C.O.P.P.A., or Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, was made effective April 21, 2000 in a law passed by the Congress of the United States. Due to this law, I ask that no one under the age of 13 submit personal information to my site (i.e. don't apply for awards or sign the guestbook, etc.) or my e-mail address. Children under the age of 13 are not eligible to participate in my awards program.

No personal information obtained through this site, whether it be a guestbook entry or award application, will be put to commercial use or given to a third party. Information given through the site's guestbooks will be visible to the public unless the private message box is checked. Messages that are sent as private will remain private. This site uses eXTReMe Tracking, Motigo Webstats, and StatCounter.Com to track visitors. The information is anonymous and all information collected is used only to improve this site for its audience. Their privacy policies are consistent with the policies of this site and are detailed on their respective policy pages, accessible by clicking their linked names.

The author retains all rights to his original prose and poetry, including but not limited to poems, blog entries, academic papers, and essays. All writing and graphics on my site are either owned by me under my copyright or appropriately credited and used according to copyright law and the permissions of the copyright holders.

If you have questions about any of my policies, please leave me a private message in my guestbook, and I will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

• The photograph "Cherokee_NC.jpc" on "poetry.html" was taken by me on vacation.
• 
  
• The yearbook photographs of former Editors-in-Chief of the Missouri Miner are courtesy of the RollaMO yearbook at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Permission was sought and obtained and acknowledgments are posted.
• 
  
• All other photographs pertaining to my Missouri Miner research were submitted by the copyright holders for use in this project. Acknowledgments are posted.

Declaration of Ethics — APEX Pledge

• Never knowingly treat others with disrespect in any public form of communication;
• 
  
• Never make assumptions about another's intent. Instead, I (we) will seek clarification when the intent is not obvious;
• 
  
• Demonstrate fairness and be forthcoming in agreements, whether the exchange be in the form of goods, services, information or conversation;
• 
  
• Only request confidentiality prior to stating that which I (we) wish to remain confidential. Further, if I (we) have agreed to confidentiality, I (we) shall honor such agreement;
• 
  
• Never initiate a dispute. Further, if confronted by a dispute I (we) shall request the services of the APEX Disputes Service;
• 
  
• Agree to be bound by the decision of any APEX Dispute Committee convened on my (our) behalf or the decision of the Director of Disputes that my (our) dispute does not warrant the convening of a Dispute Committee;
• 
  
• Agree to make a positive and ongoing contribution as a member of APEX, to ensure my (our) continued involvement within this ethics community;
• 
  
• Agree not to affiliate with any group which defames others, or has an agenda not consistent with the mission of APEX.
• 
  Submitted on this day, August 9, 2008.
  
  
  
  
  The Code of Ethics (COE) is licensed under a
  Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike 3.0 United States License
  with credit being given to Award Community News in accordance with the terms of the License.
  
  
  

  ---

  ---

  
  
  

  Declaration of Ethics - The Ethics Pledge Program

  
  
  Writing Matters Web Excellence Award
  
  
  • I, Randal A. Burd, Jr., Owner of the Awards Program held at the WebSite, Randal's Sanctuary,
    do hereby declare that I will visit all Websites that apply for the award listed on my website.
  • 
    
    
  • That in judging the applicants for my award that I will do so with honesty, integrity, fairness and impartiality.
  • 
    
    
  • That I will judge all websites by the criteria listed by my awards program.
  • 
    
    
  • That I will show no prejudice to anyone, for any reason, when considering them for my award.
  • 
    
    
  • That my award program is not a give away award, reciprocal award. My site has criteria that must be met, and I judge by this criteria.
  • 
    
    
  • Applicants from all sites are welcome, except as stated on my site.
  • 
    
    
  • That I will not consider any site that contains illegal content, pornography or explicit sexual content or any site connected to such content.
  • 
    
    
  • I will not discriminate against any person that applies for my award.
  • 
    
    
  • I agree to maintain a professional, friendly and positive manner in any correspondence with any applicant.
  • 
    
    
  • I will respect the privacy of all applicants for my award. All information received from applications will be deemed private, except that which is stated on award program.
  • 
    
    
  • I agree to uphold the pledge of The Ethics Pledge Program, at all times maintaining high standards of honesty, integrity, fairness and impartiality.
  • 
    Submitted on this day, August 4, 2008.