Microsoft Web Hosting Gallery Code of Conduct

Thank you for using the Microsoft Web Hosting Gallery site (“Gallery”). We hope that you find the Gallery useful. So that everyone has the best possible experience using it, we have established this baseline code of conduct. Please take a moment to read it. We welcome any comments or feedback you may have. Please let us know how you feel by giving us your suggestions at WebHostingFeedback@microsoft.com.

Community Expectations of You

Microsoft is committed to making this site a great place to meet and interact with others. Your commitment to this code of conduct is important to ensure a positive experience for all participants.

• The Gallery community consists of people from different countries, cultures and beliefs. Please be respectful of others.
• Avoid personal attacks, slurs, and profanity in your interactions, and don’t threaten, harass, stalk, or abuse other participants.
• Microsoft doesn’t condone illegal or unlawful activities. Don’t post any defamatory, infringing, obscene, or other unlawful material or information.
• This is a public space. Don't post anything you don't want the world to see.
• Respect others’ copyrights and other proprietary rights. For example, if you reference, use or paraphrase another person's material, remember to cite sources.
• Don’t use information or feature available on the Gallery to spam others.
• Don’t post advertisements, except for valid hosting offers submitted through the Gallery’s regular submission process.
• Be yourself. Don’t impersonate someone else or claim false credentials.
• You are responsible for your own actions while using the Gallery, including actions you take based on advice or information found on it. Use your good judgment when evaluating the information provided.
• The Gallery is not designed as the primary place to store any materials. Accordingly, you should consider backing up any materials you post, and Microsoft is not responsible for loss, deletion, or alteration of any materials.

• If you are posting a review:

  • Keep your reviews relevant and helpful to others;
  • Do not write false or defamatory reviews, or reviews for which you were offered some form of consideration by the particular hosting provider, either directly or indirectly; and
  • If you are a hosting provider or an employee of one, we ask that you not post any reviews, whether of your own business or your competitors’.

Reducing Spam Associated with Online Communities

Because of the increase in spam sent to posters in online communities, Microsoft advises you to avoid displaying your real e-mail address while participating on the Gallery. Instead you may want to do one of the following:

• Avoid posting any e-mail address at all.
• Use a modified e-mail address that others will understand, but that spam tools can't automatically pick up. For example, if your actual e-mail address is "anonymous@talk.microsoft.com", consider using a modified e-mail address such as: "anonymous@talk.microsoft.com.invalid", or “anonymous@talk.microsoft.com.NO_SPAM".
• Use a secondary e-mail account that is separate from your primary account for your community contributions.

Microsoft reserves the right to immediately remove any posts or offers that it deems inaccurate, inappropriate, offensive, or prohibited under this Code of Conduct. In addition, Microsoft reserves the right to eject or permanently ban a user who behaves in any manner it deems inappropriate, offensive, or prohibited under the Code of Conduct. Microsoft may make changes to the Gallery, the Terms of Use, or this Code of Conduct at any time.