Welcome to the Edgewater Message Board, operated continuously since 1999 by EdgewaterOnline.com. We’d like to describe some of the features, plus say a few words about the terms of use of this message board forum so you can be guided accordingly before you post here.

Features

• Customizable Threads: you can choose from a wide variety of formats to display the message board - experiment with these options to see which format you prefer
• Messages Displayed: you can set the message board to display as many (or as few) messages as you'd like to view - you can even go back to the very beginning of the forum and start at message number 1!
• E-Mail Notification of New Posts: just set your preferences to be notified via e-mail whenever new messages have been posted
• Search Feature: just enter your search terms and the board will retrieve all messages containing those words within your specified time range
• Spell Checking: clean up your message before you post
• Review Prior to Posting: you can choose to edit your message before you post it “live”
• User Profiles: you can create and edit your own unique user profile, and view the profiles of other regular contributors
• Stored Preferences: if you enable/accept cookies, the board will remember your user name and e-mail address, password, etc. during your session

There is a brief delay before messages actually appear in our forum, so please don’t resubmit the same message repeatedly because you did not see your message immediately on the board.

Guidelines

Some people are always looking for rules. “My post didn’t appear - where are your rules?”, they’ll demand with righteous indignation, feeling they’ve been wronged. Well, the short answer is: the rules are whatever we feel at any given moment. It’s totally arbitrary. We may decide we don’t like your hairstyle on a given day, and your messages won’t appear. You see, this message board is but a part of our web site, which is a privately owned and operated web site, and we therefore decide in our sole discretion what content will and will not be placed on our web site. We’re not the government, we’re a private business; this is not a democracy, and there’s no First Amendment right to “freedom of speech” here, or any right to put anything on any part of our web site. Posting a message or communication on our web site, or chatting in our chat room, is a privilege that we’re extending you. When you send in a letter to the editor of a newspaper, there’s no guarantee that it’s going to be published - at all, in its entirety, or unedited. Think of us as a virtual editor that at any time might crumble up your message into a ball and toss it into a virtual trash can.

But to avoid that from happening, we can offer some guidance, and here’s the first main guideline: don’t say anything negative about our participating advertising businesses. They’re the reason the site was created and exists in the first place. We don’t have to have a message board forum at all, this site would still exist without it, so remember what this is all about. EOL is a web site; EOL is not a message board. The message board forum is but a part of our web site. And it’s here today, but we could arbitrarily decide that it’s gone tomorrow. Or we could decide to do some housekeeping to free up some server space, and delete all past messages and start anew. Or we could decide to purge messages that are older than a week/two weeks/a month/etc. on an ongoing basis.

Second main guideline: don’t post anything that references local businesses who are NOT among our participating advertisers. We do not allow advertising or promotion of any business or commercial enterprise other than our participating advertisers - this is a commercial site, and our advertisers pay to advertise here, so it would not be fair to allow others to mention for free by way of postings on the message board.

Third main guideline: think of us in the same class as our participating advertisers. Be gracious to your host if you want to enjoy the privilege of participating here. Behave courteously when you’re in someone else’s house. Or you will be asked to leave and not be invited back.

Edgewater Online is a “family-friendly” site, and we do not permit (and will summarily remove or edit) postings or user profiles which we in our sole discretion find to be offensive or inappropriate. Anyone abusing the forum or using it to annoy or harass others will be prohibited from participating. Do not post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-oriented or any other material that may violate any applicable laws. Doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned (and your service provider being informed). The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. We have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic at any time should we see fit. As a user, you understand that any information you have entered is being stored in a database, and the webmaster, administrator, and moderators cannot be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised. While we will attempt to remove or edit any generally objectionable material as quickly as possible, it is impossible to review every message. Therefore, you acknowledge that all posts made to this forum expresses the views and opinions of the author and not the administrators, moderators, or webmaster (except for posts by these people) and hence will not be held liable.

Lastly, please make sure to post your message in the appropriate thread. They're usually pretty straightforward and clearly delineated. Spamming, pyramid schemes, MLM schemes, chain letters, and duplicate postings in multiple threads are not permitted.

By using this forum you acknowledge that you understand the above and agree to be bound thereby.