Break Diving Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

The BreakDiving.io Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Introduction

This is the most inspiring terms of service you will ever read. Read it! Everything you need to know to be a good community member is listed below: The Diver's Code, Our Community Expectations, and Our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. They are all really short. Please read them! To get started, here are some introductory remarks to help you:

DATE OF TERMS OF SERVICE: Version 1.4, Updated August 27, 2021

OUR EMAIL: [email protected] - reach out with any questions, or for any payment issues (including cancellation requests)!

THIS IS THE ENTIRE AGREEMENT: Our diver's code, member expectations, terms of service, and privacy policy together comprise our 'terms of service', and they are all presented below. This document contains all of the terms of service. You do not have to click anywhere else. There are no additional hidden documents for you to agree to. This is everything.

TERMS OF SERVICE FAIRNESS SCORE 91.1 / 100: In an effort to be fair to and transparent with our users, these terms are based on the criteria set forth in the TOS Fairness Project Online User Bill Of Rights at www.tosfairness.org (a subsidiary not-for-profit project owned by Break Diving, Inc).

AMENDMENTS/CHANGES: Any minor amendments that do not affect your rights in any significantly negative way are effective immediately, and will be listed below in clear bullet points. Please check back occasionally to review the latest amendments. More significant changes will result in new versions being posted, and you will be notified when this happens.

Minor Changes to This Agreement To Date

August 27, 2021 -- Updated To Version 1.4 From Version 1.3 Dated: January 24, 2021

Added new condition to paid memberships, explaining that in accordance with IRS law, any membership fee is considered a non-refundable donation to our not for profit mission. Bank dispute procedures may not be used to cancel already-processed membership payments.

January 24, 2021 -- Updated To Version 1.3 From Version 1.2, Dated: June 16, 2020

Added new Member Expection: SHARE EVIDENCE & OPPOSING PERSPECTIVES (i.e. you must include actual evidence and justification for your opinions/posts about controversial subjects, and also provide opposing perspectives.)
Removed the 'Broaden Horizons' section from member expectations because it was duplicated in the diver's code

June 16, 2020 -- Update To Version 1.2 From Version 1.1, Dated: June 11, 2020

Added 'No Plagiarism' to Diver's Code Tenet 6 (as an additional prohibited activity) and added an additional sentence at the end
Added new Member Expection: AVOID SHARING OF PRIVATE INFORMATION (i.e. do not share information you learn about a member here in the community in other online or offline forums, or share without that person's permission.)
Modified the intellectual property section of Terms of Service to reflect this prohibition on public sharing of information gleaned from your activities here within the community.

June 11, 2020 -- Updated To Version 1.1 From Version 1.0, Dated: March 8, 2019

Updated the wording and specifics of some of the original Member Expectations.
Added new Member Expectations for: foul language & slurs policy, member advertising from within the community policy, sex & sexuality policy, tag policy, as well as our political discussion policy.

The Diver's Code

As a worldwide member of Break Diving, I agree that:

I AM A BREAK DIVER: I pursue my dreams with an unmitigated passion, and choose to live by the Break Diver's Creed: No Rules. No Excuses. No Regrets. I am a Break Diver, and I will find a way.

I AM NOT LAZY: I recognize that I am far more capable (mentally and physically) than I give myself credit for. Each week, I strive to accomplish more than the week prior, and each year, more than the year before. I will not waste my time watching hours of tv, playing hours of video games, spending wasteful hours on pointless social media, or just procrastinating. I get things done.

I NEVER GIVE UP: I never give up until I have exhausted every avenue of pursuit, or genuinely decide I no longer want to pursue something. I never use excuses or blame others for why I don't accomplish things.

I ALWAYS SAY PLEASE AND THANK YOU: I always try to remember to say PLEASE and THANK YOU to show respect and appreciation to those who have tried to help me along the way.

I TRY NOT TO GET OFFENDED: I try not to let the opinions of others determine my future. Nor do I get bogged down with unreasonable political correctness just to try to please everyone. Nor do I get easily offended by petty issues that ultimately only serve to distract me from my dreams.

I DO NOT LIE, CHEAT, STEAL, OR PLAGIARIZE: I recognize that I am fully capable of being honest, doing my own work, and earning things through honest efforts. When situations specifically dictate the definitions of 'lie', 'cheat', 'steal', and 'plagiarize', I will abide by those definitions. When in any doubt, I will ask myself what other honest, reasonable, and capable people like myself would do in that particular situation. If I must choose between cheating (leading to success), or being honest (leading to failure), I will fail with pride every time, and then try again.

I ALWAYS TRY TO HELP: At every level of my success, I try to help others on their drive towards their success. I always try to reach out my hand to help those who are still struggling. Every day, I strive to be the pick-me-up and smile to someone in need.

I BRAG TASTEFULLY: I can and should be proud of my accomplishments, but Break Divers try to brag without discouraging and insulting others. In other words, I share my accomplishments only under three conditions: as a means to share the joy, as a means of inspiring others to follow in my footsteps, and as a means to encourage those who are thinking of quitting.

I KEEP MY EGO IN CHECK: I try to never treat people differently because they have money or... don't have money. Therefore, I will strive to never let money or lack thereof change who I am. No matter how wealthy and successful I become (or how much I struggle), I will not become self-obsessed and self-important. In the end, I am still just a mortal human, and... so is everyone else.

I ASK FOR HELP: I recognize that I am going to have sad days, and on those days, I will strive to never allow my ego to prevent me from sharing how I'm feeling or asking for help. Sharing the struggle results in well-needed pick me ups from others.

I BROADEN MY HORIZONS: I recognize that the more I learn about other languages, cultures, and histories, through reading, education, interaction, and travel, the better I will understand the world, and the better person I can become.

I JUST SEE WINNERS: I don't see age, race, sex, nationality, or any other 'excuse'. I just see Break Divers. Lots of them. With no limitations. All pushing forward against impossible odds in pursuit of wonderful dreams.

Member Expectations

As a worldwide member of Break Diving, I agree to:

HELP OTHERS: Break Divers join our community first and foremost because we not only want to help others, we actually thrive on doing so. Everything you do as a Break Diver (in pursuit of our dreams) should first be prefaced by how we are going to help others in the process. At Break Diving, it is never 'all about me'. Therefore, if you have no true interest in helping others, you won't fit in here. Our community thrives on people helping one another, and we keep track of how often you choose to help others. If you're just "in it for me", trust us, you won't like it here. However, if you love inspiring others and want to help others around the world struggling with life challenges in the pursuit of their dreams, you're gonna love it here.

BE NICE TO OTHERS: We Break Divers all like one another. We are a global community, but a global community of friends whom we all respect. We all like our fellow members, and we love supporting one another. If you find it difficult to be nice to others, and often find yourself insulting people, belittling dreams, making fun of others, or getting into antagonistic arguments, you won't fit in here. However, if you are a genuinely nice person, with honorable motives, you're gonna love it here.

PURSUE MY DREAMS: Although your primary mission here as a Break Diver is to help others, if you don't actively pursue your own dreams through our dive program, you're not going to be much of an inspiration to others. Break Divers live by the Break Diver's Creed: No Rules, No Excuses, No Regrets. In other words, if you are lazy, and do not take regular steps to achieve your dreams, you won't fit in here. However, if you look forward to really kicking butt in life, you're going to love it here.

PARTICIPATE IN COMMUNITY: Break Diving is all about participation and sharing. If you don't like participating in online communities and events, and don't want to meet people in real life pursuing your same dreams, you won't fit in here. However, if you look forward to becoming a truly active member of our community, you're going to love it here.

AVOID USING THIS AS A DATING SITE: We don't want members feeling accosted by strangers via random romantic private messages. If you are joining just to "meet men" or "meet women", you won't fit in here. Sure, perhaps one of your dives will be to get married, or find a significant other, and sure, maybe you do make a romantic connection with someone else, but you cannot initiate conversations with people using romantic overtones. However, if you look forward to making genuine friends from around the world, and potentially having one of them naturally develop over time into something greater through normal participation in our community, you're going to love it here.

AVOID LYING OR MISREPRESENTATION: Our community thrives on the accuracy of member profiles and accomplishments. You should use a real name in the community. You are also encouraged to display a clear head/shoulders profile photo, or at least a head/shoulders/legs profile photo of yourself. If you wish to certify a dive, then you must use your real name and have a real photo of yourself prior to (and after) certification. We only certify members who are upfront and honest about who they are. Therefore, if you are the type of person who lies on profiles, likes to pretend you are a different person or that you live in a different city or country, brag about accomplishments that never happened, or embellish stories of what happened on vacation, you won't fit in here. However, if you look forward to being forthright and honest with our members, you're going to love it here.

AVOID ALL BLATANT ADVERTISING: Break Diving is not a platform to blatantly and overtly advertise your social media, products, services, or projects. While we do want to help you succeed, we do not allow posts, comments, private message, or chat messages with the sole purpose of gaining subscribers, likes, comments, shares, etc. While all members want to support one another, no one wants to be pitched to here on Break Diving, and such advertising diminishes the member experience. While you can post about your social media, your dives, your projects, companies, projects, etc., please make sure that the message first helps our members in a tangible way. For example, this is acceptable: a post about how proud you are of your new dance video on Youtube, telling us what the video is about and how it will make us feel, and then providing the link, and asking us to check it out. That type of message is encouraged. But do not just post a link asking us to subscribe, like, comment, etc. Do not include a subject that says, "Subscribe and Like my Video!" That's not helping others---that is only thinking of yourself. As another example, do not post with a subject like, "Please donate money!"---does that help members? Not really. Instead, how about, "I just created a new fundraiser!" or "My mission to save the whales!", and in the body, share what you are doing, and at the bottom, put, "For more info, or if you'd like to help, here is the link". That's a lot less 'sales-y' than, "Please donate!" Bottom line, if you are someone who only uses social media to promote yourself and your business, you won't fit in here. However, if you are ready to help others first, you're going to love it here.

ENGAGE IN POLITE POLITICS: Our members are here to get away from all the anger, vitriol, and heated arguments of the world. Before you respond, remember that we are not here for arguments. Your goal should always be to enlighten others, to engage in calm civil discourse, and to try to understand the other person's point of view--even if that view is completely opposite of yours. Here at Break Diving, we do allow political discussion, but completely unlike the way it happens on other social media sites. Here, you must control your anger. Here you must engage in civil discourse. Here, you may not post and respond with awkward political agendas, seething anger, and/or crude insults (even towards politicians you dislike). Philosophical discussions about political topics are fine. However, if you are incapable of controlling your emotions, repeatedly respond with knee-jerk angry reactions, and add fuel to the fire instead of putting fires out, you won't fit in here. However, if you are ready to engage in polite discussion with others of differing views without name calling, anger, or emotion, you're going to love it here.

SHARE EVIDENCE AND OPPOSING PERSPECTIVES: When discussing controversial political, scientific, historical, and religious subjects, always remember that BreakDiving.io is a place for uplifting, intellectual, intelligent, and collegiate-level debate and discussion that brings our mutual understandings closer together. It is neither to be used as a political soapbox nor as a platform for one-sided political diatribes. Therefore:
- When you write about controversial topics, you must explain precisely how your opinion was formed using specific concrete examples, and you must share the other side’s argument and perspective too as a running thread through your post
- You must back up your opinions with rational argument and justification, and this must be in the form of your own writing (not merely a link to some other article on the web)
- You may not make bald accusations without sharing direct objective evidence of your own writing in your post to support your argument, and you must also share an objective perspective from the other side to provide a contrasting view
The above applies to the entire Break Diving site, including posts, comments, chatrooms, profiles, success journals, to do lists, video chats, and any other new features added in the future. Some examples of such controversional subjects include (but are not limited to): Donald Trump; Mohatma Ghandi; Black Lives Matter; Antifa; the Big Bang; the God vs Atheism debate; Christopher Columbus; global warming; climate change; abortion; gun rights; minimum wage laws; economics in general; sexuality; socialism; capitalism; communism; vaccines; drug laws; drug use; immigration; race or racism; "cross border" conflicts like Israel-Palestine, China-India, & China-Taiwan; various national and international laws; etc. When in doubt, assume the topic is controversial, and that both this 'share evidence and oppositing perspectives' policy applies, as well as the 'engage in polite politics' policy too. If you have a one-sided agenda, and are more interested in dictating rather than engaging, you won't fit in here. However, if you enjoy helping people to better understand both sides of the matter, you're going to love it here.

AVOID SEXUALITY: Due to the family nature of our community, we ask that our members do not talk or post about sex or anything sexual. No poems, songs, posts, comments, etc. mentioning sexuality are permitted. Therefore, please do not post publicly anything about sex or sexuality (even if it's something you wrote), and please also do not post anything that revolves too strongly around the promotion or celebration of sexuality of any type. Exception: if you are discussing something in the news related to sex, or if you are talking about rape of you or someone else (in a non graphic manner), that is permitted. Philosophical discussions about the topics above are also allowed. Finally, if you have a psychological or emotional issue revolving around sexual issues, and want to talk with someone with no judgement or criticism, please reach out to a staff member privately. We will listen and support you as best we can. Bottom line, if you are someone who shares and discusses inappropriate topics/writing of a sexual nature, you won't fit in here. However, if you are happy to keep sex and sexuality out of (most) of the discussions, you're going to love it here.

AVOID FOUL LANGUAGE, SLURS, AND OFF-COLOR JOKES: Since we are an all-inclusive family environment (more or less), please do not casually use any foul language, any types of slurs, or any jokes that may be deemed offensive, rude, or glorifying violence by a reasonable person. If you are sharing writing or quoting someone else, please self-edit the end of foul words with asterisks (**) or by completely removing the word, for example: Get Off Your A** (name of a music album); He called me a [racial slur] (excerpt from a book); etc. Exception: if you are studying a foreign language, and wish to know how to say certain bad words/slurs in that language (so that you will know it when you hear it), that is acceptable, but do not ever use those words in a post title, or in general conversation with others here in the community, either publicly or via private message. If you are someone who refuses to tame his tongue, you won't fit in here. However, if you are ready to be a part of a family fresh environment, you're going to love it here.

AVOID SHARING OF PRIVATE INFORMATION: Our members often share private information within the community that is not intended for public dissemination. We are a close-knit community of friends and we expect our members to never share publicly outside the community any information about a member that is learned from this site without that person's written permission. If you are someone who enjoys embarrassing others publicly, you won't fit in here. However, if you are ready to make each member feel like Break Diving is a safe place to share personal information, you're going to love it here.

USE PROPER TAGS: Our members often use tags to find posts of interest. If members do not choose appropriate tags for posts, or worse, randomly choose tags for posts, it confuses members, and ultimately, diminishes the purpose of tags. If you are someone who does not take the time to learn our tag system and choose appropriate tags you won't fit in here. However, if you are ready to make each post with specificity so you and others can easily find those posts later, you're going to love it here.

Terms of Service & Privacy Policy

I agree to be bound by these terms, and expect these rights to be upheld:

THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY: First, if you do not sign up, we do not collect any data about you at all except anonymous tracking data (such as from google analytics) to determine which part of the world people are visiting from. If you do sign up, we will NEVER sell, rent, or share any of your personal information with others without your express permission. When you delete your account, certain personal data is kept secure on our servers, i.e. information related to when you signed up and prior message posts, if applicable. We will only release your private info to a government agent or law enforcement department or officer upon being presented with a lawful subpoena or are otherwise required to do so by law. If you register as a user, we (Break Diving, Inc.) may add you to our email list, and at times, email you, but you may unsubcribe at any time. All of your data is hosted on either Heroku or AWS, which are the two data servers on which we host the website.

THE RIGHT TO EQUAL, FAIR, & REASONABLE EXPRESSION: As a registered user, you can say anything here that you want, as long as you express yourself (using a reasonable person standard) in a mature way, without profanity, and don't make posts that belittle an individual or that may result in direct physical harm or direct self-harm to others. If we feel your posts, replies, or chats violate our member expectations, diver's code, or these terms, we will give you a reasonable opportunity to address and correct the situation, also weighing the potential harm to other users by leaving your post, reply, etc. We reserve the right to remove any posts, replies, chat message, etc. we determine to be contrary to the spirit of Break Diving, fake, inaccurate, created by a bot, or that appears to be overly and deliberately vindictive, angry, rude, belittling, or insulting.

THE RIGHT TO CONTROL MY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: We don't own anything you post and never will, unless we agree otherwise in writing. You simply give us a non-exclusive perpetual license to share what you wrote with others through publication on BreakDiving.io, on BreakDiving.org, on the Break Diving Blog, on the W.Y.S.E.guidance blog, and/or for any Break Diving related marketing purposes, and you agree to this without compensation for this license. If news media, researchers, or other similar third parties want to quote or paraphrase what you wrote on either of our blogs for research or reporting purposes, you give those particular third parties permission to do so, but this doesn't apply to what you share in our community. This also means you agree to never share any private personal information you learn about a member from your participation in this community with the media, on any other public forum, or outside the bounds of the Break Diving community, without that person's express written permission.

THE RIGHT TO SUE: You can sue us if you feel we violated these terms of service or this privacy policy. Prior to any lawsuit, however, you agree to first make a reasonable attempt to negotiate a remedy with us directly, and give us a reasonable opportunity to assist you. If such negotiations fail to resolve the issue, you may file suit in a court of law. In accordance with the TOS Fairness bill of rights you may file suit in any valid courthouse in any country in the world where venue would otherwise be proper, but until our company is grossing $250,000/year or more, you would have to pay for any reasonable economy flight costs, reasonably economy hotel fees, and reasonable additional legal fees for our company's appearance in a court of law outside of New York State, Westchester County. In all cases, New York Law will be used to determine the outcome of the case. Further, if the court finds that your lawsuit is frivolous, you will reimburse us for all costs we were forced to incur to defend the case.

THE RIGHT TO LOW-COST ARBITRATION: You can file arbitration against us if you feel we violated these terms of service or this privacy policy. Prior to the filing of any arbitration, however, you agree to first make a reasonable attempt to negotiate a remedy with us directly, and give us a reasonable opportunity to assist you. If such negotiations fail to resolve the issue, you may initiate arbitration. In accordance with the TOS Fairness bill of rights you may initiate arbitration through any valid and internationally recognized arbitration organization in any country in the world where venue would otherwise be proper, but until our company grosses $250,000/year or more, you would have to pay for any reasonable economy flight costs, reasonably economy hotel fees, and reasonable additional legal fees for our company's appearance in an arbitration hall outside of New York State, Westchester County. However, we will allow long-distance arbitration via email, phone, and/or regular mail. In all cases, New York Law will be used to determine the outcome of the case. If the arbitrator finds that your filing is frivolous, however, you will reimburse us for all costs we were forced to incur to defend the case.

THE RIGHT TO JOIN A CLASS ACTION: You may join any legally proper class action brought against us.

THE RIGHT TO NO HIDDEN TERMS OR FEES: There are no hidden terms in this agreement. You may use our BreakDiving.io service free of charge, or you may upgrade to one of our paid plans, the prices and individual terms of which will always be available from within the site itself. Simple as that. IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTE: Your recurring membership subscription is, in accordance with IRS law, a non-refundable donation to Break Diving. You may not use payment dispute procedures with your bank to avoid paying your membership fee simply because you changed your mind, forgot about your recurring subscription, or did not cancel your active recurring subscription prior to payment. If you would like to ensure that all future recurring payments are canceled, please send an email to [email protected]. We thank you for your support of our not-for-profit mission.

THE RIGHT TO FAIR PROCESS & TO BE HEARD: We will not kick you off this service without first giving you, the user, a reason for the alleged terms of service violation, and without also providing you an opportunity to fix the alleged issue. If after a reasonable period of time, the issue has not been fixed, we have the right to delete your account, subject to our fair appeal process.

THE RIGHT TO APPEAL & THE RIGHT TO RETURN: If we have determined you have violated our terms of service and we have either removed or modified a post and/or deleted you as a user, you have the right to appeal. During this appeal, we will (if you would like) post your name on our website listing all users who are currently appealing a decision by our staff, and you will be given a fair opportunity to explain to a higher level of authority within our company than the first level of authority why you feel there was no violation. If this higher level of authority agrees with you, you will be reinstated and/or you will be allowed to repost. If this higher level of authority agrees with the original staff member who made the initial decision, the original decision will stand, i.e. the post will remain modified and/or deleted, or you will be completely removed from the service. If you are deleted as a user, do not fret: you will be entitled to return to the site after a reasonable period of time, such reasonable time to be decided by our staff, never to exceed one year. You have the right to make a request once per quarter to be re-instated and it is your obligation to request re-instatement. If, upon your return, you make the same type of terms of service violation, and the same appeal process concurs that you again violated our terms of service, we reserve the right to forever remove you from the service. While this is extreme, it is also fair to you, to our other users, and to us as a company. Finally, if you repeatedly create new accounts after you have been barred from the service in an effort to bypass our appeals decision, you may be liable for tortious interference with business. We think this scenario is highly unlikely, but we reserve the right to pursue that aveunue in case a user becomes really meddlesome.

THE RIGHT TO REASONABLE TERMS: The above terms and privacy policy are designed to be simple, easy to understand, and above all, fair to you, the user. We believe that they are. If you have suggestions for improvement, please let us know via the above email address.

NOTE: Should any conflicts exist between this version of the Terms of Service of this date, and those listed elsewhere on the breakdiving.io website for any TOS, Diver's Code, or Member Expectations of this date, those on this page shall rule.