Inactive accounts
User accounts inactive for a period of 30 days are subject to removal. If your account has been removed due to inactivity, simply re-register for a new one.

Removing your own account
You may remove your own account at any time by clicking on the “Edit your profile” link and scrolling to the bottom of the page. There you will find a button marked, “Delete Your Account”. This permanently removes your account, but will not remove your messages. Please do not post messages to this message board if you think you’ll want your messages removed at any point in the future. We will not remove your posts on request.

Guidelines for posting
Be considerate of other users. When writing your messages, please use the same courtesy that you would show when speaking face-to-face with someone. Flames, insults, and personal attacks will not be tolerated. It's fine to disagree strongly with opinions, ideas, and facts, but do so with respect for the other person. Great minds do not always think alike, and that's where the fun is! Also, note that messages express the thoughts of the writers, not the board or its moderators.

Please make an effort to stay on topic. This includes sticking to the theme of the thread you're posting in, as well as staying within the theme of the message board and the web site in general. If you wish to change the subject within an existing thread, be considerate of the thread originator and start a new thread for your discussion. Off-topic posts may also be moved by a moderator or the board administration to a new thread or more appropriate topic.

Posts containing advertising of any kind, including the overt promotion of other web sites, will be removed. This does not generally refer to posts inviting users to check out personal web pages.

Respect the Intellectual Property of others. Do not cut and paste entire news stories or any other possibly copyrighted material to the board. Do not post the entire lyrics to songs. The “Fair Use” exemption to U.S. copyright law usually refers to short excerpts, attributed to the rightful owner. Any posts found to contain copyrighted material will be removed. Any user continually caught plagiarizing copyrighted material will have his or her account removed and IP addresses banned.

If your post is abusive, contains profanity, or is off-topic and could not be moved to an appropriate conversation, your post will be removed. Your post will also be removed if it is deemed not to contain content in any way meaningful to the current thread's discussion, or the message board in general. The board administration and forum moderators reserve the right to make that determination.

What happened to your post?
The message board software automatically archives and deletes material based on certain criteria for measuring thread activity. No long term archives are retained. Archiving and message pruning is regular and automatic. The board administrator and forum moderators do not remove posts for being controversial, or because something negative was said about Whitley Strieber or the board moderators.

Abuse Policy
By opening an account on the Unknown Country message board, you agree not to post any abusive, mocking, obscene, vulgar, hateful, threatening, sexually-explicit, unlawful, harassing, tortious, defamatory or libelous material, nor anything invasive of another's privacy, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable. What constitutes the above description will be at the sole determination of the board administrator.

This message board has a zero-tolerance policy toward abusive behavior, and users will be banned without notice for such behavior. Further, the IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. Purposeful attempts to disrupt the normal operation of this message board will be aggressively investigated and referred to the relevant authorities as necessary.

The administrator and moderators of this forum have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic at any time without notice. Because one person's notion of abusive behavior is different from another's, the moderators and/or board administration will determine what acceptable behavior is and what is not, and their decision is always final.

While the administrators and moderators of this forum will attempt to remove or edit any abusive material as quickly as possible, it is impossible to review every message. Abusive material that remains on the board does not imply acceptance of that material. It simply means we have not seen it. If you are feel you are being harassed or being subjected to abusive and objectionable material, please bring it the attention of the board administrator by sending email to board@unknowncountry.com. Include your name, your username, your account password and a specific description of the problem. Include directions to the post(s) or thread in question.

Any attempt to circumvent the profanity filter will result in your account being removed.

Anyone caught using more than one account will have all accounts closed and removed. If you wish to open a new account, you must close your existing one first.

Asking for help
If you need to write for assistance with your account, or if you have questions regarding the operation and use of the message board, please be certain to include the following information in your letter. If you fail to include the following information, you will only delay any attempt at assisting you.

1.) Tell us your username.
In order to help you, we have to know who you are. This is especially important if your username is different from the name on the email account you are writing from. (for example, if your board username is AlienGuy1, and your email address is jsmith@isp.com, please don't assume we will automagically make the connection between the two.) Likewise, if you sign your email with your real name, but fail to include your username, we might not be able to figure out who you are, especially if you've registered under an alias. If we can't figure out who you are, we can't help you.

2.) Tell us your account password.
Not only does this verify for us that you are the rightful owner of the account, but for privacy reasons we don't keep records of account passwords. Please don't write and ask what your account password is, because we don't know. Only you do. If you forget your password, it can be reset, but not recovered. Keep your password private, keep it safe, and change it occasionally.

3.) Tell us the email address you used to activate your account.
As stated previously, if we can't identify you, we can't help you. Knowing what email address you used to activate your account also helps us verify your identity. If your email address has changed since you registered your account, please take a few moments to update your account profile.

4.) Give us a detailed and specific description of the problem you are experiencing.
When writing for assistance with your account or with questions related to how the board works, it is critical you provide a clear and detailed description of the problem you are experiencing. Many board operations are completely automated and do not normally have any human oversight, so be sure to let us know exactly what you need help with.

The email address board@uknowncountry.com should be used for questions and concerns related to the operation and use of the message board. Questions regarding purchases made at the Unknown Country store should not be sent to this address. Please use store@unknowncountry.com for these questions. All other concerns should use webmaster@unknowncountry.com.

Contacting Whitley Strieber
The email address board@unknowncountry.com is not read by Whitley Strieber, nor is anything sent to that address forwarded to him. It is used by the board administrator to address and respond to concerns or questions about the message board exclusively. Please send any correspondence intended for Whitley Strieber to whitley@unknowncountry.com.

A special notice for AOL users
Unknowncountry.com, Whitley Strieber and the Unknown Country message board are not affiliated with America Online (AOL) in any way, shape or form. We cannot provide information or technical assistance regarding your AOL account. If you are experiencing difficulty with your computer or your AOL account, please contact the AOL Help Desk.

Thank you
Thanks for keeping this message board a lively and interesting exchange of ideas. We hope you enjoy using the board, and we welcome your comments and suggestions.

These terms may change without notice, and your continued use of this message board indicates you agree to these terms notwithstanding any changes. Do not use this message board if you do not agree to these terms.