Terms of Use

Please read the following before registering an account or and/or logging in to the web site. Registering an account on the site constitutes that you have read and agreed to all guidelines stated here. If you do not wish to abide by these terms, please do not register or log in on this web site.

1. Web Site Purpose

   MovingOn.org was created for people born and/or raised in the religious group known as The Children of God or The Family. While the majority of participants are people who have left, second or third generation young people who still live in Family communes are welcome to participate on here as well.

   Friends and relatives of participants are also welcome here, as are those who were raised in other isolated communities and those who joined The Family as adults. However, the web site's primary purpose is to discuss life in and after the Family for those born and/or raised in it, so please respect that this is "our space". Please note that users who were not born and/or raised in The Family who cannot respect our space may be blocked from participation at the administrators' discretion.

   The purpose of this web site is twofold:

   1. To provide a forum for open and frank discussion on the unique experience of being raised in The Family, on life after the group and how we have adjusted (or not).
   2. To connect with real people. The purpose of this web site is also to provide a place to connect with old friends, to make new friends and to find support among those few people who understand the unusual background of someone who was raised in The Family.

   This web site is all about free speech and the opinions and beliefs of many of the participants vary greatly on almost every topic--often resulting in frequent and lively debate. This is something that keeps this site interesting. There is no belief, opinion or point of view that someone must adhere to participate on this web site. All that is asked is the understanding that if we have lived through it, then we know what we are talking about.

2. Responsibility

   This web site is a free service, privately owned and funded by Julia McNeil. She accepts full and sole liability for all content posted here. She can be reached directly at jules@movingon.org.

   The web site is managed by administrators who handle inquiries, administer the web site and address concerns from participants. They can be reached at admin@movingon.org .

   Articles are posted by editors, who are indicated on the main page for each section. They spell check articles and may re-categorize them if they deem it appropriate.

3. Code of Conduct

   We ask that all participants respect the following code of conduct. The administrators will investigate any reported infringement and may monitor any submission, activity, and content associated with the web site in this regard. Content that violates this code of conduct will be deleted and users who persist in violating these guidelines may be blocked from this web site. Please also be aware that the admins may report any activity they consider to put others in immediate harm to appropriate authorities.

   1. Invasion of Privacy

      Each participant has the right to anonymity and privacy and the responsibility to respect the privacy of others. If you wish to get to know someone better and make personal contact, please do it privately.

      Please do not post in any submission, including public chat discussions, comments, articles, and images, personally identifiable information regarding another user, their families, or yourself on this website, (except where designated in Item 3 below). Personally identifiable information is defined as:

      • Pictures of another person without their consent. Please especially do not post images of minors without parental consent.
      • The full name of another person. If you must post your own full name, please do so with caution.
      • The address (city, town, street and/or house) or phone/fax number of another person or yourself.
      • The email address of another person. If you wish to provide another user with your personal contact details, we encourage the use of the email forwarding service provided by the site, or the private message service provided in the chartroom. If you wish to post your own email address, please do so with caution and please note that you may receive an increase in SPAM emails if you post your email address anywhere online.
      • The medical history or medical information regarding any another person. If you post medical information about yourself, please do so with utmost caution, especially if you have used your full name on the web site.
      • Financial information (credit card, bank account number, etc.) of any person or yourself.
      • Personal details that could associate another user's web site nick name with their real life identity, if they have not already published these themselves. Personal details include but are not limited to, another user's private alliances and friendships, another user's educational background, professional and/or occupational background, and the legal names and/or locations of another user's relatives.
      • Confidential correspondence between people. This may include private emails, private instant messages, online chats, phone calls, etc. in which there was a reasonable expectation of privacy and the correspondent was not a public figure (spokesperson, representative, agent, leader, etc.)
      
      
   2. Harassment, Cyber-Stalking and Threats

      Harassment on this web site is defined as:

      • Consistent provocation or flaming of one user by another one.
      • Continually posting negative or derogatory responses to a specific user regardless of the content of their posts or opinion.
      • Repeatedly disclosing personal information (see point 1) about another user.

      This type of interaction is not permitted on this web site and users who persist in this will be banned.

      Closely related to harassment is stalking. Stalking has been described as "a form of mental assault, in which the perpetrator repeatedly, unwantedly, and disruptively breaks into the life-world of the victim, with whom he[/she] has no relationship (or no longer has)....Moreover, the separated acts that make up the intrusion cannot by themselves cause the mental abuse, but do taken together (cumulative effect)." [1]

      Cyber-stalking is much the same, but takes place through emails and in web site forums. It has been defined as: "threatening behaviour or unwanted advances directed at another using the Internet and other forms of online and computer communications"[2]. This behaviour is illegal in many places and the administrators will take action to protect participants from any such intimidation on this web site.

      Please do not threaten other users on this web site. Please be aware that definite threats of violence against another user will be reported to the police or other relevant authorities by the administrators.

   3. Defamation

      While all opinions are welcome, please refrain from making statements that contain false or misleading indications of origin, or untrue statements of fact, about other people. Opinion, second and third hand accounts and hearsay should be clearly identified as such. Please do not post in any submission, material that you know or reasonably should know to be false or materially misleading, or that is libelous or defamatory. While we do not arbitrate disputes between participants, we do not wish to see harm come to anyone through defamation and we take complaints of this sort seriously.

      If you believe something on this web site to be libelous, please contact the administrators immediately and inform them of your concerns. Please note that in order to be investigated the content must be both untrue and posted as a statement of fact, not just an opinion. If you believe content on here regarding you to meet this definition, please specify the content in an email to the administrators and it will be promptly investigated.

      Please do not impersonate another user, either by using the anonymous comment option, or by trying to seem as though you are using another person's nick name. Contributions deemed to be deliberately misleading as to the poster's identity, may be deemed defamatory, and action taken accordingly.

      In regards to first hand statements from victims of childhood abuse, MovingOn fully supports survivors in both naming their abusers and detailing the abuse. We will both protect the survivor's anonymity if they so choose and will stand behind their right to tell their own life experience.

      On occasion, naming an abuser or predator may result in naming a user, a relative or acquaintance of another user. In these circumstances, the right of a survivor to tell their own account would outweigh the right of privacy. However, please do not include uninvolved parties in discussions of this nature. People are not responsible for the actions of their parents, friends or siblings.

   4. Feuds and Objectionable Content

      If there is a personal matter or disagreement that occurs on the site or otherwise, and is not related to being born and/or raised in The Family, please do not use this web site as a forum for feuding. Such content, if deemed unrelated to the purpose of the site, will be removed.

      This web site supports each individual's freedom of speech and expression and welcomes debate and discussion. However, if a dispute or debate is conducted in a manner that constitutes flaming or harassment, the Admin may at its sole discretion, relocate the dispute or debate to the "Trailer Park".

   5. Explicit Content and Inappropriate Images

      Please do not post explicit or pornographic images or content. Pornography is determined by the administrators and will be deleted.

   6. SPAM and other unacceptable use

      Users may, if they so choose, post comments anonymously, to not associate their comments with their web site nick name. However, anonymously posting comments in support of one's own argument or comments is deemed to be an abuse of anonymous posting.

      Please do not intentionally resubmit the same or similar material. Such submissions will be deemed SPAM, and will be deleted. Admin will, in their sole discretion determine what constitutes SPAM, and how such incidents of SPAM should be handled.

      Please do not post in any submission, content or links to content, which contain a virus or other malicious or harmful components. Please do not use the web site, name, trademarks, or other intellectual property of MovingOn in conjunction with the sending of unsolicited email.

   7. Copyright and Trademark Infringements

      Please do not post material that infringes on another party's copyrights. This includes content that violates, plagiarizes or infringes on the rights of third parties including copyright, trademark, patent or any other proprietary right.

      If material posted on this web site violates a copyright, the copyright holder should clearly identify themselves through email to an administrator with the proof of copyright and the content will be promptly removed.

      If you believe that content on this web site infringes on any trademark, please contact the administrators with the following documentation, material that meets these criteria will be removed.

      • That you have a protectable right to a certain trademark.
      • That there is a confusingly similar mark posted in such a way that it creates a likelihood of confusion, mistake and/or deception with the consuming public
      
      
   8. User IDs and passwords

      Each user solely bears the responsibility to safeguard his/her user ID and password. Your login is for your use, and your use only. Should your login be abused by a third party, admins will consider such use as yours, and may restrict or block your access to the site.

4. Other Important Issues
   1. Changes and amendments to these terms of use

      MovingOn may change any of these terms and conditions contained in this Agreement, the privacy policy, and any other policies and guidelines governing the use of the site and it's services, at any time and at its sole discretion.

   2. Communication between the site and its users

      Users are deemed notified by the admins, upon the sending of an e-mail to the address provided in the user's profile, and/or via postings on the site.

      The admins accept as notification, notices and inquiries submitted via email to the administrators.

   3. Cancellation of User Account

      To cancel your user account, please notify MovingOn by email to the administrators. All account cancellations received by the admins will be effective upon receipt.

   4. No Waiver

      Our failure to strictly enforce any provision of this TOU will not constitute a waiver of the right to subsequently enforce any provisions of these terms.

   5. Severability

      If any provisions of this Agreement shall be deemed unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these terms and conditions and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

1. Royakkers, 3 Cal. Crim. L. Rev. 2 (Oct. 2000) http://www.boalt.org/bjcl/v3/v3royakkers.htm

2. The National Center for Victims of Crime. Cyber-Stalking http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx?dbName=DocumentViewer&DocumentID=32458