisher at the Buyer's risk and should be insured by the Buyer against loss or damage from whatever cause. The Publisher reserves the right to destroy without notice all such property after the date of its last appearance in an Advertisement unless the Buyer has given written instructions to the contrary.
7. The Publisher reserves the right to disclose the name and address of the Buyer and/or Advertiser to the police, trading standards officials, or any other relevant authority and, where the Publisher in its sole discretion deems it reasonable, to other third parties.
8. Telephone conversations between advertisers and members of the Publisher’s staff may be subject to silent monitoring for staff training purposes.
Price
1. The rate payable for insertion of an Advertisement shall be in accordance with the Publisher's current rates from time to time save as otherwise agreed with the Publisher. All gross advertising rates (except classified lineage and semi-display) are subject to a 0.1% Advertising Standards Board of Finance (ASBOF) levy, payable by the Buyer to help finance the self-regulatory system administered by the Advertising Standards Authority.
2. It is the responsibility of the Advertiser to bring to the Publisher’s attention at the time of booking any discount, allowance or exemption from Value Added Tax failing which Value Added Tax will be charged at the prevailing rate.
Payments
1. Invoices are issued at the close of the week in which the insertion of an Advertisement takes place. Where the insertion is for more than one week, it will be partially invoiced at the end of each month with the final invoice on last insertion.
2. Payment may be made by BACS, cheque, Direct Debit, Barclaycard, VISA, Switch or Mastercard and the existence of a query on any individual item in an account shall not affect the due date of payment of the balance of the account.
3. Prepayment may be required for any Advertisement at the Publisher’s discretion. The Publisher’s standard terms for credit are 7 days from date of invoice. Regular accounts may apply for extended credit terms. Should the Buyer be in breach of these terms or any contract with the Publisher then all amounts due from that Buyer shall become due.
4. Where voucher copies are required, then a charge may be levied and an electronic version of the page will be emailed to the client on provision of such address. There is no obligation on the Publisher to supply voucher copies or tearsheets and their absence shall not affect the Buyer’s liability for the agreed charge.
5. When the full sum owing has not been paid to the Publisher by the due date above, interest on the amount owing shall be payable, at the rate of 8 % above the base rate of Allied Irish Bank plc, accruing from day to day (including the day on which payment was due) both before and after judgement. The Publisher is also entitled to recover from the Buyer any recovery costs whether legal or otherwise incurred to secure payment for the Advertisement requested by the Buyer. Such costs will be added to the original invoice value.
Cancellations
1. Orders cannot be cancelled once the Publisher has commenced carrying out an Order in accordance with instructions from the advertiser. In other cases the publisher will require four clear working days' notice of cancellation of any Order and in the case of a Display Advertisement not less seven clear working days' notice. All cancellations must be notified in writing. E-mail notification of cancellation is acceptable.
2. Where an Order is for a series of Advertisements then after the first insertion the Buyer may request that no further Advertisements are published but will not be entitled to a refund.
3. An advertising agency may cancel any unexpired part of an Order without penalty in the event of the death or failure of its client.
Errors
1. In the event of any error, misprint or omission in the publication of an Advertisement or part of an Advertisement (however caused) the Publisher will either re-publish the Advertisement or relevant part of the Advertisement as the case may be or make a reasonable refund of or adjustment to the cost. No re-publication, refund or adjustment will be made where the error, misprint or omission does not materially detract from the Advertisement or is due to inaccurate or imprecise instructions from the Buyer.
2. It is the responsibility of the Buyer to check the first appearance of any series of Advertisements and notify the Publisher immediately of any errors. The Publisher assumes no responsibility for the repetition of errors unless notified by the Buyer.
3. In no circumstances shall the total liability of the Publisher for any error, misprint or omission exceed the amount of a full refund of any price paid to the publisher for the Advertisement in connection with which liability arose or the cost of a further or corrective Advertisement of a type and standard reasonable comparable to that in connection with which liability arose.
Publisher’s Limitation of Liability
1. Save as set in these terms, the Publisher accepts no liability in respect of any loss or damage occasioned directly or indirectly as a result of publication of any Advertisement or any loss or damage occasioned directly or indirectly by any total or partial failure (however caused) of publication of any Advertisement or of any title or website in which any Advertisement is scheduled to appear.
2. Without prejudice to the foregoing, the publisher accepts no liability in respect of any loss or damage alleged to have arisen through delay in forwarding or omitting to forward replies to box numbers to the Buyer (however caused). The Buyer hereby authorises the Publisher to return to its originator or destroy any communication which, in the reasonable opinion of the Publisher, should not be delivered to the Buyer.
3. Nothing in these conditions excludes or limits the liability of the Publisher for death or personal injury caused by the Company’s negligence; under section 2(3) of the Consumer Protection Act 1987; for any matter which it would be illegal for the Company to exclude or attempt to exclude its liability; or for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
Indemnity
- The Buyer will indemnify the Publisher and agrees to keep it indemnified against all claims, costs, proceedings, demands, losses, damages, expenses or liability whatsoever arising directly or reasonably forseeably as a result of the publication of the Advertisement or any breach or non-performance of any of the representations, warranties or other terms contained in these terms or implied by law.
General
1. No waiver or indulgence by the Publisher shall be effective save in relation to the matter in respect of which it was specifically given.
2. The Publisher shall be under no liability where it is unable to comply with the Order for any reason beyond its reasonable control including without limitation any Act of God, war, fire, flood, failure of power supply, strike or any action taken by employees or otherwise.
3. If any provision of the Order is in whole or in part found to any extent by any court or administrative body of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal the provision shall to that extent be deemed not to form part of the Order and the enforceability of the remainder of the Order shall not be affected.
4. All communications between the parties about or in connection with the Order shall be in writing and delivered by hand or sent by pre-paid first class post, facsimile transmission or e-mail to the address of that party detailed in the Order or otherwise notified to the other. Communications shall be deemed to have been received if sent by pre-paid first class post, 2 business days after posting; or if delivered by hand, on the day of delivery; or if sent by fax or e-mail on a working day prior to 4.00 p.m., at the time of transmission and otherwise on the next working day.
5. These terms and the Order shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

DATA PROTECTION NOTICE & COOKIE POLICY

The Publisher is committed to protecting your privacy. The Publisher knows that you care how information about you is used and appreciates your trust in it to do that carefully and sensibly. At times you will be asked to submit personal information about yourself (name, email address, postcode etc.). By entering your details in the fields as requested you enable the Publisher to provide you with the services you select. Whenever you provide such personal information, the Publisher will treat that information in accordance with this notice and policy. All email correspondence includes instructions on how to ‘unsubscribe’ from the service to which you have subscribed. Our services are designed to give you the information that you want to receive not to bombard you with information you do not want. The Publisher will act in accordance with current legislation. This notice and policy do not apply to companies that the Publisher does not own or control.
Use of Data. The Publisher will use your personal details and information it obtains from other sources to provide you with its goods and services, for administration and customer services, for credit scoring, for marketing, to analyse your purchasing preferences and to ensure that the content, services and advertising that it offers are tailored to your needs and interests. The Publisher may keep your information for a reasonable period for these purposes. The Publisher may need to share your information with its service providers, with other companies within NWN Media Ltd and with its agents for these purposes. The Publisher may disclose personal data in order to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
What are Cookies? Cookies are small pieces of information that a website might store on your computer or access device. They allow websites to remember who you are. Typically your browser will store each cookie as a small text file. A cookie will always contain the domain name of the originating website. For security, only the originating website has permission to read the cookie.
How Cookies are Used. When you log in to the Website the Publisher will set a cookie containing a randomly generated unique reference number. This anonymous number allows the Publisher to identify you. The Publisher will never store your personal information directly as a cookie. By default, user cookies will be session cookies. Session cookies are automatically deleted when you close your browser. To be recognised on your next visit to the Website you will have to log in once more. If, as you log in, you tick the checkbox labelled "Remember me on this computer", a persistent cookie will be set. Persistent cookies are not deleted when you close your browser, and will allow the Website to recognise you on your next visit. The use of persistent cookies is not advised on shared computers (such as in web cafés, schools, colleges, universities or public libraries).
The Edition Date. The Publisher also uses cookies to store the edition date when you access back issues of the Website. Sometimes the Publisher might use cookies to store simple pieces of information such as whether or not you have voted in an opinion poll.
Third Party Cookies. Occasionally our advertising partners may also wish to set cookies.
Why does the Publisher use Cookies? Cookies allow the Publisher to see how the Website is being used. This information forms the basis of future development work, and so enables the Publisher to continually improve its Website to best suit its users. They also allow the website to remember you when you log-in.
Disabling Cookies. Cookies can be easily deleted or disabled at any time through your browser’s preference menus so please refer to the instructions for your file management software to locate the file or directory that stores cookies. Further information on controlling cookies is available at http://www.aboutcookies.org. Please be aware that if you do choose to disable cookies you may not be able to fully access certain areas of the Website
IP Address. When you visit our site, we may also log your IP address, a unique identifier for your computer or other access device.
Web Beacons. The Publisher also includes web beacons (also known as clear GIFs or web bugs) in its emails to track the success of its marketing campaigns. This means that if you open an email from the Publisher it can see which pages of the Website you visit. The Publisher’s web beacons do not store additional information on your computer, but by communicating with the cookies on your computer, they can tell the Publisher when you have opened its email. If you object to web beacons, the Publisher recommends you follow the instructions for deleting existing cookies and disabling future cookies in paragraph 8. The Publisher will still know how many of its e-mails are opened and will automatically receive your IP address, a unique identifier of your computer and other access device, but this will not identify you as an individual.
Credit References. In assessing your application for credit, to prevent fraud, to check your identity and to prevent money laundering, the Publisher may search the files of credit reference agencies who will record any credit searches on your file. This may include using Credit Safe or an equivalent company. The Publisher may also disclose details of how you conduct your account to such agencies. The information will be used by other credit grantors for making credit decisions about you and the people with whom you are financially associated, for fraud prevention, money laundering prevention and occasionally for tracing debtors. Information used for these purposes will include publicly available information such as electoral roll, county court judgments, bankruptcy orders or repossessions.
Credit Reference Agencies. The Publisher may ask credit reference agencies to provide a credit scoring computation. Credit scoring uses a number of factors to work out risks involved in any application. A score is given to each factor and a total score obtained. Where automatic credit scoring computations are used, acceptance or rejection of your application will not depend only on the results of the credit scoring process.
Sharing Data. The Publisher may also share your information with its business partners in the travel, property, automotive, financial services, leisure, entertainment, advertising, media, retail and mail order business for marketing purposes or it may send you information about other organisations’ goods and services. The Publisher or its business partners may contact you by mail, telephone, fax, e-mail or other electronic messaging service with offers of goods and services or information that may be of interest to you e.g. holidays, cars, property, financial and leisure services, entertainment, media products, advertising, clothing or household goods. By providing the Publisher with your fax number, land line and/or mobile telephone numbers or email address you consent to being contacted by these methods for these purposes. If you do not wish to receive marketing information from the Publisher or from the Publisher’s business partners tick the appropriate box on the form you complete.
Sensitive Personal Data. By providing the Publisher with your personal information, you consent to it processing your sensitive personal data, such as health data, for the above purposes.
Transfer of Personal Data out of the UK. By providing the Publisher with your personal information you also consent to the Publisher transferring your information to countries or jurisdictions which do not provide the same level of data protection as the UK, if necessary for the above purposes. If the Publisher does make such a transfer, it will, if appropriate, put a contract in place to ensure that your information is protected.
Third Party Data. If you provide the Publisher with information about another person, you confirm that they have appointed you to act for them, to consent to the processing of their personal data including sensitive personal data and that you have informed them of the Publisher’s identity and the purposes (as set out above) for which their personal data will be processed.
edpq. NWN Media Ltd, have a partner account with edpq. The processing of online transactions is dealt with by edpq. edpq have a comprehensive privacy policy which can be located at www.edpq.co.uk/privacy/html. The only data released to North Wales Newspapers Ltd via edpq are the name, delivery address, contact number, goods purchased, email address and IP address of the individual concerned.
Secure Server Software. The Publisher offers the use of a secure server when you place orders or access your account information. SSL (the secure server software) encrypts your information before it is sent to us. The Publisher also takes appropriate measures to ensure that the information disclosed is kept secure, accurate and up to date and kept only for so long as is necessary for the purposes for which it is used.
Links to Third Party Sites. The Publisher links to a wide variety of other sites and it displays advertisements from third parties on the Website. The Publisher is not responsible for the content or privacy policies of these sites and third party advertisers, nor for the way in which information about their users is treated. In particular, unless expressly stated, the Publisher is not an agent for these sites or advertisers nor is it authorised to make representations on their behalf.
Requests. You are entitled to ask for a copy of the information the Publisher holds about you (for which the Publisher may charge a small fee) and to have any inaccuracies in your information corrected. If you wish to exercise your rights to this information please forward your request, in writing, to Data Protection Officer, NWN Media Ltd, Mold Business Park, Wrexham Road, Mold, Flintshire. CH7 1XY
Monitoring. For quality control and training purposes, the Publisher may monitor or record your communications with it.
Changes in Your Data. If your personal details change, if you change your mind about any of your marketing preferences or if you have any queries about how the Publisher uses your information, please let the Publisher know online where appropriate, or by contacting its Data Protection Officer at NWN Media Ltd, Mold Business Park, Wrexham Road, Mold, Flintshire. CH7 1XY or email data.protection@NWN.co.uk.
Changes to this Policy. This data protection notice may change and therefore you should review it regularly. The Publisher will of course notify you of any changes where we are required to do so.

REGISTRATION TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Acceptance of Terms. In order to contribute to any of the interactive pages of the Website you must agree to abide by the House Rules and Swear Word Policy detailed below. If you do not agree then please leave immediately. By completing the registration form and by entering your email address and password, you will be deemed to have accepted these Terms and Conditions in their entirety. Also, by signing up for any of the Website's online services (including but not limited to: email news headlines, competitions, news archive), you are deemed to have accepted these Terms and Conditions in their entirety.
Accuracy of Records. During the registration process, you agree to provide true, accurate and complete information about yourself, and to update this information when it changes. If you do not update it, the Publisher may suspend or terminate your use of the Website. Any personal information that you provide to the Publisher is subject to the terms of the Data Protection Notice and Cookie Policy detailed above.
Password. When you register, you will choose a password so that you can access your account with the Publisher. You agree that you will keep this information confidential. You are completely responsible for activities that happen under your account and password. If you think there has been unauthorised use of your account or password, you agree immediately to notify the Publisher and co-operate with the Publisher to resolve it. You understand that if you do not follow the terms of this paragraph, the Publisher may suspend or terminate your use of the Website.
Unauthorised Access to your Password. You will not do anything that would assist anyone who is not a registered user to gain access to any secure area of the Website. You undertake that you will not maliciously create additional registration accounts for the purpose of abusing the functionality of the Website, or other users; nor will you seek to pass yourself off as another user.
Access Termination. The Publisher can terminate your access to the Website at any time. The Publisher may also remove any content that you post without cause, without giving reasons and without notice to you. This includes all email accounts, postings, profiles or other personalised information you have created while on the Website.

COMMENTS AND FORUMS HOUSE RULES

These House Rules have been developed so that everyone can get the best out of contributing to the Site. They aim to protect anyone who reads or contributes to the Forums and to help everyone to have an enjoyable and safe time.

By participating you agree to abide by these House Rules. The Publisher reserves the right to change these House Rules at any time by posting these changes online. You are responsible for regularly reviewing information posted online to obtain notice of such changes. Your continuing use of the service once these changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of these House Rules as modified by the posted changes.

* Please be warned that if any content breaks the rules below it may be removed by the moderators of the Website.

Rules for Contributing to the web site and principles that you must accept.

Adding Comments. To add your comment, click the "Add Your Comment" (or similar) button on the bottom of the article. If the comment on that specific Forum requires the user to log in or register then please click on the relevant link.
Moderation. The Publisher is keen to encourage lively and informed debate but at the same time considers that some of its topics will require a closer level of editorial oversight. That is why the Publisher has introduced moderation for some of our discussions. When comments appear they will either be "moderated" or "non-moderated". Moderation means that the Publisher’s staff will check each comment before posting it onto the Website. The Publisher cannot guarantee that all comments can be published. The Publisher will publish as many comments as it can without editing. However, the Publisher may edit your comments.
Complaints. We want to encourage safe and open discussions but if you think a comment breaks the House Rules, click on the "Report As Unsuitable" (or similar) button which appears beside each comment. You will be asked to log in / register (if not already logged in). Once you have logged in, the "Report This Comment" form will appear with a field to enter your reason. Please fill this in telling the Publisher why you think the comment is not acceptable. Once you press the "Report" button, your complaint will be brought to the attention of the Publisher’s moderators, who will decide whether the comment breaks the rules. If it does, they will remove it. If it doesn’t, it will be allowed to remain. This process may be automated, and the comment may be removed automatically, before being reviewed by the moderators. Then it will either be reinstated, or remain removed from the site. The Publisher will not normally enter into correspondence about complaints, but will do so in special cases. If you want to take the matter further, you can do it via the Contact Us section, listing the article in question (please include the web address) and the offending comment and author. Please do not abuse the complaints system. It is there to allow users to report any comments which you deem unsuitable and in breach of the Rules. Similarly, please do not use the "Report as Unsuitable" icon to complain about spelling errors, differences of opinion or multiple postings. Anyone who repeatedly abuses the complaints system simply because they disagree with comments may have their account suspended.
Personal attacks are prohibited. Commonly known as flaming, personal attacks are posts which are designed to put down or insult members. Text of this nature is not beneficial to the Publisher’s community spirit and will not be tolerated.
No trolling. Trolling is used to describe a post that is deliberately designed for the purpose of angering and insulting the members. Posts of this nature are disruptive and say deliberately provocative things just to stir up trouble. It’s not polite so please don't do it.
Unlawful, harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually orientated, racially offensive or otherwise objectionable material is not acceptable. Hardcore swearing is not allowed. Please see the Swear Word Policy for further details on what is and what is not acceptable language for use on the Forums. If you do use language in your posting which goes against the Swear Word Policy the Publisher will remove your posting. If you continue to break the rules you may find your account closed down.
Comment etiquette. Do not make an unreasonably large number of postings - the Publisher wants to publish comments from as many different people as possible, thus participants should keep their number of contributions per debate to a reasonable level.
Be patient. Please remember when posting that people of all ages and abilities use the Forums. Remember when you were a new user and try to be kind.
No spamming or flooding. Spamming is the posting of the same (or very similar) messages to lots of conversation threads. Flooding is when the same (or very similar) message is posted over and over again to the same conversation. Please don’t deliberately spam or flood the Forums as the Publisher will simply remove your posting and possibly your account.
No advertising. Advertising is not allowed within the postings. Writing articles that review or criticise commercial products, local restaurants, venues etc. are obviously fine as long as they're balanced, but adverts aren’t. If you wish to advertise through a banner or a tile advert please contact the new media advertising department at the relevant local newspaper.
Postings or articles containing languages other than Welsh or English may be removed. The Publisher has to ensure that it understands a posting or article before it can pass it, therefore postings in languages other than Welsh or English may have to be removed.
Don’t impersonate others. Impersonating another user, moderator, administrator or the Publisher’s employees is strictly prohibited. This may be grounds for permanent loss of your Forum account.
Be careful with including email addresses and instant messaging addresses in contributions. Do not include anyone else’s personal details. You may include your own personal email address or instant messaging address in postings (providing it’s acceptable, i.e. not vulgar or offensive), but please be aware that it is at your own risk and you are potentially opening yourself up to a lot of email and possible spam. You should be absolutely sure that you want people to able to contact you like this. It is not acceptable to publicise anyone else's contact details other than your own. However it is acceptable to include general contact details for companies, but you must only include publicly available details, for example, the telephone number of a restaurant or the email address of a local company.
Only include suitable URLs in your postings. Links to websites we consider unsuitable will be removed, so if you are considering contributing something that contains a URL please make sure that it adds value and interest to the subject of your posting and it isn’t purely commercial. Unsuitable sites would include those with racist material, pornographic or sexually explicit material, potentially defamatory material, anything which encourages illegal activities, material which infringes copyright, sites which purely plug or promote commercial products or services without containing material which enhances the subject matter, sites that start with automatic downloads or sites which may offend users. The Publisher may also have to remove links to sites which are in languages other than English for the reasons described in item 11 above. Please note that the Publisher does not allow URLs to be included in nicknames.
Feedback. The Publisher welcomes feedback, both positive and negative, about its products and services, but please make sure your comments are in line with the above Forum House Rules. You can contact the moderator, by using the link provided on the page. Please note though that repeatedly posting personal or offensive comments about individual members of the public or people who work for the Publisher may be considered harassment. The Publisher reserves the right to remove such messages and take action against those responsible.
Copyright. It’s important to note that you retain copyright in your contributions to the Forums. This means that you are free to take what you have written and re-publish it somewhere else.
All you do in contributing is to grant the Publisher the right to publish in accordance with these terms and conditions. In other words, what you create here is done on the condition that you grant the Publisher a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, play, sublicense and exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to your contribution worldwide and/or to incorporate your contribution in other works in any media now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in your contribution and you agree to waive any and all moral rights that exist in your contribution for the purposes of its submission to and publication on the Forum and the purposes specified above. As the Publisher may wish to distribute the content in various formats over time, it needs to be sure that it has the right to publish everything posted to any Forum.
The Law. The Publisher accepts no liability in respect of any material submitted by users and published by it and the Publisher is not responsible for its content and accuracy. Please keep your comments relevant, in good taste and civil. If anything you post is illegal (for example defamatory), condones illegal activities (such as recommends drug taking) or infringes the copyright of a third party then it will be removed.
- Do not post any defamatory material of any nature anywhere on the web site (for example a comment that is capable of damaging the reputation of a person or organisation. You could be liable for damages and costs if successfully sued). This includes text, graphics, video, programs or audio.
- Posting a message indicating your intention to commit an illegal act is strictly prohibited.
- Do not post comments which could be in contempt of court or which could break a court injunction - this means not posting anything that risks prejudicing on-going or forthcoming court proceedings (such as naming an individual or speculating as to their current whereabouts after a court has issued an injunction against doing so).
- Do not post messages that are unlawful, harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually oriented or racially offensive. Do not incite people to commit any crime, including incitement of racial hatred
- Only post material to which you have the copyright or other permission to distribute electronically. You may not violate, plagiarise or infringe the rights of third parties including copyright, trademark, trade secret, privacy, personal, publicity or proprietary rights.
Parental Guidance. If you are under the age of 16 Please get your parents’ or guardians’ permission before taking part in the Forum’s discussions. Never reveal any personal information about yourself (for example your telephone number, location, home address or email address) without getting your parents’ or guardians’ permission first.
Transgressions. If you fail to abide by these House Rules then, in most cases, the following procedure will be followed. Please note that the Publisher reserves the right to terminate accounts immediately at its discretion (in the event of such things as criminal behaviour or personal abuse or harassment of the Publisher’s staff for example) or to vary the following process as it sees fit.
- For the first offence you will receive an official warning from the moderator.
- For the second offence your account will be suspended for seven days.
- For the third offence you will be suspended from the Forums for a period of one month.
- For the fourth offence your account will be closed permanently.

In each case the warning or suspension notice will be sent to the email address you have used to register. This email will explain the nature of your transgression and the process for transgressions. If this email address bounces your account will be terminated.

While suspended if you return to the web site by creating another account this will constitute a further offence and will extend the suspension to the next period or will result in your account being closed permanently. Asking other members to post on your behalf while suspended will constitute a further offence on your behalf and may constitute an offence by those members.

Violation of any of the House Rules could lead to legal action being taken against you by interested authorities or an aggrieved party. Be aware that if legal action ensues the Publisher could be legally obliged to reveal your registration information and/or IP address to those authorities.

SWEAR WORD POLICY

As with the above House Rules, this Swear Word Policy has been developed so that everyone can get the best out of contributing to the Forums.

By participating, you also agree to abide by this Swear Word Policy. The Publisher reserves the right to change this Swear Word Policy at any time by posting these changes online. You are responsible for regularly reviewing information posted online to obtain notice of such changes. Your continuing use of the Forums once these changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of this Swear Word Policy as modified by the posted changes.

* Please be warned that if any content breaks the rules below it may be removed by the moderators of the Website.

If you see one of the swear words listed below within a posting or an article we’d like you to bring it to the attention of the site moderator by using the link provided. The moderator will then remove the offending word.
If you see a word that you personally find offensive, but is not included in this list, please bring it to the attention of the moderator, who will make a decision as to its suitability in the given context. This page is a guide only; if other words offend, or are used in an offensive way they may be removed.
The Publisher would like to point out that it would prefer you not to use swear words at all. The Forum attracts a wide range of readers and members, in terms of age, culture, nationality and personal attitude and many people are genuinely offended by swear words that others consider perfectly acceptable.
If you feel you must use swear words within a posting please star out the word yourself (see examples below). Please note though that the starring out of swear words is not a means to get around the House Rules. If your posting breaks the House Rules (i.e. it is obscene, profane, abusive, racially offensive etc.) it will be removed regardless of whether the words have been starred out or not. Swear words on the banned list that have been deliberately or accidentally mis-spelt will also be removed.
Swear Words: The Banned List
This is a selection of some of the words on the Banned List. Please note that all derivatives of the following words are also currently included on the banned word list:
- b*****k(s) – testicle
- c**t – vagina
- f**k – to have sex
- j*sm – ejaculated semen (also spelt j*zm)
- t**t – another word for vagina
- w**k – masturbate
6. Words with Dual Meanings
These are a number of words which have both acceptable and unacceptable meanings.
- b*****d – illegitimate person (forbidden in the context of an insult, allowed as a term for an illegitimate person)
- p**s – urinate (banned in the context of urination and insult, but allowed as a slang term for being angry or drunk)
- p***k – a penis, a pricking feeling (not to be used as a substitute for penis nor as an insult, allowable in the context of pins)
7. Minority Groups
Some words are banned not because they are profane or swearing, but because they may offend members of any minority, religious or ethnic group. The list below is not definitive; any posting or article using a slang word that may be seen to be offensive to any group of people will be removed and the posting may result in the termination of your account.
- c**n – black person, possibly from raccoon. You are allowed to use ´coon as a slang term for raccoons, but the word must be proceeded by an apostrophe to indicate the shortened word.
- n****r – another term for black person
- s*****c – a term which used to be used to describe a person with cerebral palsy
- y*d – short for Yiddish

DISABILITY ACCESS STATEMENT

The Website has been built in compliance with W3C WAI standard Single A, to ensure accessibility to all users, irrespective of their physical ability. Great effort has been employed to ensure old content meets the above standards. Due to high volumes of content not all old content meets the W3C WAI standards.

The site is tested to support IE6, Mozilla, Firefox and Bobby.

The Publisher is dedicated to supporting all users. If you experience any difficulties using the Website please contact the Publisher at digital.coordinator@NWN.co.uk.

APPENDIX A: LIST OF WEBSITES

www.leaderlive.co.uk
www.chesterfirst.co.uk
www.bordercountiesadvertizer.co.uk
www.countytimes.co.uk
www.denbighshirefreepress.co.uk
www.rhyljournal.co.uk
www.northwalespioneer.co.uk
www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk
www.ellesmereportfirst.co.uk
www.direct2door.co.uk
www.traveltimenow.co.uk
www.nwnmedia.co.uk
www.jobmover.co.uk
www.homesmover.co.uk
www.motormover.net
www.cvmover.co.uk

and any other website operated by a North Wales Newspapers Ltd company

APPENDIX B: LIST OF NEWSPAPERS AND OPERATING COMPANIES

NWN Media Ltd Mold Business Park Mold Flintshire CH7 1XY 01352 707707
the Leader wrexham and Flintshire Mold Business Park Mold Flintshire CH7 1XY 01352 707707
County Times 11c Broad St Welshpool Powys SY21 7LE 01938 553354
Border Counties Advertizer 16-18 Oswald Rd Oswestry Shropshire SY11 1RE 01691 655321
Rhyl Journal Accent House 23 Kinmel Street Rhyl Denbighshire LL18 1AH 01745 357500
Denbighshire Free Press Accent House 23 Kinmel Street Rhyl Denbighshire LL18 1AH 01745 357500
North Wales Pioneer 21 Penrhyn Road Colwyn Bay Denbighshire LL29 8HY
North Wales Chronicle 302 High Street Bangor Gwynedd LL57 1UL 01248387400
Wrexham Leader 45 King Street Wrexham LL11 1HR 01978 355151
The Chester Standard Linenhall House Stanley Street Chester CH1 2LR 01244 304500
the Leader - Chester Edition Linenhall House Stanley Street Chester CH1 2LR 01244 304500
Ellesmere Port Standard Linenhall House Stanley Street Chester CH1 2LR 01244 304500
Direct to Door Unit E1 10th Avenue, Deeside Industrial Park Flintshire 01352 707030