Gather is your community. You make it what it is! So far, you've made it a fun place to keep in touch with friends, share ideas, and explore the world together. That means our membership pledge is more than just read -- it's understood. And as our community grows, here's a reminder of those guidelines our members continue to uphold.

As a member of this unique community, I agree to:

1. Foster and support the independence it was founded on. (The 1st Amendment is printed on the back of Gather's biz cards!)
2. Respect other members and treat them fairly. I will not slander, libel, or defame other members. I will be open to giving and receiving constructive criticism.
3. Always represent myself honestly. Pen names are allowed, but I will not impersonate others.
4. Recognize that a difference of opinion drives debate and diversity. I may disagree, but I will not personalize our differences.
5. Only send friend requests and group member invitations to people I know or have communicated with on Gather. I will not engage in spamming in any form, such as friend requests, invitations to groups, or private messages.
6. Strengthen and contribute to the overall good of the community by my participation on Gather. I will keep my comments within the context of the content and I will not engage in comment spamming.
7. Work to keep the community engaged in interesting content and informed debate. I will not contribute articles that are overtly commercial. I will contact Gather's advertising team through advertising@gather.com to advertise. Please see Gather's definition of commercial content in the Terms of Service.
8. Only report content that violates the Terms of Service or is intended for mature audiences, but lacks a mature audience setting. I will not report content to complain about another member, or based on someone or something I do not agree with. I will not republish content that has been reported and is under editorial review.
9. Review and follow Gather's complete policies and Terms of Service. When in doubt, I will review the Terms of Service.

From your most imaginative thoughts to your favorite photos and videos, you can publish almost anything on Gather. Just make sure it's legally yours and within the Terms of Service. With your common sense and these publishing guidelines, you'll be good as gold:

1. Recognize that tags provide content organization for the community and only assign those tags that accurately portray your content.
2. Adult-themed content is allowed, but pornography or other sexually explicit photos or videos are not allowed on Gather.
3. Photos or videos showing dangerous or illegal acts are not allowed on Gather. For instance, content containing animal abuse, drug abuse, or bomb making are not permitted.
4. Do not post videos with gratuitous violence against people or animals.
5. Gather holds free speech in high regard and defends personal expression of unpopular points of view. However, hate speech is not permitted. The use of slurs or malicious stereotypes intended to denigrate a particular gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or nationality is not allowed. Encouraging violence against these groups is never permitted.
6. Respect all Copyright and Fair Use laws when posting any content on Gather. This means you can only upload content you created or that you have the written rights to use. Do not use content in your posts, photos, videos, or comments that someone else owns the copyright to without obtaining written permission and stating that permission. Giving credit to the source is not enough. Most music, movies, TV programs, and videos published by others are copyrighted and require written permission to use. This is not Gather's rule; this is the law.

Baby's first step. Graduation speeches. Wacky pets. Videos are a great way to share fun and memorable moments! But posting them has some unique requirements. Help ensure that your videos don't infringe on any copyrights by keeping these tips in mind:

• Shoot your own video. It's the easiest and best way to ensure there are no copyright issues. If it's original content, you never have to worry about the copyright, 'cause you own it!
• Include original audio with your video. If you use a sound recording owned by a record label without permission, your video is infringing on copyrights.

Beware of these common slipups:

• If you taped it off cable, videotaped your TV screen, or downloaded it from a website, it's copyrighted and distribution requires the copyright owner's written permission.
• Providing attribution to the owner/author/songwriter is not the same thing as obtaining and providing written permission.
• Creating a video made of short clips of copyrighted content -- even though you pieced it together -- is still copyright infringement.
• You cannot publish commercial content unless you are the content owner or have written permission from the content owner. Commercial content includes:
  
  • commercials
  • movies and movie trailers
  • TV shows
  • music videos
  • live concert videos