Guidelines for Membership and Participation in the James Patterson
Community
These Guidelines are for all who visit this Site and participate in
it in any way, including, without limitation, those who create
their own personal pages, participate in readers’ groups, invite
friends, send messages, or upload or embed photos or videos. We
will do our best to keep this community a place where all members
feel safe and comfortable. As in all communities, real and virtual,
guidelines are necessary. To ensure a pleasant atmosphere, all
participants are required to abide by the following guidelines. We
reserve the right in our sole discretion to terminate your account,
deny you access to this Site, not post any matter you contribute or
to delete your material if you fail to comply with these
Guidelines.
2. Mr. Patterson may participate on this Site from time to time. If
you have something to tell or send to your favorite author, we
can't guarantee that he'll be able to respond or write you back,
but your messages will be read.
Please be aware that Mr. Patterson and Hachette Book Group USA do
not accept or read unsolicited story ideas or manuscripts. So, if
you send any idea or manuscript through this Site, it will be
deleted and, however sent, will not be forwarded to the author or
any Hachette Book Group USA employee or otherwise responded to.
Also, please note that, by submitting content to this Site, you are
deemed automatically to grant us the perpetual, worldwide right to
use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, distribute,
perform and display such content (in whole or in part) in any and
all media, and to license others to do so. You also grant us the
right to include with any such use your username.
3. You agree to choose an appropriate username (no obscene words or
phrases), provide accurate information (i.e., full, true name and
current, valid e-mail address), and promptly update this
information if it should change. You acknowledge that you will not
impersonate any other person, including any other member of this
community. All material and information that you submit shall be
true.
4. Please do not join the community more than once. This can cause
confusion and disruption in the community. Anyone registering with
more than one username will be notified to choose one only.
Duplicate accounts will be deleted.
5. Your words are your own. Lively participation is vital to the
community's success, but please remember that we are communicating
without the benefit of body language and voice inflection. Words
can sometimes be misinterpreted. It is imperative that participants
converse in a courteous, respectful manner. Differing opinions and
viewpoints are normal and foster lively debate, but please keep
your comments relevant to the subject being discussed and not about
the person who offers a differing opinion than your own. Personal
attacks, harassing, offensive, vulgar, abusive, hateful or bashing
comments — especially those aimed at sexual orientation, gender,
race, color, religious views, national origin or disability — and
threats, whether aimed at participants, the author, Hachette Book
Group USA or others are not allowed. You can and will be held
legally liable for what you do and say.
6. Any opinions and recommendations expressed in the community are
those of the person expressing such views and not those of the
author or Hachette Book Group USA; neither the author nor Hachette
Book Group responsible for and do not assume any liability for the
comments and opinions expressed by participants. You agree to hold
Hachette Book Group USA, the author, and their respective
affiliates, employees, and those who administer this Site free of
responsibility for any potentially damaging content posted by you
or other participants. You acknowledge that we do not control and
do not edit the specific content of your messages by
participants.
7. Any unlawful, harmful, threatening, sexually explicit, abusive,
harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, racial and/or ethnic slurs;
hateful content; or otherwise objectionable material, including
profanity and/or redacted profanity (symbols, such as * and #, used
in place of letters), as we determine in our sole discretion, is
prohibited.
8. Your safety and privacy — as well as those of others — are
important to us. Posting personal information may seem like a
friendly gesture, but do you really want to disclose your phone
number publicly or make it available to a stranger? Please, keep
your own and anyone else's personal information private. This
includes street addresses, phone numbers, passwords, Social
Security numbers, the name of your children, schools, etc.
9. Do not post or incorporate any copyrighted or trademarked
material, including material from the author’s books, unless you
have the express written consent of the copyright or trademark
owner to do so. This includes text, graphics, graphic files,
pictures and advertisements from other web sites, etc., whether
uploaded or embedded in your communications.
10. This Site is not the place to seek customers or clients.
Solicitations and/or advertisements will be deleted.
11. Please be polite! Posting the same material repeatedly,
anywhere on this Site is prohibited. Duplicate material will be
deleted. Please do not copy another participant’s material and post
it in another part of this Site or anywhere else. We discourage
disruptive conduct; persistent off-topic comments; and comments
that incite others to violate the Privacy
Policy, Terms
of Service, or Guidelines.
12. Content on this site is for information and entertainment
purposes only and is in no way intended to be a substitute for
medical or other professional (e.g., legal) consultation or
advice.
13. When you join the community, we will add you to our weekly
JamesPatterson.com eNewsletter list (if we don't see that you
already have subscribed to it). The collection, use and disclosure
of your personal information is governed by the Privacy
Policy. If you decide that you no longer wish to subscribe to
the JamesPatterson.com eNewsletter, you may request to be
unsubscribed by following the link at the bottom of the
eNewsletter. Please allow four weeks for your request to become
effective and note that the request to unsubscribe will only apply
to those email address(es) that you provide in you request.
14.Those who administer this Site will do their best to monitor
material that you and others provide to the site, but please
remember that those who do that may not be available 24 hours a
day, seven days a week. If you find objectionable material, it is
best not to comment about it on the Site. Instead, send an email
message about you concerns to patterson.assistant@hbgusa.com.
Also, please report any misuse or misconduct by email to patterson.assistant@hbgusa.com.
As soon as possible, we will review the situation and determine
what action, if any, needs to be taken. Occasionally, we may need
to communicate with you personally concerning your participation or
related matters. Those communications are not intended to be made
public, and you agree not to post those communications on the site
or anywhere else.
15. We reserve the right to modify these Guidelines in whole or in
part from time to time, and we will notify you by posting revised
Guidelines to the Site. Your continued participation on the Site
after the revision will constitute your acceptance of the revised
Guidelines.