Businesses advertising with SoIL-Online are listed in the Sponsor Directory, and non-business Ads are listed in the Classifieds section and the Employment and Networking section of the Forum. SoIL-Online reserves the right to refuse or delete any advertising for the Sponsor Directory, the Classifieds section, or the Employment and Networking section that does not conform to every guideline, policy, term and provision set forth in our Advertising Policy, Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, all of which can be found on our Web site. Please refer to SoIL-Online’s Terms of Use for a comprehensive listing of prohibited uses of our services.

SoIL-Online accepts Sponsorship Ads and Ads for the Classifieds and the Employment and Networking sections of the Forum subject to the following usage guidelines:

You can not advertise, buy, rent, sell or trade any product or service that is illegal to buy, own, rent or sell in your city, state or country of residence. It is your responsibility to make sure that you adhere to and comply with all applicable laws and/or regulations related to any product or service that you advertise, buy, rent, sell or trade while using SoIL-Online’s services.

Unauthorized advertising by businesses in the Classifieds section is strictly prohibited. This section is dedicated to advertising the lease, rent or sale of non-business real property and for advertising garage sales and other community events. Both businesses and other Users are allowed to advertise in the Employment and Networking section of the Forum.

Business owners are allowed to participate in Forum discussions about their own business in order to respond to positive or negative feedback about a product or service, but are not allowed to advertise by way of their response. SoIL-Online will monitor such discussions and reserves the right to require that those discussions be taken offline.

Business owners are allowed to respond to inquiries about a product or service that their business supplies by offering general (non-specific) information and/or professional advice about the product or service, or by offering to discuss the product or service offline.

Business owners/affiliates are not allowed to conduct private advertising communications with other Users or to post praise for their own business by way of a small group of Users in order to keep their name in the Forum and avoid legitimately advertising as a Sponsor. Frequent “good experience” posts by the same User(s) containing no new information will be deleted. However, Users should feel free to relate and discuss the positive or negative experiences they have had with Southern Illinois businesses.

Business owners/affiliates are not allowed to initiate communications about their own business unless they are relating non-specific information, asking for business-related advice, or asking a general question that is suitable for that section of the Forum.

Ads submitted by paid posting agents or posting services on behalf of others are strictly prohibited.

Any item or group of items advertised for lease, rent or sale must be accompanied by the asking price for that item or group of items.

Users are allowed to create links to realtors’ or other listing sites that provide additional information about their advertised non-business real property.

Users are allowed to advertise for desired products or services and receive appropriate responses from businesses.

Users are not allowed to conduct bidding contests or “scalping” in the Classifieds section.

Items that are listed with online auction services cannot be advertised in the Classifieds section, nor can items that are listed in the Classifieds section be linked to online auction services.

Users must include contact information (phone number, email address and/or Private Message) when submitting an Ad. Ads for garage sales and other community events should include dates, times, locations, and if desired, a listing of items. Group multiple items for sale in a single Ad (post).

Ads in the Classifieds section will automatically be deleted after 10 days, and Ads in the Employment and Networking section will automatically be deleted after 30 days. Users can then resubmit Ads for any items that have not sold or for employment or other opportunities still being sought.

Ads can be edited to show that an item has sold. Ads that have been edited to show that all items have been sold, and also Ads for expired events, will be deleted.

SoIL-Online specifically prohibits Ads in the Sponsor Directory and in the Classifieds section for the following products and services which SoIL-Online shall have complete discretion to define:

• Alcoholic beverages
• Drug paraphernalia
• Escort services that include or offer sex-related services
• Explosives and other destructive devices
• Gambling or casino-related products or services
• Hazardous materials of any kind
• Recalled products
• Sex-related and/or pornographic information, products or services
• Stocks, bonds or other publicly-traded securities
• Student essays, term papers or theses
• Tobacco or tobacco-related products
• Used cosmetics
• Any product or service that encourages or facilitates illegal activity or infringes upon the legal rights of any person or entity

 

All Ads for employment can not discriminate against applicants based on age, sex, marital status, national origin, race, religion, disability or physical handicap and must comply with all applicable laws and/or regulations. We reserve the right to require that a business advertising for employees must confirm in writing that it is an equal opportunity employer.

SoIL-Online specifically prohibits Ads in the Employment and Networking section for the following types of employment which SoIL-Online shall have complete discretion to define:

• Ads that do not clearly specify the type of work or service that an applicant would have to perform
• Multi-level marketing
• Opportunities that require agents, distributors and/or recruiting of other members
• Opportunities that pay commissions unless the Ad clearly describes the product or service that is to be sold and clearly states that commissions are the only source of possible compensation
• Opportunities that require a participant to make up-front and/or periodic payments
• Pyramid schemes

 

Ads for the rental or sale of “housing” real estate cannot discriminate against rentors or buyers based on age, sex, marital status, national origin, race, religion, disability or physical handicap and must comply with all applicable city, state and federal Fair Housing Laws.

Ads that violate any other applicable city, state or federal anti-discrimination laws and/or regulations are strictly prohibited.

Sponsors and other Users will be allowed to have external links in a signature line on a case-by-case basis but only if the content and the purpose of both the link and the site are determined to be acceptable for the Users of SoIL-Online.

Any Ad whose sole purpose is to direct Users to another Web site by way of an external link is strictly prohibited.

All external links must be submitted to and approved by SoIL-Online’s Administrator(s) before being posted. SoIL-Online reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to remove any and all previously-approved external links at any time and for any reason.

Signature lines must be 4 lines or fewer when viewed at 1024 X 768 resolution and must conform to the terms and provisions in SoIL-Online’s Terms of Use.

Sponsors are allowed to link their Web site and also their email address to their signature line, but the linked text must be identical to the link itself. No other business information is allowed in the signature line.

Users are allowed to link to personal Web sites using a descriptive text.

All email addresses must be linked using the linked email address as the text.

SoIL-Online makes no representation or warranty regarding the products or services advertised on our site, referred by our Users, or purchased or otherwise obtained through SoIL-Online’s services, nor will we be involved in any transaction between any User of our services and any business that a User locates while using our services. Any issue that you have about such a product or service must be taken up with the supplier of that product or service, and any issue that you have with such a business must be taken up with that business.

Please report any suspected illegal activity or abuse of our services to abuse@soil-online.com.

SoIL-Online reserves the right to change its Advertising Policy from time to time without the notification or approval of any other party.

If you have any questions about our Advertising Policy, please contact us at admin@soil-online.com.