This agreement sets forth the terms and conditions that apply to individual member’s access and use of the website located at www.virtualagora.net (Virtual Agora). Virtual Agora is owned and operated by Virtual Agora, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. Use of Virtual Agora constitutes your agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions contained in this Member Agreement and Virtual Agora’s Privacy Policy, as amended from time to time.

1.   Information from Third Parties

Virtual Agora may work with third-party providers of information in connection with our services. Virtual Agora does not endorse or guarantee any such third-party information for any purpose, including but not limited to accuracy, legality, non-infringement or completeness. Virtual Agora is not responsible for any third-party products and services or third-party websites accessed through Virtual Agora online Forum.

2.  Third-Party Links

Our services may be supported by sponsored links from advertisers and display offers. In connection with any such offers, we may provide links to other websites belonging to advertisers and other third parties. Virtual Agora does not endorse, warrant or guarantee the products or services available through any such offers (or any other third-party products or services advertised on or linked from its site), and Virtual Agora is not an agent or broker or otherwise responsible for the activities or policies of those websites.

3. Member Registration

Your right to access and use Virtual Agora is personal to you and is not transferable by you to any other person or entity. Your user ID as visible on the Virtual Agora online forum is your legal name. Virtual Agora operators might grant you permission to use an alias if presented convincing arguments that this would be beneficial to the Virtual Agora forum itself.  All decisions regarding using an alias as your user ID will be made in the sole discretion of Virtual Agora.  You are only entitled to access and use Virtual Agora online forum for lawful purposes.  All posts on any Virtual Agora forum are public and can be viewed by people who have not registered.  You should not post any information that you do not want available to the public.  Only registered users may post comments in a forum or otherwise directly participate in any forum.  All posted information is the property of Virtual Agora and may remain visible even if you terminate your registration.

You agree and understand that you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password which, together with your login ID email address, allows you to access our services. Your login ID and password, together with any other contact information you provide form your Registration Information. If you become aware of any unauthorized use of your registration information, you agree to notify Virtual Agora immediately.

By providing Virtual Agora with your email address, you agree to receive all required notices electronically to the email address provided. It is your responsibility to update or change that address. Notices will be provided in HTML (or, if your system does not support HTML, in plain-text) in the text of the email or through a link to the appropriate page on its site, accessible through any standard, commercially available internet browser.

Your access and use of Virtual Agora online forum may be interrupted from time to time for any of several reasons, including, without limitation, the malfunction of equipment, periodic updating, maintenance or repair of Virtual Agora website. Virtual Agora cannot always foresee or anticipate technical or other difficulties that may result in failure to obtain data or loss of data, personalized settings or other service interruptions. Virtual Agora cannot assume responsibility for the timeliness, accuracy, deletion, non-delivery or failure to store any user data, communications or personalized settings.

4.  Debate Rules

A debate on Virtual Agora starts with a challenge phrased in a form of a thesis that can be proven as true or false. Each challenge is opened for a predetermined period of time; one week would be typical. Participating in debates on Virtual Agora forum requires using Wisdom Dollars. During registration each new user is awarded W$1,000 (One Thousand Wisdom Dollars) as a starting capital. Posting challenges, comments and “W$1 quick votes” requires “spending” a certain amount of Wisdom Dollars.  Human moderators will oversee all debates and make final determinations, including determining if a thesis has been proven as true or false.  Decisions of the moderators are final.  Users who “invested” Wisdom Dollars in support of the winning side of a challenge gain an amount of Wisdom Dollars equal to the amount they “invested” in support of such side. Users who “invested” Wisdom Dollars in support of the losing side of the challenge lose those Wisdom Dollars. Objectivity of moderators can be challenged. Members disappointed with a decision of a moderator, are encouraged to open a new challenge questioning the outcome of a previous challenge.  Virtual Agora forum operators might allow users to acquire additional Wisdom Dollars by performing marketing or educational tasks. We reserve the right to modify this algorithm at any time without notice to our registered users. Wisdom Dollars may not be redeemed for anything of value and may not be transferred or purchased. Wisdom Dollars have no monetary value and may not be used for any purposes except as described herein.

5. Hyde Park Section

For expressing opinions on improving the forum itself and in order to allow users to collaborate in their actions on the debate forum, the Hyde Park forum is provided, where posts do not require Wisdom Dollars but all other rules listed in this agreement apply.

6.   Online and Mobile Alerts

Virtual Agora may from time to time provide automatic alerts and voluntary account-related alerts.

Automatic alerts may be sent to you following certain changes made online to your Virtual Agora account, such as a change in your registration information. You do not need to activate these alerts. Although you may have the option to turn off some of these automatic alerts, Virtual Agora recommends that you leave them on, since they may be security-related.

Voluntary account alerts may be turned on by default as part of our services. Virtual Agora may add new alerts from time to time, or cease to provide certain alerts at any time upon its sole discretion. Each alert may have different options available, and you may be asked to select from among these options upon activation of your service

Any such electronic alerts will be sent to the email address you have provided as your primary email address for Virtual Agora. If your email address changes, you are responsible for informing Virtual Agora of that change. Changes to your email address will apply to all of your alerts. Alerts may include your login ID and some information about your account. Anyone with access to your email will be able to view the content of these alerts. You may disable future alerts at any time.

7. Alert Disclaimer

You understand and agree that any alerts provided to you through the Service may be delayed or prevented by a variety of factors. Virtual Agora does its best to provide alerts in a timely manner with accurate information. Virtual Agora does not guarantee the delivery or the accuracy of the content of any alert. You explicitly agree that Virtual Agora shall not be liable for any delays, failure to deliver, or misdirected delivery of any alert, for any errors in the content of an alert, or for any actions taken or not taken by you or any third party in reliance on an alert.

8. Rights You Grant to Us

As the owner of any information, data, passwords, usernames, PINs, other log-in information, materials or other content (collectively, ‘Account Content’) you provide to Virtual Agora through our services, you are licensing, free of any charge, the Account Content to Virtual Agora solely for the purpose of participating in our service. Virtual Agora may use this content but to provide our service to you and we allow third parties to view your postings. By submitting this content, you represent that you are entitled to submit it to Virtual Agora for use for this purpose, without any obligation by Virtual Agora to pay any fees.

You hereby authorize and permit Virtual Agora to use information submitted by you to our service (such as account passwords and user names) to configure our service so that it is compatible with third party sites.

9. Intellectual Property Rights

Virtual Agora’s online forum  ‘look and feel’ (for example, the text, graphics, images, logos and button icons appearing on the website), photographs, editorial content, notices, software (including html-based computer programs) and other materials are protected under United States and other applicable copyright, trademark and other laws. The contents of Virtual Agora belong or are licensed to Virtual Agora or its software or content suppliers. Virtual Agora grants you the right to view and use Virtual Agora online debate forum to these terms. You may download or print a copy of information provided on Virtual Agora for your personal, internal and non-commercial use only. Any distribution, reprint or electronic reproduction of any content from Virtual Agora online forum, in whole or in part, for any other purpose is expressly prohibited without Virtual Agora’s prior written consent.

10. Access and Interference

You agree that you will not:

1. Use any robot, spider, scraper, deep link or other similar automated data gathering or extraction tools, program, algorithm or methodology to access, acquire, copy or monitor Virtual Agora or any portion of Virtual Agora online forum, without Virtual Agora’s express written consent, which may be withheld in Virtual Agora’s sole discretion;
   
   
2. Use or attempt to use any engine, software, tool, agent, or other device or mechanism (including without limitation browsers, spiders, robots, avatars or intelligent agents) to navigate or search Virtual Agora, other than the search engines and search agents available through our service and other than generally available third-party web browsers (such as Microsoft Explorer), or search engines (such as Google search);
   
   
3. Post or transmit any file which contains viruses, worms, Trojan horses or any other contaminating or destructive features, or that otherwise interfere with the proper working of Virtual Agora online forum or our service;  
   
   
4. Attempt to decipher, decompile, disassemble, or reverse-engineer any of the software comprising or in any way making up a part of Virtual Agora or our service.

11. Forums

Virtual Agora may allow Members to post content in Forums on Virtual Agora.

1. You are solely responsible for all content you submit to Virtual Agora.
   
   
2. By submitting content to Virtual Agora, you represent that you have all necessary rights and hereby grant Virtual Agora a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, modify, display, and perform all or any portion of the content in connection with Virtual Agora and its business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the site (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. You also hereby grant each registered user of our service a non-exclusive license to access your posted content through Virtual Agora, and to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display and perform such content as permitted through the functionality of Virtual Agora and under this Agreement, and expressly permit any unregistered user to view any material that you have posted.
   
   
3. You may not post or transmit any message which is libelous or defamatory, or which discloses private or personal matters concerning any person. You may not post or transmit any message, data, image or program that is indecent, obscene, pornographic, harassing, threatening, abusive, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive; that encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or violate any law; or that is otherwise inappropriate.
   
   
4. You may not post or transmit any message, data, image or program that would violate the property rights of others, including unauthorized copyrighted text, images or programs, trade secrets or other confidential proprietary information, and trademarks or service marks used in an infringing fashion.
   
   
5. You may not post or transmit any material with the intent or effect of furthering, assisting, concealing or in any way furthering any activity illegal under state or federal law.
   
   
6. You may not interfere with other users' use of this service, including, without limitation, disrupting the normal flow of dialogue in an interactive area of Virtual Agora, deleting or revising any content posted by another person or entity, or taking any action that imposes a disproportionate burden on the service infrastructure or that negatively affects the availability of the service to others.
   
   
7. You may not post or transmit charity requests; petitions for signatures; franchises, distributorship, sales representative agency arrangements, or other business opportunities (including offers of employment or contracting arrangements); club memberships; chain letters; or letters relating to pyramid schemes. You may not post or transmit any advertising, promotional materials or any other solicitation of other users to use goods or services.
   
   
8. You may not copy or use personal identifying or business contact information about other users without their permission. Unsolicited emails, mailings, telephone calls, or other communications to individuals or companies whose contact details you obtain through this service are prohibited.
   
   
9. Material you post may remain visible even if you withdraw your registration from Virtual Agora.

12. Disclaimer of Representations and Warranties

The content and all services and products associated with Virtual Agora provided through this service are provided to you on an “as is” and on an “as available” basis. Virtual Agora makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, as to the content or operation of the Virtual Agora or this service. You expressly agree that your use of this service is at your sole risk.

Virtual Agora makes no representations, warranties or guarantees, expressed or implied, regarding the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the content on Virtual Agora online forum or of the service, whether such content is provided by Virtual Agora or by a user of the service. Virtual Agora expressly disclaims any warranties of non-infringement or fitness for a particular purpose. Virtual Agora makes no representation, warranty or guarantee that the content may that may be available through the service is free of infection from any viruses or other code or computer programming routines that contain contaminating or destructive properties or that are intended to damage surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data set, or personal information.

13. Fees

Virtual Agora is owned and operated by Virtual Agora, LLC.  At no time will Virtual Agora, LLC collect fees directly from a member.  If you are contacted by anyone in attempt to collect a fee for using this site, please notify us immediately at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

14. Limitations on Liability

Virtual Agora shall in no event be responsible or liable to you or to any third party, whether in contract, warranty, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, for any indirect, special, incidental, consequential, exemplary, liquidated or punitive damages, including but not limited to loss of profit, revenue or business, arising in whole or in part from your access to Virtual Agora or your use of this service, even if Virtual Agora has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this agreement, Virtual Agora’s liability to you for any cause whatever and regardless of the form of the action, will at all times be limited to $500.00 (five hundred U.S. dollars).

You agree that any cause of action arising out of or related to your use of Virtual Agora online forum or this service must commence within one (1) year after the cause occurs. Otherwise, any such cause is permanently barred.

15. Indemnification

You shall defend, indemnify and hold harmless Virtual Agora and its affiliates, officers, directors, shareholders, employees, agents, consultants and advisers, from and against all claims and expenses, including but not limited to attorneys' fees, in whole or in part arising out of or attributable to any breach of this Agreement by you.

16. Termination

This Agreement will continue to apply until terminated by either you or Virtual Agora. You may terminate your legal agreement with Virtual Agora by closing your Virtual Agora online account. Virtual Agora may at any time, in its sole discretion, for any reason, terminate its legal agreement with you immediately upon notice to the email address provided by you as part of your member registration.

17. Modifications of this Agreement

Virtual Agora may modify this Agreement from time to time. You will be notified of any and all changes to this Agreement through a prominent notice on Virtual Agora. The Agreement will indicate the date it was last revised. You are deemed to accept and agree to be bound by any changes to the Agreement when you visit Virtual Agora online forum or use this service after such changes are made.

18. Governing Law and Venue for Disputes

This Agreement, and your relationship with Virtual Agora under this Agreement, is governed by the laws of the State of Illinois. Any dispute with Virtual Agora, or its affiliates, officers, directors, shareholders, employees, agents, consultants and advisers, arising under or in relation to this Agreement shall be resolved exclusively within the county of Will, Illinois, except with respect to imminent harm requiring temporary or preliminary injunctive relief in which case Virtual Agora may seek such relief in any court with jurisdiction over the parties. You understand that, in return for agreement to this provision, Virtual Agora is able to offer this service at the terms designated, without charge to you, and that your assent to this provision is an integral part of Virtual Agora's willingness to enter into this Agreement.

If any portion of this Agreement is deemed unlawful, void or unenforceable by any arbitrator or court of competent jurisdiction, this Agreement as a whole shall not be deemed unlawful, void or unenforceable, but only that portion of this Agreement that is unlawful, void or unenforceable shall be stricken from this Agreement.

You agree that if Virtual Agora does not exercise or enforce any legal right or remedy which is contained in the Agreement (or which Virtual Agora has the benefit of under any applicable law), such failure to exercise such right or remedy may not be construed as a waiver of any other rights and remedies of Virtual Agora.

All covenants, agreements, representations and warranties made in this Agreement shall survive your acceptance of this Agreement and the termination of this Agreement.

This Member Agreement (including the Privacy Policy incorporated by reference to this Agreement) represents the entire understanding and agreement between you and Virtual Agora regarding the subject matter of the same, and supersedes all other previous agreements.

The Membership Agreement was last revised on May 20, 2017.