Blog Guidelines for Colleges or Departments

WVU provides this blog service (hereafter referred to as the “Service”) in support of communications conducted by the University community. The Service is made available to WVU departments who wish to participate in an approved WVU blog.

I. Service Guidelines

Use of the Service is subject to all applicable WVU policies and local, state, and federal law. Applicable WVU policies include but are not limited to:

A. World Wide Web Policy
B. Copyright Infringement Policy and Guidelines
C. Appropriate Use of Information Technology Resources Policy
D. Access, Security and Control of Data and Information Policy

II. Service Description

A. Registration
Faculty or staff members are eligible to register for the Service by submitting the registration form. A WVU Master ID is required. Requests should be reviewed in 10 business days. Questions about the Service should be directed to 304-293-5305.

At this time, the Service is not available to individual students or student organizations.

B. Cost
The Service is provided free to departments through WVU Web Services.

C. Template
A default template will be provided for approved blogs. Requests to modify the default template will be accommodated by Web Services as time permits.

Blogs will have the following disclaimer on each page: “The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author (s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of West Virginia University.”

D. Ownership and Copyright
All material on the blog must be in compliance with copyright laws.

The copyright and all related rights to the original work posted are owned by and are the sole responsibility of the blog owner.

E. Practices Regarding Use and Storage
Photographs posted in the blog should be appropriate for a University Web page and be consistent with the blog’s content.

If blog owners choose to publish comments, the blog owner is responsible for moderating comments to ensure they are appropriate, relevant to the blog’s content, and meet University Web page guidelines.

Unlawful communications, including threats of violence, obscenity, child pornography and harassing communications are prohibited.

Users cannot sell or advertise for non-University entities.

The Service may not be used to create pages primarily for personal gain.

WVU intends to archive the content of all blogs in the Service for non-commercial, historical purposes. By using the Service, authors grant WVU non-exclusive rights to archive blog content in any format.

WVU reserves the right to remove at any time, at its sole discretion, any content posted on the Service that it deems in violation of University, local, state, or federal laws.

F. Commenting Guidelines
Discourse and dialogue are fundamental to the learning process. West Virginia University draws its strength from the ideas and enthusiasm of its students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, and friends. We hope users will submit relevant, well reasoned comments that advance topics being discussed. Comments that are off-topic or inappropriate may not be published.

Comments that are abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-oriented, or any other material that may violate any applicable laws may not be published. Any comments that involve name-calling, personal insults and personal attacks will not be posted. Posting such comments may lead to users being immediately and permanently banned (and your service provider being informed). The IP address of all comments is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. The webmaster, administrator, and moderators of a blog may remove any comment at any time. Blog users agree to any information entered being stored in a database. While this information will not be disclosed to any third party without the user’s consent, the webmaster, administrator, and moderators cannot be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised.

G. Modifications to Service
WVU reserves the right to change at anytime at its discretion the provisions of the blog service.

Statement of agreement for users
PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE SUBMITTING ANY MATERIAL ON THIS SITE. BY USING THIS SITE, YOU INDICATE YOUR AGREEMENT TO THE FOLLOWING TERMS OF USE. IF YOU DO NOT CONSENT TO THESE TERMS OF USE, PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT ANY MATERIAL.

As used in this agreement, “University” means West Virginia University, or any division thereof. “User” means any person who establishes or accesses connection to a University web site for access to and use of the web site (“Site”). “Material” means any text, messages, postings, pictures, drawings, symbols, recordings, including but not limited to sound and video, and any other information whatsoever, regardless of form.

University is providing User with access to and the capability to post and submit Material on its Site. In consideration for this service, User agrees to comply with the terms and conditions set forth herein. Specifically, User shall not upload, submit, post or otherwise make available on the Site any Material protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right without the express permission of the owner of the copyright, trademark or other proprietary right and the burden of determining that any Material is not protected by copyright rests with the User. User shall be solely liable for any damage resulting from any infringement of copyrights, proprietary rights, or any other harm resulting from such a submission. By submitting or posting Material to the Site, User automatically grants, or warrants that the owner of such Material has expressly granted University the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate and distribute such Material (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed for the full term of any copyright that may exist in such Material. User hereby grants University the right to edit, copy, publish, remove, and distribute any Material made available on the Site by User. User agrees that User is not entitled to any compensation, credit or notice whatsoever and that by posting or submitting Material to this Site User waives the right to make any claim against University relating to any Material provided, including but not limited to unfair competition, copyright or trademark infringement, or invasion of privacy. User acknowledges that University has the right to remove in its sole discretion any Material that it considers to violate these terms or the terms of any other agreement or policy that may govern User’s use of University’s networks and web sites.

If any provision herein is deemed unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. University reserves the right to change, at any time, at its sole discretion, the terms of this agreement. User is responsible for regularly reviewing these terms and User’s continued use of this Site constitutes User’s agreement to all such terms.