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*TERMS OF SERVICE
Zookeeper’s Lounge provides the services to you, the visitor, based on its Terms of Service outlined here. When using the services provided by Zookeeper’s Lounge, you are subject to these posted terms. Usage of the services on this site denotes acceptance of these terms. The TOS may be changed at any time and without direct notice to individual visitors, so it is recommended that you check back with this page at any time you have questions or concerns.


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*MATERIAL MISREPRESENTATION
At any point if a user is found to have grossly misrepresented that which he/she knows to be true which has the potential to damage, harm, injure, or cause similar result to ZKL or another user, the site owner and/or administrators will immediate remove the user from the forum and take any action deemed necessary to rectify the situation as best they see fit.

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*REGISTRATION & AGE LIMIT

The minimum age for registration on this site is 13 years and older. People under the age of 13* will be removed from the forum unless they have a parental permission form mailed to the address provided on the COPPA form.

You do NOT have to be registered to download from ZKL; in most cases (in most sections) you do have to be registered to post in the forums.

You should have ONLY ONE registered username! There is no need for more than one - users who are found to use 2 or more registered usernames will be removed from the forum.

IF you forget your password, e-mail an admin; tell him/her your username and they will help you obtain a new password to log back in.

You may NOT change your username. If you have a good reason to have your username changed, PM an admin, who will take your request under advisement.

Users are solely responsible for protecting their accounts from access by others. You are strongly encouraged to select a hard-to-guess password and not re-use that password on any other sites where it may be read by the owners or administrators of that site.


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*PRIVACY AND RELEASE OF INFORMATION
Under normal circumstances, Zookeeper’s Lounge will never release your provided information to any third party without a court order requiring us to do so. However, in cases of certain severe and/or repeated TOS violations or illegal activities, we reserve the right to forward any and all known information about you and your accounts to your ISP (including libraries, schools, and places of employment), e-mail service provider, your ISP account owner (if someone else is actually paying for it), and any parties whose copyright has clearly been infringed by your actions on the boards.


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*CONTENT NOTICE
By viewing the site content, you agree that all content on the Zookeeper’s Lounge Message Boards is the responsibility of the person from which the content originated. You agree that neither Zookeeper’s Lounge nor its sponsors or affiliates are responsible for all content that you personally post or upload. Zookeeper’s Lounge does not directly control any content posted on the boards, and does not guarantee the truthfulness or quality of any content. You agree that while using the Zookeeper’s Lounge message boards, you may be exposed to content that is offensive or objectionable, and that you will in no way hold Zookeeper’s Lounge nor its sponsors or affiliates or staff liable in any way, shape, or form for any harm or loss that may come to you or others as a result of viewing this content. Zookeeper’s Lounge and its staff is not responsible for screening content before it is posted, although an offensive language filter is installed on the system that will reject certain posts that may contain certain words deemed offensive or used most often in an offensive way. In all manners, we strive to provide content oriented towards all ages as best possible.


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*AVATARS & SIG PICS

All avatars MUST be less than 64 pixels by 64 pixels.
Anything larger than this must be approved by a site admin.

Each person should be using ONLY ONE sigpic.
Your sigpic should not measure more than 375 pixels wide by 75 pixels high.

Your avatar should NOT be the same as your sigpic.

Anyone who has a problem with these rules can contact a site admin by PM and they will discuss the issue with you.

Since you have been warned, you will receive a PM to change your avatar or sigpic.
If you do not respond in what the staff deems an appropriate amount of time,
an admin will change the violating avatar/sigpic.

SIGPICs are NOT and will not be kept on this site.
For Information on possibly having one made for you, please e-mail Luna Manar at lunamanar@aol.com

AVATARS in the ZKL gallery are as they are; there are no current plans to update the gallery.
You are still welcome to link to offsite avatars as long as they meet the size requirements listed above.

Do NOT post if someone's avatar or sig pic is beyond the limits acceptable for this forum; instead PM the user or notify an admin. Posts of this nature will be deleted when found.

Do NOT solicit opinions on your avatar or sig pic. Posts like this will be deleted when found. Incidental (unsolicited) commenting on whether or not you like someone's avatar or sig pic is allowed, provided that it does not take a thread too off topic, but this should usually be handled in a PM.


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*OTHER ZOO TYCOON SITES & FORUMS

There is a special section in ZKL for you to post about your Zoo Tycoon website. Please place all posts related to 'advertising' (i.e. soliciting new members) for other sites related to ZT there.

There is NO section for posts regarding non-ZT sites. If you have a non-ZT site, you may 'advertise' it in your signature and/or place a link in your user profile.

IF you openly advertise a non-ZT website for commercial purposes (i.e. to sell things to others via the internet) in a thread, you will be subject to immediate removal from the forum.

IF you belong to another site/forum at which you have problems or issues with the manner in which it is run, do NOT post it at Zookeeper Lounge. We support Zoo Tycoon fan sites, their members, and their hard-working staff. Please take up those issues with the admin(s) of the particular site itself instead of posting any concerns or complaints here. It is potentiallsy hurtful and may give false impressions. If you post in opposition to the rule above, you will be subject to immediate removal from the forum.


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*COPYRIGHT ISSUES

Please be aware that Zookeeper Lounge does not condone violation of United States and international copyright laws.

When linking to an offsite image, please be aware of any copyright posted on/about the given image. If in doubt, contact the webmaster hosting the image. Linking to offsite images can send unwanted traffic to a website and eat up website bandwidth.

This is a very serious issue which could result in another webmaster contacting our hosting company with a cease and desist to have this website shut down for copyright violation.

If you link to an offsite image in opposition to the rule above and a complaint is lodged against you, you will be subject to immediate removal from the forum.


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*CREATOR'S RIGHTS

Microsoft/Blue Fang were gracious enough to include the ability to edit/make new objects and animals for Zoo Tycoon via APE.

Zookeeper Lounge does not condone the stealing of any work from any developer from any site (be it ZKL or another user's site). ZKL recognizes "creator's rights" - the principle claim of a developer to protect his/her hard work.

{Microsoft/Blue Fang have given APE users "free reign" to modify any of their objects/animals as long as one does not profit from these modifications.}

If you create an object or animal using another person's object/animal, you must first ask for permission to "piggyback" on that developer's creation.

If the developer says no, do not use his/her object or animal. You must find another starting point for your idea. Otherwise it is considered stealing!

In a situation where two independent people create the same object/animal there is no need to fight. Each object/animal must still be submitted for ZKL testing and each object/animal can be released by ZKL when completed.

IF any of the mods or admins find out your creation was made from STOLEN object/animal, there will be severe consequences, including but not limited to: deletion of object/animal from ZKL and banning of the offending thief.


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*RANKS & POST COUNTS

Zookeeper Lounge currently has a system in place that lists a user "rank" based upon the number of posts the user has made.

We recognize this is a fun system and enjoyable to see other users ranks and watch yourself change ranks as your number of posts increase.

That being said, we will not tolerate posting in order to change your rank. If you are found doing so, you will be removed from the forum.

If you want to comment on someone else's rank, you should send them a PM. In rare instances, an admin or moderator may start a thread about user ranks; in this case only - in that particular thread - is it okay to comment on user ranks or ask questions (other than in a PM, as noted below). It is still unacceptable to post to change your rank.

You should NOT start threads that denote your current/new rank
e.g. "I'm a Queztal Keeper now!"

You should NOT start threads that denote your current/new post count
e.g. "I have 5,000 posts now!" or "Only 5 more posts and I'll have 200!"

There is NOT a complete list available for you to see all the ranks; please do not ask for one. Part of the fun is the surprise. :wink:
Questions about ranks are generally best handled in a PM to an admin.

If it is determined that ranks are becoming a distraction or detriment to the forum they will be removed with no notice at the admin's discretion.


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*LANGUAGE & USAGE

Zookeeper Lounge recognizes that we have many members from around the world that speak and write in many languages.

The official language of this forum is English. All posts should be in English. Or if a post is in a language other than English, it must include an English translation.

PMs are allowable in any language, so long as both the sender and receiver can read the given language. Do not send posts in a non-English language to a user if you are unsure whether or not he/she will be able to read it.

Cursing or profanity in any language is NOT allowed. If you question whether or not any particular word is unacceptable, it is best to not use that word. There is no excuse for anyone to use profanity even when it is disguised with "****" asterisks. Cursing will not be tolerated and could lead to your removal from the forum.


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*TOPIC REPOSTS

If you have posted a request in a thread somewhere in ZKL there is no need to repost the same idea/request/topic in another section. The redundancy costs ZKL money and wastes time and space.

If threads of this nature are found they will be locked and most likely deleted.
If you repeatedly repost topics it can lead to your removal from the forum.

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*CONTRABAND TOPICS

Certain topics are not deemed appropriate for this forum.
This is a Zoo Tycoon forum - dedicated to discussing the Zoo Tycoon PC game and ancillary topics and issues related to Zoo Tycoon.

* Religious debates and/or in-depth religious discussions (casual mention of religion is not inappropriate)
* Political debates and/or in-depth political discussions (including war debates)
* Racial and/or Nationality topics (casual mention of your nationality is not inappropriate; people of all races, colors, countries, and creeds are welcome here.)
* other topics as they become known may be added and all will be alerted when that occurs

If threads of these topics are found they will be locked and most likely deleted.
If you repeatedly post these types of topics it can lead to your removal from the forum.


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*INAPPROPRIATE POSTS

Certain issues do not warrant posting threads and are not deemed appropriate for this forum. Please do not overstep the bounds of the following which we don't want to see posted:

personal issues- personal issues and crisis should be discussed in PMs - not on the forum.

posts asking the following questions:
Do you like me? Should I leave? Should I stay?
Are you bored? Can we talk? is anybody here? are you there? etc... etc..

SPAM - one word posts, only one smilie posts, reposting what someone just wrote, bringing up points that have nothing to do with the topic in general, etc. etc. All of these can be considered SPAM (but note not everything that is SPAM may be listed here...) And don't forget, a post saying "that post was SPAM!" is just as much SPAM as the former post. If you want to report SPAM, PM a moderator or admin.

flooding - anything that causes you to have to scroll over on the page, such as massive repeating of letters or smilies. also repeating a phrase over and over and over again in the post or multiple replies of the same post is considered flooding (e.g. "locust swarms" and the like).

abuse of smilies or other images - smilies and emoticons are welcome in this forum, however, posts that flood (see above) the forum with multiple smilies or other images will be deleted. We will also delete any threads started for the sole purpose of posting just smilies or emoticons.

insults/rudeness/threats to other members - not everyone is a Zoo Tycoon whiz or great with computers or fixing problems. Do not insult other members here. You do not need to call someone a "stupid noob" or curse all newbies in any response. Instead be more constructive: point out where a topic has already been discussed; show where one can learn to use APE; explain why an object cannot be made, etc.

If threads of these topics are found they will be locked and most likely deleted.
If you repeatedly post these types of topics it can lead to your removal from the forum.


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*BANNED USERS

Banned users are not to be discussed in public threads. If you have a question regarding why a user was banned or if a ban will be lifted or any question related to a banning, you may PM one of the site administrators.

If threads of these topics are found they will be locked and deleted.
If you repeatedly post these types of topics it can lead to your removal from the forum.


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*THESE RULES ARE NOT OPEN TO DISCUSSION.
* ANY THREADS DISCUSSING THESE TOPICS WILL BE DELETED.
*IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THESE RULES, PLEASE PM ONE OF THE ADMINS.