Acceptable Use Policy
1. Introduction
This Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) sets out the standards for taking part in A Cup of Crime. It is a modest document because the Site is a modest place — a review site with ratings, not a platform with accounts and comment boards. Where the line does need drawing, this is where it is drawn.
The AUP works alongside the Terms of Service and other policies. If anything here conflicts with another policy, the AUP governs user conduct. For questions or to report a breach, the contact details are at the bottom.
2. Who this applies to
Everyone who uses the Site: visitors, the readers who rate reviews, and any person or organisation that accesses, uses or interacts with the Site in any way. A Cup of Crime is run by David O’Connell.
3. What is not acceptable on the Site
You agree not to use the Site in any of the following ways.
3.1 Illegal or unlawful activity
No use of the Site that breaks any applicable law or regulation — covering, among other things, intellectual property, defamation, fraud, computer misuse and harassment.
3.2 Gaming the ratings
The Site’s vote tallies exist to reflect genuine reader opinion. You may not use scripts, bots, multiple devices or any other method to inflate or distort ratings or “fair / unfair” verdicts, or to manipulate the apparent reception of a review. Vote honestly and once.
3.3 Scraping and automated access
You may not use any automated means — bots, spiders, crawlers, scrapers or similar — to bulk copy the Site’s content without written permission, to overload the Site’s servers, or to interfere with its working. Feeding large amounts of the Site’s writing into automated tools is treated as scraping and is not allowed without permission.
3.4 Unauthorised access
You may not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Site’s server, database, or any part of it that is not intended for public visitors, or to probe or test its security. (The server-side vote store, for example, is deliberately protected from downloads; leave it alone.)
3.5 Harassment and abuse
You may not use the Site to harass, stalk, threaten or abuse any person, including the public figures written about. Critical reviews of a programme are fair game; personal abuse of people is not.
3.6 Impersonation
You may not impersonate David O’Connell, the Site, or anyone else, or falsely claim an affiliation you do not have.
3.7 Misleading content
You may not use the Site to spread false claims, misinformation or deceptive material about the programmes, people or companies discussed.
3.8 Spam
You may not use the Site to send, post or distribute spam, junk communications or unsolicited promotional material, or to harvest contact or personal details from other users.
4. User-generated content
At present the Site does not host user accounts, comment boards or uploads, so there is no user-submitted content to govern. The one user action the Site records is a vote, which is covered above and by the Privacy Policy.
If interactive features — such as comments — are ever added, this AUP will be updated in plain sight to cover what users may post, and users would be responsible for their own contributions. Until then, everything you can leave on the Site is a star and a yes-or-no verdict, and the boundary really is that simple.
5. Enforcement
The Site may take reasonable action to stop conduct that breaks this AUP: for example, ignoring or discounting tampered-with votes, blocking an IP or device that is abusing the ratings, and taking steps under the Terms of Service or applicable law against more serious misuse.
The Site is not obliged to police every visitor, and enforcement is at its discretion. It will, however, take seriously and act on clear, specific reports of abuse. If you see something that appears to breach this AUP, report it with the page in question and what you saw, using the contact details below.
6. Third-party content
Reviews link to third-party sites and discuss programmes owned by others. Conduct on those third-party sites is governed by their own terms, not this AUP.
7. Governing law
This AUP is governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles.
8. Changes to this policy
This AUP may be updated as the Site’s features change, with a new “last updated” date at the top. Because it is written to match a simple Site, a future change will mean a change in what the Site does — comments, say — rather than a change for its own sake.
9. Contact
David O’Connell
A Cup of Crime
Email: admin@acupofcrime.com
Phone: (631) 956 4581