Hide Terms

This page serves as both our general privacy page and our terms and conditions page. It keeps it more simple to keep all of those goodies in one spot so we can update things without discrepancies.

To get started, here’s a table of contents so you can navigate your way through this stuff (though we just know you love digging through pages of boring terms).

Privacy

To both to be able to block cookies prior to consent for those in areas with privacy laws and to be able to keep the list of cookies that we have on our website more up to date, we use a GDPR/CCPA plugin. This automatically generates region-specific cookie policies. While that is handy, we think that, sometimes, the wording may be strange. In some cases it will say something is for the purposes of “selling information to third parties.” Please understand that this is the language used in, for instance, the CCPA laws and is referring to things such as using analytics or contextual ads which may collect some information on geolocation, user behavior, etc. We do NOT sell our email list with one caveat: if we ever end up selling this website, our email list will go along with it. However, in that case we’ll notify subscribers first.

Automatically generated privacy pages

Terms and Conditons

The following are terms and conditions for various actions you can take on our website. Some may be automatically included in the generic privacy statements listed above but some are too specific to be encompasses in a general privacy policy.

Frequently Asked Questions Forums

In September of 2024 we revised our FAQ format to a forum. While you can find them on this page alongside other forums, or on the FAQ page, we are including them here as well so you can ask a question if you do not see it answered on this page and it can serve as a Q&A to add information to this page.

Note that you must register and log in to participate in forums but that you may read existing information without logging in.

FAQ Forum

Events FAQ Forum

Registration

Users may register on this website for the purposes of participating in forums, submitting content, communicating with others, or accessing other features on the website. We have activation emails set up for new registrations to prevent the large amount of spam registrations that we would get otherwise. When you register, you’ll be sent a confirmation link. You need to follow up on that within one day, otherwise the link expires. We will routinely go and clear out unconfirmed registrations so if you don’t confirm, your new account will be deleted. If you do not get the email, please check your spam folder and be sure to allow emails from hello@pnwbeyond.com.

What we collect

When you register, we initially collect an email address, a name, a username, and a password. We prefer to keep registration relatively simple. However, once you’re registered and logged in, you have access to a user profile in which you can add a wide variety of information.

User roles

Before I go on, I should say a bit about user roles on this website. I won’t go into the higher level admin-type roles, just the basic ones that most regular users will encounter. We may add additional roles if it warrants:

Subscriber

New registrations are given the “subscriber” role. Subscribers can participate in forums, browse the site, enter information on their profile, but cannot access post submission forms or use some of the features like bookmarking, note or photo albums. We put this in place to weed out some types of post submissions we were getting and to reassure ourselves that they were coming from real, adult, humans.

If you are a subscriber and want to be upgraded to the “member” role so you can submit posts, send private messages to admin, and use other site features, you need to simply enter the following on your profile:

1. A first name
2. Upload a user avatar

Enter those things, and you’ll be automatically updated to “member.” If that does not happen, please contact us and let us know.

Member

Members can do most website functions such as submitting posts, using various site features, etc. They can also send a PM to admin if there’s an issue. If you submit a post, however, we will require that you complete a few additional items before we update you to a “contributor” and publish your post: add a bio. And you may want to add a website URL, if you have any.

Contributor

If we publish your post, we’ll update your role to “contributor.” To do so, please ensure you have completed the “bio” section on your profile, added a user avatar, and set up your name the way you’d like it to display. You may also want to add your website URL, a cover image, and social links.

Writer

We experimented some time ago with a revenue sharing program which didn’t take off. But we like the idea of compensating writers who want to participate. If you are interested, go to the “writer’s program” section on this page to learn more.

Event Organizer

Unlike other post types, we allow for event submissions from the community without logging in. We’ve tried to include contact information for anonymous event submitters in our events template but we still, sometimes, get contacted for information about events and have to redirect people. If you create an account, even with subscriber status, you should be able to come back and edit your event but will need to wait for approval for it to get re-published after you make changes. But for local known organizers who routinely submit events with the correct information we will update the user role to “event organizer.” This role comes with the privileges of being able to directly publish events when they are submitted and you will have a custom profile type with event organizer information to share information about your group, which will link from your author box.

Grandfathering of user roles.

We have some existing post written by guest authors as well as some existing community event organizers. As we added some additional requirements for post authors, we needed to decide what to do with existing content. Current members with the Events Organizer role will remain as such and keep their publishing event permissions intact — however, you may see some nagging information on your profile when you go to edit it urging you to fill in some more information if you have not already.

Existing posts will remain published. However, members who have not filled out the few requisite items to be able to access posting forms will need to complete them to submit future posts. Thank you for your understanding.

Profile Privacy

As your profile, if you write posts, serves as your author page, we do not allow users who are profiles which allow post writing to have private profiles. Subscribers and members, however, may make their profile public. We do have a member directory page. However, at the time of this writing it is empty because when we revised our membership system we kept all profiles off the directory.

If you visit your account page (by clicking the gear icon and then “account” you can find privacy settings where you can have more control over who can see what on your profile. You can also delete your data and erase your account (though existing comments will remain to preserve any comment threads), and you can download your photos and delete any albums.

Private Messaging

We have put a private messaging system in place again as it is convenient for us to be able to sometimes communicate this way with people. However, private messaging can also be abused. For now, we have limited private messaging to being able to send message to, or receive messages from, admin. So we can send you a message and you (member role or above) can send us a message, but members cannot currently PM each other. If you would like to be placed in a role where you can receive PMs from registered users and send messages to other members in that role, please contact us and we can set something up.

Deleting Your Account

You may delete your account from a tab on the my account page.

Links in Personal Profiles

There are fields to include links in personal profiles to share your website, social media accounts, etc. We reserve the right to remove certain links. You may not link to such things as adult website, gambling/online casino sites, sites selling drugs and pharmaceuticals, or websites that involve misinformation, discrimination, or hate speech. We reserve the right to remove such links at our discretion and to ban accounts that enter such links. If you see this, please report it to us.

Comments and Forums

Guests can submit comments on posts on this website. Users must be registered to use the forum system.

Forum Rules

These are some simple forum rules. For overall site privacy policy and terms, please see the privacy page. We’ve put these forums in place, first and foremost as a FAQ system so users can report issues, make suggestions, etc. 

But we do like discussions that are on-topic. Please read the following rules:

1. Content: forum posts must be on subjects pertaining to this website
   1. Such as:
      1. The PNW: things to to places to visit, PNW nostalgia, etc
      2. Travel
      3. PNW Nature
      4. Outdoor activities — hiking, cycling, camping, etc.
      5. Questions about this website, suggestions, reported issues, etc.
   2. If you wish to discuss one of the above topics and you do not see an appropriate forum, enter a topic in the general forums. We will likely create an appropriate forum for it and move your topic.
   3. Off-topic posts will be removed without warning.
2. No spam
   1. Posting of offf-topic and promotional links will cause the user to be banned from posting.
   2. New users must have their first three topics/posts approved before they go live.
   3. New users also cannot upload file attachments unless they’ve had a few approved posts.
3. Respect other users. No flaming, harassment, threats, discriminatory or hate speech. Moderators will delete such posts and will ban the user after two warnings.
4. No adult content, gambling content, casino stuff, etc.
5. No reposting of stuff that you don’t own. For instance, you can quote something but cannot post a complete text (unless you wrote it but, hey, we don’t want you posting something that long, anyway). You can post gifs and free photos, but make sure they are not reused without permission. If you use a Flickr photo make sure you know the terms of use. Same goes for other content.

Terms and Conditions for Guest Posting

We accept guest posts by members on some topics. Here’s more about guest posting and what you agree to when you submit a post:

Types of posts and where to submit them

We have a few types of posts on this website. Each come with their own submission form. Note that with the exception of events, you must be registered as a “member” to access post forms. (See “user roles” on this page).

When you submit content, we want an entire post submitted. Please do not email us with post pitches and ideas.

Posts/Articles

For main posts, you can submit them on the write for us page.

Types of Content

For main posts we accept a wide variety of content as long as it pertains to the PNW, outdoor activities, travel, etc. However, we want to focus less on product reviews and more on fun things to do. We’ve offloaded some of our photography-specific and bike gear posts to other websites. So we don’t want posts, for instance, on your review of a bike gadget or ways to get fit for cycling, but we DO want your post about a favorite place to ride bikes in Washington State!

We’ll consider posts about travel locations, travel tips, fun things to do or places to visit in the PNW — a review of a favorite restaurant, for instance. We’ll also consider posts about PNW Nostalgia — days gone by in Seattle, your memories of it, etc.

You can sometimes combine a couple of posts together. We regularly do that. For instance, you might add a location to create a map or enter a glossary term that has to do with your post. Or add a trivia quiz or poll to enhance your post. If you want to do this, do that first and then let us know about it in your post body.

Glossary Terms

For glossary (“PNWWiki”) terms, you can submit them on the suggest a term page. Our glossary is about the PNW. It can be a place (if you submit a location-specific term you may also want to add a location map), a person, something about PNW nostalgia, PNW slang, local birds, nature, flora, fauna, etc.

If you submit a glossary term, you agree to potentially have it added to or edited by future users.

We will also, likely, automatically enter a Wikipedia blurb to the end of your term, if one is available.

Routes

Routes are map-focused posts which consist of a map with a track and various waypoints. You can submit a route here.

Locations

The type of locations of which I speak, here, are not the locations associated with events, but map locations. We often use them, on this site, for linking to a map from a post, but they also are a good place to just enter somewhere you’ve been and write a review. You can add a location here.

Events

You can submit events without logging in, but you gain more control over your events by submitting them with a user account. To submit an event, go here.

Basically, for event submission the terms are as follows:

1. PNW-based event organizers can submit events, either in-person or online. Events must be based in the PNW. OR for organizers outside the PNW, you can submit online events that are about the PNW, travel, photography, or local nature.
2. We do not pay nor collect for event submissions unless you wish to make a small donation, but that is purely optional.
3. We will show ads alongside your events. We use contextual ads and do not have full control over which ads appear next to your event, though we have ads setup to prevent ads such as online casinos and other sensitive subjects.
4. You can submit an event as a logged-out user. However, creating an account and logging in will allow you to access your list of events so you can edit them if you need. Edited events are still subject to approval.
5. For event organizers who regularly submit events when they are logged in, we may update the account to allow publishing priviledges — that is, the event is published directly without our prior approval.
6. We have the right to decline to publish any event.
7. For non-recurring events, we will remove your event after it has passed.
8. It is helpful to us, though not completely necessary, if you put the words Event Image in the featured image title when you upload it. It makes it easier for us to identify and remove old event images.

Terms for submitting posts

When you submit content on this website you agree to the following:

1. That you have the right to use the material you are submitting here. That you wrote the content, that the photos you use are either yours or that you have authorization to use them (i.e. from a free photo site like Unsplash). You are responsible for copyright claims. If you use a photo from Flickr, make sure you know the terms and if it’s not public domain, please cite and link back to the photo.
2. As mentioned previously, you must fill out a few specific items on your profile to access the post submission forms.
3. When you have published posts on this site, your profile will be public and will serve as your author page.
4. You agree that we may decline to publish your content for any reason and we do not need to state why. With main posts, you’ll get an automated email if we decline it. And we may decide to unpublish your post at any time for any reason.
5. Published posts may only be deleted by request.
6. You will not receive any compensation for your post unless you are in the writers program.
7. We make the determination of whether to mark a link as “nofollow,” “dofollow,” or “sponsored.” This is on a case-by case basis. Unless the link is directly applicable to the post at hand, we’ll likely nofollow it. There is one dofollow link that you get — if you enter a website URL in your profile, it will show on your author box.
8. You may enter some affiliate links in your post if they are applicable to your subject. However, we will add the “sponsored” tag to them.
9. Ads will be shown in your post. Though we’ve limited some certain types of ads as much as we’re able, we cannot exert discrete control over which ads are shown.
10. If you have terms in your post which are also in our glossary, it may auto-link to them.
11. If you have certain phrases or things in your post that are unlinked that we could potentially monetize, we may add a link.
12. If you’re a business and your post is of a commercial nature, consider a sponsored post.
13. It takes us some time to review posts. Please be patient.

Sponsored Posts

A sponsored post is one for which we are paid, submitted by a business. The terms are the same as above. We will disclose that the post is sponsored but we will not show contextual ads in your post.

We will keep your post on the website, if we publish it, for as long as we own the blog but cannot control what happens if we sell the blog. If we, for some reason, entirely discontinue the site within 6 months of getting paid for a sponsored post, we’ll issue a partial refund.

We still want sponsored posts relating to topics on this website. In general, we autopost to our social media accounts and do not do a lot of social media promotion.

Currently, we discontinued our shop and do not have onsite payment facilities in place, so we’re using Buy Me A Coffee. We share our BMAC account with our photography blog PNWLens so it is branded as such.

Note that the price for a sponsored post on this site is currently the cost of 20 coffees.

Buy us a coffee

Writer Program (Revenue Sharing)

We like the idea of compensating writers for submitting posts. However, our budget is small and we experimenting, for a bit, with placing a service on our site to automatically calculate various metrics to come up with a compensation model. That did not work well as it, unfortunately, no longer worked with the contextual ads that we use here.

So we’ve re-implemented our “program” and based it entirely on revenue sharing. Meaning that we calculate the earnings for each post on a monthly basis ourselves, based on a combination of trackable ads — which include contextual ads and some types of affiliate ads that we can track. By doing a revenue sharing model, we can ensure that we’re not paying out money we can’t afford to run this website.

If you’d like to participate in this, you can submit a post, and let us know that you’d like to participate.

We will update your user role to “writer,” and then you must fill out a number of profile completion items before we’ll publish your post or before we start tracking any earnings. This includes either a PayPal or Venmo email so that we can pay you.

We will only pay out when earnings reach at least $10. Monthly earnings, if any, will be noted in a “Private Content” tab in your profile.

If you apply for this, you understand that our ad revenue is usually VERY small. It tends to go in waves and some posts may take a very long time to even reach the $10 threshold. Some may not.

Revenue sharing will be on the basis of 50% of earnings. If we sell or discontinue this blog, we’ll pay out what you have already generated if is more than any fees involved.

This is in an experimental phase, right now, so you’ll need to be patient and work with us. When we calculate monthly earning may vary according to other activities in our lives.

Advertising

Sponsored posts

See sponsored posts above.

Ad Placements

Currently, we are not selling ad placement spots. We can easily set up this capability but found in the past it wasn’t worth it and we’ve just decided to use contextual ads.

However, if we have enough interest, we’ll try again. You can contact us and tell us what you’d like.

Link Placements

We understand your desire for link building for SEO purposes. However, we do not sell link placements. Additonally, we do not slip in links into existing post content. The one place we make an exception for adding links as a reference is in glossary posts under the related content section. For instance, if we have a glossary entry about bald eagles and you have an article about bald eagles on your website we may decide to place your link under the related content section there.

Using/Uploading Photos and Graphics on this website

Terms of use for photos

While we love photography, and we have another site just devoted to our photos, on this site we use a mismash of our own images (whenever possible), free or paid stock images and images from Flickr that have a “commercial use” license, public domain photos, graphics created in Adobe Illustrator or slapped together in Canva and, in some cases, AI generated images when we can’t find a featured image that is…just right.

And we don’t want you inadvertently using a photo that’s not ours and attributing it as such. So consider most photos in posts as “all rights reserved” and don’t use them.

However, we have some galleries where you’ll find a download button in the lightbox. In this case, the image is either ours or a user uploaded it and is allowing downloads. If you encounter this, you are free to use the image, but we do want you to attribute the image back to us and link to the original source. You should find a link in the browser bar directly to that lightbox. You can also consider saying thank you by making a small donation with Buy Me a Coffee.

We resize images on this website to save space and improve loading times. However, we’re working on organizing our photos better. In many cases, we have the same images you might find here in larger sizes on our photo blog PNWLens.com

Uploading photos to albums or galleries

Albums

We have the ability for users to create albums in their profile on this website. Users can control the privacy of such albums or share them elsewhere on the site. Terms of use for such albums are all rights reserved unless the user states otherwise.

Users can edit and delete their own albums.

“Cooperative Galleries”

Some of the galleries on our website have a user uploads feature after the gallery. Most such galleries are linked with a lightbox that has download capabilities. By uploading to such galleries, you agree to allow visitors to download your photo.

Photos in cooperative galleries are moderated and no notifications are sent when photos are uploaded or when they are published, so we try to check the moderation queue at least weekly to see if there are new photos.

They also do not automatically get linked to your user profile. However, when you upload to a cooperative gallery, you can add custom text and a custom link that will show on the lightbox, so you may wish to use it to attribute your image.

For such images, they also do not get shown in your user account. If you want your photo removed, you will need to contact us.

We reserve the right to not publish or remove any photo. Photos submitted may be shared in newsletters.

Terms of Use for Content on this Website

Content on this website is all rights reserved. Please do not repost without permission. We have spent way more time than you might think on this blog and to see our stuff on another site with the author of “admin” kind of busts us up.