Code of Conduct

Last updated February 15, 2020

OVBE® offers a place to establish and develop a business network via the internet and also through various activities that happen in the real (as opposed to virtual) world.

By using the OVBE web site and associated service (whether or not you choose to become a member) or by attending any events sponsored by members of OVBE, you agree to accept this Code of Conduct. This Code of Conduct is an adjunct portion of the Service Agreement, which may be reviewed here: OVBE code of conduct.

We may modify terms of this Code of Conduct from time to time at our sole discretion by updating the web page. If you do not agree with these terms as posted, you are prohibited from using the OVBE Service as discussed in the Service Agreement.

Specifically, your obligations are as follows:

1. Conduct and Content

While using or accessing the Service--directly or indirectly--you agree to adopt a courteous and constructive tone and practice good etiquette. More importantly, you agree NOT to engage in any of the following actions, even if they do not constitute a breach of any applicable laws:

a. threaten, disrupt, inflame, intimidate, libel, stalk, defame, or defraud any individual, entity, or group on any basis including but not limited to age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, religion or disability or encourage anyone else to do so;

b. post, publish, or transmit any text, graphics, or material that is illegal or violates local and national laws or any text that contains, encourages, advocates, or expresses obscenity, child pornography, the making or buying of illegal weapons or illegal drugs, hatred, bigotry, racism, vulgarity, gratuitous violence or the use of weapons; c. harm or exploit minors in any way including collecting personally identifiable information such as name, email address, home address, phone number, or school;

d. invade privacy by attempting to collect, store, or publish private or personally identifiable information, including without limitation password information, account information, credit card numbers, addresses, or other contact information;

e. modify or falsify the source of any content or information, impersonate another individual, OVBE representative, or moderator, or falsely state or misrepresent affiliation with a person or entity;

f. disrupt, harm or inappropriately access any computer, network, server or telecommunication system or violate related security or operational procedures, policies or regulations;

g. flood, overload, or mail bomb any mail service or transmit or transfer any harmful or disruptive viruses, worms, computer code, files, or programs;

h. infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other proprietary rights or violate contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as insider, proprietary, or confidential information);

i. encourage or instruct unauthorized copying or circumvention of copy protection or pirating of intellectual property or content including but not limited to software, music, text, photographs, illustrations, and movies;

j. access restricted, password-only, or hidden pages or images (those not linked to or from another accessible page);

k. distribute or disseminate inappropriate, unauthorized or unsolicited advertising or promotional offers including, but not limited to, contests, sweepstakes, barter, junk mail, spam, chain letters, and pyramid schemes;

l. send identical private messages to more than one (1) user at the same time;

m. perform, advertise, promote or mention any form of structural distribution measures (such as multi-level marketing, network marketing, matrix marketing, pyramid sales, or other “get rich quick” schemes);

n. use OVBE messages or member profile content to obtain personally identifiable information, or to solicit or sell unwanted products or services to any member inappropriately;

o. support or help any organization designated by the United States government as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act;

p. create "trolling" posts (trolling is deliberately posting false or provocative information in order to elicit responses from people who would not respond if they knew the motivation behind the post);

q. attempt (i) to access or search the Service with any engine, software, tool, agent, device, or mechanism other than the software or search agents provided by OVBE or other generally available third party web browsers (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox); or (ii) to "frame," "mirror" or otherwise copy any portion of the Site without OVBE's express written authorization.

r. include or create links or otherwise refer to external sites that violate these restrictions

2. Spam Is Prohibited

You will not use the Service to transmit or facilitate the transmission of any unsolicited bulk or commercial email ("Spam"), directly or indirectly. You will not post content: (i) in inappropriate categories (ii) with excessive frequency (iii) in multiple categories or multiple cities, or (iv) with identical or substantially identical text or photography. You will not use unrelated words in content to skew search results. OVBE attracts people who are seeking authentic connections. Unsolicited, repetitive messages or plugs from other OVBE members is unwanted and considered irritating. Behaviors that may trigger people in this community to flag you for spam are: Sending promotional, identical, or repeated messages or invitations to your network Including your website URL in posts, comments or forum threads when it does not relate to the conversation Posting identical articles, events, and comments to OVBE networks that are unrelated to the network topic. Spamming not only damages the experience of people receiving unsolicited messages, but it also damages your reputation in this community. Spamming reflects negatively on OVBE’s reputation as well. For all of these reasons, we take complaints about spam very seriously. We value participation in this community and hope members will be able abide by our spam policy. Ultimately, we have seen the strongest relationships and connections made on OVBE when members truly get to know one another as individuals and focus less on selling to one another; and avoiding spamming altogether. We look forward to seeing authentic participation and genuine relationship building on the site and at events.

3. Child Pornography

In no event will you post--or seek--images of children, whether nude, clothed or partially clothed, in association with sexuality, in any area of the Service. OVBE will attempt to remove any such postings and prohibits any postings or text containing or referring to child pornography, such as those containing the word "lolita" or referring to nude photographs of "girls," "teens" or "children."

4. Violation

While we retain the right to cancel or suspend your Service at any time without cause or notice, we consider the following to be a reasonable basis for termination: (i) suspected violations of the Code of Conduct, Service Agreement, or other guidelines; (ii) extended periods of inactivity; (iii) fraudulent or illegal activities; (iv) age misrepresentation; (v) nonpayment of any fees owed by you in connection with the Service.

5. Member Profile Content

a. Real Names. Members are required to provide their real first and last names in their profile for identification purposes. However, using a nick name is acceptable depending on your desired level of transparency while conducting business. You may not impersonate any person or entity or otherwise misrepresent your identity in your profile. Furthermore, you may not misrepresent your age or your affiliation with any person or entity. Limited exceptions may be allowed by OVBE under special circumstances (e.g. stage names or assumed names that are critical to identifying you with your business). Such exceptions are allowed entirely at the discretion of OVBE.

b. Profile Headshot and Use of Company Logos. Each Member’s profile contains a place for an image of the Member (“Member Headshot”) that is duplicated on the public pages of the site to identify a Member. This image may also contain a logo belonging to a member's business, or a logo created by the member. Included among the features offered in connection with Premium Membership is the ability to add a business logo in a designated space within the Member Profile. Using the OVBE logo for a profile photo or conducting business on behalf of OVBE without permission is prohibited and is grounds for revoking/restricting membership. Notwithstanding, we may remove any image at our discretion and without notice from profiles we deem to be not in compliance with this policy.

c. Adult Content. OVBE allows members to post certain types of content that may be considered sexually explicit ("adult content") in certain places on the site. Adult content includes nudity and images of sexually explicit paraphernalia. Placement of such content is limited to the Member Profile, and is not permissible on the Member Profile Headshot. Such content should also be restricted to private networks and friends, and not made available to members outside of OVBE.

Additional Information

6. Safety

We do our best to keep OVBE safe, but we cannot guarantee it. We need your help to keep OVBE safe, which includes the following commitments by you:

1. You will not post unauthorized commercial communications (such as spam) on OVBE.

2. You will not collect users' content or information, or otherwise access OVBE, using automated means (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers) without our prior permission.

3. You will not engage in unlawful multi-level marketing, such as a pyramid scheme, on OVBE.

4. You will not upload viruses or other malicious code.

5. You will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else.

6. You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user.

7. You will not post content that: is hate speech, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.

8. You will not develop or operate a third-party application containing alcohol-related, dating or other mature content (including advertisements) without appropriate age-based restrictions.

9. You will not use OVBE to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.

10. You will not do anything that could disable, overburden, or impair the proper working or appearance of OVBE, such as a denial of service attack or interference with page rendering or other OVBE functionality.

11. You will not facilitate or encourage any violations of this Statement or our policies.

7. Registration and Account Security

OVBE users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:

1. You will not provide any false personal information on OVBE, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.

2. You will not create more than one personal account.

3. If we disable your account, you will not create another one without our permission.

4. You will not use your personal timeline primarily for your own commercial gain, and will use a OVBE Page for such purposes.

5. You will not use OVBE if you are not 18 or under 18 without parental consent.

6. You will not use OVBE if you are a convicted sex offender.

7. You will keep your contact information accurate and up-to-date.

8. You will not share your password (or in the case of developers, your secret key), let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.

9. You will not transfer your account (including any Page or application you administer) to anyone without first getting our written permission.

10. If you select a username or similar identifier for your account or Page, we reserve the right to remove or reclaim it if we believe it is appropriate (such as when a trademark owner complains about a username that does not closely relate to a user's actual name).

8. Protecting Other People's Rights

We respect other people's rights, and expect you to do the same.

1. You will not post content or take any action on OVBE that infringes or violates someone else's rights or otherwise violates the law.

2. We can remove any content or information you post on OVBE if we believe that it violates this Statement or our policies.

3. Report Claims of Intellectual Property Infringement page via the OVBE contact us page.

4. If we remove your content for infringing someone else's copyright, and you believe we removed it by mistake, we will provide you with an opportunity to appeal.

5. If you repeatedly infringe other people's intellectual property rights, we will disable your account when appropriate.

6. You will not use our copyrights or Trademarks or any confusingly similar marks, except as expressly permitted by our Brand Usage Guidelines or with our prior written permission.

7. If you collect information from users, you will: obtain their consent, make it clear you (and not OVBE) are the one collecting their information, and post a privacy policy explaining what information you collect and how you will use it.

8. You will not post anyone's identification documents or sensitive financial information on OVBE.

9. You will not tag users or send email invitations to non-users without their consent. OVBE offers social reporting tools to enable users to provide feedback about tagging.