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About SimHQ
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Site
History
Staff
Biographies
The
SimHQ Pledge to Our Readers
The
SimHQ Privacy Statement of Policy
Forum
Registration and Use Agreement
Frequently
Asked Questions
Site History
Since
1997, SimHQ has existed for one purpose... providing the
simulation community with the best articles, news, message
boards, and tips to make our common passion more enjoyable.
What started out as one man’s personal website has quickly
risen to become the community’s leader for sim information.
This didn’t happen by accident…
it took dedicated volunteers, the support of our readers,
and a continuing desire to be the best. If you’re new
to SimHQ, take a look at our Staff
Bios. Here you’ll see one of the things that set
us apart. Many of our writers not only have “been there
and done that” around the world, but continue pushing
the envelope today. They are our inspiration and our ‘reality
check’ that we are, after all, gaming, but their deep
knowledge of the topics they write about shines through in
their articles.
Another ‘SimHQ difference’
is our technical knowledge. We’re all tinkerers….the
kind of people who understand what makes our PCs tick, and
who always seek to make our sims run the fastest, most stable,
and with the highest quality that it can. Several of our staff
either currently work for the world’s leading technology
companies, or have in the past. We’re the best of both
worlds…a site focused on simulations, but deeply interested
in the hardware that makes it happen.
Lastly, SimHQ staff are here for a
simple reason….the freedom to tell it like it is. Many
of us have written for other commercial or fan sites, and
the experience hasn’t always been a good one. That desire
to be accurate, truthful, and respectable comes through in
any of our articles, and it’s the core of our Pledge
to our Readers. Check the pledge out, and think about
it the next time you’re reading an article trying to
decide whether to spend your hard-earned money on a software
title or piece of hardware. We mean what we say, and for good
reason.
If you’re a long-time SimHQ reader,
you already know all of this, and hopefully have seen it in
action. If you’re new to our site, welcome, and thanks
for choosing us. Be sure to read our Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQ) page to learn more about the history
and current operations of the site, and please drop us a line
if you have any suggestions, comments, or questions!
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Biographies
of the SimHQ Staff
Click on the links below to view
staff information.
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this page.
The SimHQ
Pledge to Our Readers
- SimHQ has never and will never
force one of its writers to change an article due to commercial
pressure or the desire to please / recruit an advertiser.
Articles written by SimHQ staff will be edited for clarity
and grammar only. All writers have the final approval and
edits of their articles.
- SimHQ has never and will never
mislead industry companies by using voluntary cooperation
/ publicity as a leverage for commercial solicitations.
- SimHQ has never and will never
write articles about fictional products as if the products
are real or planned.
- SimHQ has never and will never
limit discussion or promote discussion of a certain simulation-related
product because of commercial and / or advertising reasons.
- SimHQ will promise to make full
disclosure in articles if the object being written about
have been tested by the author, or if any SimHQ staff receives
any kind of reward, monetary or otherwise, for their involvement
in the development of that product.
- SimHQ will promise to ensure
that its content will be original publications, not reprints
or recompilations of existing articles, unless it is so
noted.
SimHQ staff have agreed to assume
the following responsibilities:
- SimHQ staff will never use an alias
to criticize another site or magazine publicly.
- When discussing matters related
to another site, SimHQ staff will always publicly announce
their affiliation with SimHQ.
- SimHQ staff will never exaggerate
their experience in biographies, articles, or features,
or offer misleading representations of past experiences.
- SimHQ staff will never knowingly
publish an untruth.
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The SimHQ Privacy
Statement of Policy
The trust of the simming community
is essential to the success of SimHQ. Therefore, we take
concerns regarding privacy very seriously.
What Information Does SimHQ
Collect On Its Traffic?
We collect general site server statistical information from
all visitors to SimHQ, both to monitor utilization and
for site security purposes. While this information contains
such features as the machine (IP) address you are using, as
well as the date, time, and file(s) requested, it typically
cannot be used to identify you on an individual basis. Specifically,
our tracking software logs the following:
- Web Browser Used
- Operating System Used
- Visitors Top Level Domain (i.e.
aol.com)
- Full Server Address
- Visitor IP Address
- Links that brought a visitor to
SimHQ
- Links followed from SimHQ
- Hits to local documents and files
- Hits by time, day, week, and year
Cookies
Persistent client side data ("cookies") are used
for some features on the site, particularly the Ultimate Bulletin
Board system. This cookie is a built-in feature of the bulletin
board software and is used primarily for the purposes of tracking
whether new message board threads have appeared since you
last visited.
SimHQ's
Policy on Children
While this site is a general purpose information provider,
it is not directed, in whole or part, at children under the
age of 13. Children under the age of 13 years are expressly
prohibited from providing any personal information. We strongly
recommend parental supervision of children when using this,
or any, web site. For more information on children's online
privacy generally and the Children's Online Privacy Protection
Act, please see the FTC's Kidz Privacy site. If you are a
minor (under the age of 18), you may not take part in any
contest run by SimHQ.
Sharing
of Personal Information
Certain features of the site (such as registration for the
message boards) do require the provision of personal information.
The following categories are requested during the board registration
process, but only those marked with an asterisk are required.
- User Name*
- Password*
- Email*
- City, State, Country
- Occupation
- Homepage
- Interests
- ICQ Number
We may occasionally request additional
information, primarily for contests or giveaways. If you are
a minor (under the age of 18), you may not take part in these
contests.
Banner
Ads
Our banner ads are monitored by a software package that tracks
exposures, hits to the banner, date / time, and the viewer's
/ clicker's IP address. All banner ad "customers,"
whether free (such as affiliates) or paid advertisers, have
access to the information for THEIR banner ad(s) ONLY.
Dissemination
of Personal Information by SimHQ
Any information collected by SimHQ, for instance at a
survey or in a contest, is for the internal use of SimHQ
and will not be disclosed to third parties without your prior
express consent, except under extraordinary circumstances,
such as a court order. Other examples of exceptions are to
notify a contest partner of the winner's names, addresses,
etc. OR if a party requests that SimHQ provide a feedback
form for them on their product for readers to fill out.
Another exception to this may be aggregate
data shared with advertisers (for instance, "90% of our
viewers responding to a survey rate our news as "excellent.")
This policy is effective and updated
on July 31, 2000, and is subject to change without notice,
particularly as new site features are added.
For any questions about this policy,
please contact us.
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Forum Registration
and Use Agreement
SimHQ’s
forums are intended for our members to learn and exchange
information about our common interests, share experiences
and enjoy time spent with one another. We expect members to
treat each other with respect and civility. The forums are
open 24 hours a day. Our moderation is done on a wholly volunteer,
unpaid basis. Accordingly, we cannot watch every post in every
thread all the time. SimHQ (“The Site”) is not responsible
for any member's posts, emails, or messages (collectively,
“Postings”), including without limitation the content,
tone and accuracy of a Posting, or for any material in a Posting
that may be offensive to a particular viewer. The author of
each Posting is solely responsible for its contents, and each
viewer waives all claims, rights and causes of action he or
she may assert against The Site arising from or in connection
with a Posting.
The views
of any member, however relayed, are not necessarily the views
of The Site or any entity associated with The Site or any
of its advertisers. We encourage members to notify us of any
Posting that may be objectionable so that we may deal with
it accordingly. These concerns can be addressed to any of
the moderators, staff,
or the webmaster.
We reserve the right to edit or delete all or any portion
of any member’s Posting as we in our sole discretion
deem appropriate.
Your
use of The Site is at our discretion and you agree to abide
by our rules as they may be amended from time to time, including
but not limited to the following:
You agree
that you will not use The Site to post or link any material
that is deceptive and/or defamatory, abusive, hateful, harassing,
obscene, discriminitory, profane, threatening, invasive of
a person's privacy, or in violation of any law, license or
copyright. The Site’s server may not be used for illegal
purposes or in support of illegal services, will not be used
to harm or attempt to harm minors in any way, and will not
be used to transmit anything that threatens or harasses another
person. The Site actively discourages cheating, and the posting
of hacks or cheats for any games is forbidden. You agree that
you will not attempt to impersonate another person.
The Site’s
server will not be used to make unsolicited offers to sell
or buy products, items, or services, or to advance any type
of financial scam or scheme such as pyramid schemes. We reserve
the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured
parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or other
wrongdoing, and to provide information we know about you in
the event of a complaint, claim, suit, or other legal action
or investigation involving you. You agree to remain solely
responsible for the content of your Postings, and to indemnify
and hold harmless The Site, it’s owners, staff, moderators or it's ISP, all advertisers and their agents, their
affiliates, successors and assigns of the foregoing parties,
for all expenses of any nature incurred with respect to any
claim or demand arising from or based upon your Postings.
Image posting and reposting. We cannot allow unauthorized, copyrighted images in the SimHQ Forums. If you find an image that you know is copyrighted and not posted by the owner, email the webmaster and it will be deleted. We will allow: a) images created by the poster; b) screenshots taken by the poster; c) images and/or screenshots directly released from developers to promote their games/sims. Do not post images originally published on another enthusiast web site. In all other cases beside these examples a link to the image at the source site must be used in lieu of the reposted image. We ask that members not repeatedly embed images in their posts, similar to a signature image. Any images not complying with those criteria will be deleted.
Unauthorized
advertisements, solicitations, chain letters, commercial or
bulk e-mail (SPAM) are not allowed.
The Site
may amend these rules from time to time without notice.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to maintain
SimHQ?
The hours provided by our volunteers
each month is well into the hundreds, as is the amount of
money to pay for server space and traffic. The site depends
on advertising revenue to exist. If you would like to advertise on SimHQ, click here.
How can I support SimHQ?
There are several ways to support
us.
- Purchasing a book, video, or other
product through our Library. A percentage of the Amazon sales help maintain the site's costs.
- Supporting our advertisers’
banner ads and letting them know you appreciate their supporting SimHQ.
- You can also support us by recommending
us to a friend.
- By visiting the site yourself!
Do you accept freelance articles?
We’ll be glad to take a look,
at the very least! Let us know before you start writing something,
though, just in case we’re working on the same type of
article.
Do you pay for articles?
Not at this time, sorry.
Wasn’t the site once owned by....?
SimHQ has had six owners since it was started in 1997. They are:
Frank "Crimson" Morissette, Founder (1997-1999)
Robert "Baron" Litchfield (1999-2000)
Dan "Crash" Crenshaw and Pete "Pygmy" Marone (2000-2001)
Bubba "Masterfung" Wolford (2001-2004)
Doug "guod" Atkinson (2005- )
How do I know your staff are who
they say they are?
Well, ask them. We take our staff’s
background very seriously, and have publicly removed staff
who lied about their backgrounds.
How much traffic do you get?
A lot. ;)
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Copyright 2008, SimHQ.
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