Requirements for Joining My Webrings

Please read this entire page carefully. I will hold you responsible for its content whether you have read it or not, so it is in your best interests to read it. I apologize for the length of it, but it turns out that managing webrings is a fairly complex problem, and I have been exposed to numerous situations that have made it necessary for me to describe my criteria in detail. In the third paragraph of this essay, I have included links to specific criteria for your convenience. For a short description of my criteria, and for a little additional information, please see my other page of requirements: Family-Friendly.

There is a password on this page. In order to be accepted into a ring, I may ask you to email me the password so that I know you read my criteria. I want you to be familiar with my criteria and make sure that your site conforms before you apply. If all you are seeking to do is legitimize things that disobey my criteria, please do not waste my time or yours.

For visitors, the following warnings apply: I have adopted a number of webrings, and have not yet checked all of the existing sites. Please be warned that any such site may contain any of the following: material that is not family friendly, ActiveX code, or business scams. For more information about all of this, please read on. However, new sites will be held to the standards below. I disclaim any legal liability for the content of existing sites that I have not yet had a chance to check or which violate my criteria after I have approved the site. If you are aware of any site on any of my webrings that violate my criteria, please email me through webring and let me know. I will take a look and act within 48 hours (or within 48 hours of my return if I have been out of town). Thank you. Please note that if I adopt a webring, and there are sites that do not meet my criteria on the ring, I will decide just how egregious the violation is. If it is not particularly egregious, I will grandfather the site, but I do not hesitate to delete sites that are in gross violation of my rules.

When you are applying to one of my rings, first and foremost, please read the description of the ring. If you have no relevant content, please do not apply to that ring. You may be eligible for another ring. See my WebRing profile for a list of the rings I manage.

Mechanical requirements: your site's HTML must work well. You may not have embedded music with no obvious way to shut it off. If your site is on FortuneCity, I probably will not approve it because of their advertising practices. If your site has voluntary popups (that I didn't get by clicking on a link) that my popup suppression software won't suppress, then your site isn't qualified. I refused to accept one site because it had a popup on EVERY page which invited the visitor to sign up for their newsletter. If you have problems with your HTML, I WILL help you with it if you want. If it is simple to fix, I'll do it for free. If it will be extensive, I will have to charge you. When you design your site, please be careful of site-designing software. Some of it produces pages that do not work in all browsers. In particular, Microsoft's software is intended to create pages that will not work in browsers other than Internet Explorer. And drag-and-drop programs often have problems with pictures overlapping text in some browsers. If you have ActiveX or .NET (dot net) on your site, it's not qualified. Why? Because both of these are used to download viruses and spyware onto the computers of unsuspecting visitors. Using these is unethical. And if your only navigation is through Java (as distinct from Javascript), it's not qualified. Provide alternative navigation. The major pages of your site MUST have a CLEAR link back to the page where you have your webrings.

I regret having to have you read the rather lengthy description of my requirements for my webrings. But for some reason, many people apply to my webrings who have material on their sites that I would not willingly link to on my own site, and they seem to think nothing of it. For this reason, I have tried to define what I am looking for. I try to be objective when I evaluate a site, so I owe it to you to make my criteria clear and objective as well. To help you find the material about what is likely to be on your site, I have prepared the following brief index: Family Friendly criteria. Multi level marketing and other commercialism issues. Spamming and other business scams. ActiveX. Criteria for Christian webrings. There is also a section on programming problems on your site. I do not disqualify a person for having programming problems as a general rule. I will work with you to correct the problems. If the problems are egregious and you are unwilling to fix them, I will reject your site. There are more details below.

Please read the material below carefully. It is both my legal disclaimer (I am not responsible for sites that violate my criteria without my knowledge), and the description of the reasons for my requirements. When you think about joining my webring, please keep in mind that my admitting you to my ring means that I am tacitly supporting your content, and if for no other reason, I will not accept the LEGAL liability for content that violates any laws, or that corrupts children. I am NOT legally required to give a forum to anyone who expresses an idea with which I disagree. Please see my paragraph on censorship below. If your site does not meet my criteria as outlined below, please do not waste either your time or mine by applying. If you wish to belong to one of my webrings, you may use these as a guideline so that you will meet my requirements. Failure to read these criteria will not be accepted as an excuse for violating them. I realize the description is fairly long; however, I repeat: please do not waste your time or mine by applying if your site does not qualify (if it has minor problems, and you are willing to fix them, you may apply, and I will work with you.)

It has come to my attention that some people are applying for my webrings, especially the webring Integrity, who don't begin to qualify given my requirements. The only thing I can figure is that they are hoping to legitimize their web site by gaining membership in one of my rings.

Don't bother to apply to the Integrity webring for the purpose of legitimizing something that violates my rules.

The webring Renaissance Women of the World is intended for sites which promote the ideals of the Renaissance person: a person of virtue with broad learning. If you simply want to cater to women, or if your site is very narrow in content, it is not eligible for the ring, even if otherwise it would be eligible for my webrings. Each site which is admitted to the ring must demonstrate a broad knowledge or a broad interest in learning and knowledge, along with clearcut examples of virtue. Sites are not eligible for the ring if they would not qualify for the Integrity webring.

In general, sites with discussion boards that require registration to view the boards are not eligible for any of my webrings. As a practical matter, it simply isn't possible for me to take the time to register at each such board in order to evaluate your site. I may make an occasional exception, but that is up to my discretion. In general, expect your site to be declined if it has this feature. In addition, sites that promote a book or product that it would take me time to evaluate or cost me money for a sample, you may not be accepted into my ring. This is because I simply do not have the resources to evaluate such products or services. Since I do a thorough evaluation of every site, in these cases, it would require me to do one of these things. I will be using my discretion with respect to this issue. Your book or product may be perfectly OK, but if I don't have time or resources to evaluate it, I can't admit you to the ring.

While I do not expect you to keep constant track of the webrings to which you belong, I expect you to select them carefully to begin with. It is a safe bet that some webrings will include sites that violate my criteria sooner or later. I tend to look at the nature of the webrings to which you belong, and if I see one that looks suspicious, I go to the ring hub and look over the membership. If I find a site that looks suspicious, I visit it. If it turns out to violate my criteria, your web site becomes ineligible. I will usually email you and give you a week to look over your own web site to make sure it complies with my rules before I reject you outright. But please do NOT apply if you know your site will fail. I have a very limited time to deal with new submissions, and if you submit a site that is in gross violation, not only will I reject it, but I may even blacklist you. If your site has minor problems, I will be willing to work with you, but you will be required to meet my criteria in order to join my webrings.

Sites that are involved with Top Sites and similar programs are not eligible for any of my rings. Top Sites allows anybody to join, and exercises no control over the content of member sites. Since you have no control over this either, membership in Top Sites violates the rule requiring all links to be family-friendly.

This is an extended explanation of the requirements for joining any of my webrings. If you have any questions, please email me through the webring system. I will usually respond within hours, at most a few days. If you don't hear from me within a week, please email me again.

Basically, when you apply, I will almost always look at your entire site, so count on it! I not only examine the content of your site, but your links and webrings as well.

First and foremost, any site applying for membership in a webring must contain relevant content! You'd be amazed at how many people will apply when they have absolutely no relevant content on their site. I try to put a simple statement of what the ring is about on each ring, so that if you do minimal reading before applying, you will know whether or not your site is eligible. Furthermore, any site that consists of nothing but links to sites with relevant content, or which contains very little content, are not eligible. The latter I will decide on a case by case basis. For purposes of this requirement, information about products you are selling is not regarded as relevant content. For artistic sites, I require a minimum of five images, and I may apply standards of basic artistry. If I feel your art is too amateurish and without merit, I will reject your site, but in that case, you are free to apply again when you upgrade the art on your site. Sites that sell products or services will be admitted or not at my discretion, which includes my whim. :) This is intended for the purpose of allowing me to reject commercial sites which do not strictly meet the definition of multi level marketing (see below) but which have some of the undesirable features of MLM.

Another problem I have run into is sites where the relevant content is difficult or impossible to find. Please, if you run a webrings page, have a prominent link to the relevant material! If I have to search to find the content, then other people will have trouble finding it, too. In addition, all sites must have a link back to the page on which the webring resides, on each major page of the site. Sites that use only Java or Flash for navigation are not navigable by people who do not have or do not utilize these programs. You MUST have alternate navigation. This includes a bypass link on your splash page. Please note that blind people or some other disabled people also may not be able to navigate your site at all if you do not have alternate navigation.

The Question of Censorship

I have been accused of censorship because I have requirements for my webrings. As a matter of law, I will explain that a private individual cannot be accused of censorship. Only the government can commit censorship. I am not part of the government. An individual is under no obligation to allow his resources to be used to promote ideas he disagrees with. So said Thomas Jefferson, and so has said the United States Supreme Court. When I admit you to my webring, I am providing you with the resources that "belong" to me, namely the webrings I manage. It is NOT censorship for me to deny any site admission to my webrings. If you don't believe me, go ask your lawyer. :)

I want all of my webrings to be family friendly, free of fraud, and safe to surf. The criteria are designed with that goal in mind.

Sites Must Be Family Friendly

What is "family friendly"? The short answer is that if you comply with certain criteria, your site is family friendly. This requirement means that your site, and all its links and webrings, must conform to the criteria for Safe Surf and ICRA to be classified as family-friendly. If yours is a graphics site, then all images must conform to the requirements of Renderosity.

In particular, no site with explicit erotic art or porn will be admitted. Erotic art is any art which focuses on the genitals and/or erogenous zones of the body, or which depicts a sex act or the perversion of a sex act. Also excluded from my webrings will be images depicting such things as bondage or sado-masochism. I am a firm believer in the dignity of women, and most of this derogates women. A good many of these also attack the dignity of men. Sites that link to dating sites where same-sex dating is permitted, or dating for the purpose of sexual activity, are also not eligible. Tasteful nudity WILL be permitted. Tasteful nudity is artistic nudity that does not focus on the genitals or erogenous zones or call undue attention to them. It does not unduly sexually arouse the viewer, and does not suggest erotic acts. Basically, the difference is that tasteful nudity recognizes the personhood of the model (including a digital model), and erotic art ignores the personhood and focuses on erogenous parts of the body and erogenous activity. Some erotic art is fairly abstract in nature; if you must use your imagination to "see" the eroticism, I may be willing to accept it.

No site will be admitted if it advocates violence in any way, especially violence against women and defenseless people. Thus, I will not accept any site that advocates euthanasia, whether voluntary or not (most of the time it's coerced, but the victin will never let you know it, and we can't allow people to kill other innocent people; it would be very destructive of our society), and in general, I don't accept sites that support abortion (unless the emphasis is on a woman's right to refuse abortion, since 90% of the abortions are forced or coerced, or result from fraud.) Sites that support abortion are not eligible at all for some of my webrings, but I will explain if that is a problem. Suffice it to say that abortion is a violent act not only for the baby, but also for the mother, and unless she truly has a right to choose (in other words, she has viable alternatives and she is not being pressured or defrauded in any way), then she has not consented to that violence. So if your site places an emphasis on supporting abortion, without any mitigating material, it is not eligible for any of my webrings. The pasword is "subterfuge". (misspelling is deliberate.) Please note: most environmentalist and animal rights organizations support abortion. If you have any questions about this, I will be happy to answer them.

No site that "rapes my eyes" will be admitted. What do I mean by this? I mean art that is disgusting or graphically violent or unnecessarily gory, or has a sexual theme that degrades the precious gift of sexuality in any way, regardless of the motive behind it, even if it is to stir up controversy or provoke thought. If you lack basic respect of fellow human beings simply because they are members of the human race, and it shows, your site is not eligible. Nor is any site that defames any person visually or otherwise. Defamation means making false representations of another person, which are detrimental to his reputation. Be careful! The mere fact that someone inherits a situation or takes on a position of authority where a scandalous problem exists, does not make him PERSONALLY responsible for the problem.

Also, no site that has spiritual darkness will be admitted. In addition, no site will be admitted which has substantial religious content that parents will tend not to want their children to see. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, sites with positive material about a cult. Finally, no site will be admitted if, although it otherwise meets the criteria, links to, or belongs to webrings which contain, sites with any of the above. This includes links to any music group that glorifies sexual perversion, promiscuity, spiritual darkness, violence, or other anti-family values. In most cases, be forewarned that if you have material or links to material on rap, hip-hop, heavy metal, or other such music or groups, you most likely have objectionable material and are not eligible. There are a few exceptions, and I will make sure that your particular information falls under the exceptions before approving you.

What is spiritual darkness? Spiritual darkness includes information on occult practices of any kind, or cult material of any kind. It also includes specific information on how to practice the rituals of spiritual darkness or sources of objects used in such rituals. It also includes tarot, and if egregious enough (i.e anything more than a passing reference to), astrology. It also includes spiritism, wicca, New Age, and shamanism. It includes any religion that uses cult mind control techniques or twists scripture. Finally, it includes any site which contains blasphemy. Blasphemy is often humorous or sarcastic in nature. It includes hatred expressed toward God, mocking God by claiming to be God, or claiming to be God without the mockery. Any site which is hateful to any religion with which you disagree is ineligible. You may have material disagreeing with another religion, and you may critique another religion in a rational way, but the moment your site includes nonrational hateful material about another religion, your site is ineligible.

Finally, no site that expresses political hate is eligible. What do I mean by political hate? Political hate includes deliberate lying about current events or history, revisionism, conspiracy theory, or persons in public office, or misrepresentation of the character or actions of any person in public office or who is otherwise a public figure (note that they cannot sue in a court of law for defamation) which is defamatory in nature. This does NOT exclude any site which has legitimate political commentary on it whether I agree with it or not. Nor does it exclude any site that makes a TRUE (verifiable by objective sources) statement about any public figure, no matter how derogatory. Defamation requires that the statement be FALSE, so derogatory FALSE statements will not be accepted. This requirement does not include links and webrings, unless they are egregious. You may normally link to any political material you like, but I WILL use my own discretion.

Please note: art is that which uplifts the spirit, conveys beauty, or moves someone to action to correct a violation of human rights. It is NOT something that is intended to blaspheme, or make people feel disgust. Some people consider these things "art". I don't. Let me repeat: if your site "rapes my eyes" (makes me feel disgust or repugnance), then your site is NOT eligible, no matter what your motive may be. There are other ways to raise controversial issues and make people think without raping people's eyes, or having content that parents would rather their children not see. May I remind you: much of the current problem in our current society is because people start with sick images that other people use as fuel for violence against innocent people, and the rest of us make no objection. Freedom of speech does NOT include the right to engage in destructive speech that causes our enemies to be emboldened (treason), or that feeds the frenzy of violence of criminals. I expect all members of my webrings to promote art, not sick ugliness. Please note: I have a degree in art, and I will accept something which is good art, even if it's not pleasing to the eye, as long as it isn't sick. In this case, I judge the artistic quality of the work. In general, judging art is a "religious issue." It has a lot to do with personal preferences. There is no ultimately objective way to evaluate art, especially for artistic merit. However, I will try to define my requirements as clearly as I can, and rest assured, as a working artist, I have the background to recognize examples of legitimate schools of art, so if the artist is emulating a great artist of the past, I will recognize it.

Sites that are about nature or science must be devoid of any substantial content that mixes science with religious speculation. This includes any material on eastern religious practices or beliefs that have not been verified by science, but which is presented as if they have been. Sites with information about herbs and alternative healing methods which is secular in nature are acceptable. Science with religious speculation also includes any content that accepts the theory of evolution as fact, rather than a theory. If you have a section on your web site which is about religion, and wish to include information supposing that the theory of evolution is fact, you may place it in your religion section. Sites that support environmentalist or animal rights organizations may be ineligible because of the political agenda of most of these groups.

Any site which is bitterly hostile to any religion, or which takes a hateful attitude toward religions, ethnic groups, or cultures will not be eligible for any of my webrings. You may oppose something without being hateful about it. Please note: mere disagreement with or criticism of a religion is NOT hate.

Please note: even though I include your links and webrings in my inspection of your site, it is not my intent to hold you forever responsible for what other people put on their sites, or what sites are allowed to join other people's webrings. So I will explain that one of the things I am looking for is whether or not the rings and links you have chosen are likely to have such content in the future. In other words, I expect you to evaluate your links and webrings and see whether or not there is a danger that in the future, they will break my rules. Again, I don't expect perfection. But I do check the sites on my webrings from time to time, and if I see a problem, I will let you know. Naturally, if I approve your site and you subsequently deliberately add something that breaks the rules, you will be banned from all my rings. Please note also that it is not uncommon for sites to join rings that are being managed by the WebRing system (and will be placed for adoption) that are unacceptable by my criteria, because these sites are seeking legitimacy. If I find such a situation, I will let you know, and you may remove yourself from the ring if necessary. I will exercise a SMALL amount of lenience with regard to this, but not a lot. If you find any webrings on any of MY sites that have experienced this problem, please let me know. I will probably remove my site from the rings, and I would appreciate knowing about it. I have been working to make sure my site contains no rings that I would object to. One of my motivations for adopting webrings (and I have adopted quite a few) is to make sure that the webrings I belong to aren't prone to this problem.

Multi Level Marketing and Crass Commercialism

A number of sites that have applied have what I would regard as crass commercialism. While I am not sure I can define that exactly, if I find the commercialism on the site objectionable, I will reject your application. I will be much more lenient with any site applying to one of my business webrings, but the other webrings are intended for other purposes will need to have only tasteful material. If I find that your site has crass commercialism, I will tell you exactly why. You will be given a chance to correct the problem.

Regarding business sites, through experience as a ringmistress, I have determined that in most cases, "large" businesses violate one or more of my rules. A large business is a business which is primarily affiliated with another company and does not originate its products and services. If your site is simply a satellite of a large business, your site is probably not eligible for any of my business rings. If you have a unique product or service that you originated yourself, then your site is what I am looking for. Affiliate sites are acceptable under some very narrow conditions. First of all, the program with which you are affiliated may NOT be Multi-Level Marketing. Some of the companies that are really MLM are very good at concealing this fact from potential affiliates. Please note that I am capable of seeing through all their subterfuges. If I believe you have been flummoxed, I'll let you know and give you my reasons. If all you are doing on your site is with such a company, you are not eligible for any of my webrings. Sites that affiliate with several companies will generally not violate this rule, but there is no guarantee. Affiliation that simply involves selecting products from another internet business for sale with referrals to the original site, for a portion of the profits, are acceptable. These are in the nature of a retail store. Thus, for example, someone may decide to sell knick knacks, and may affiliate with three importers of folk art from other countries. That is fine. Before applying for my webring, please examine the site you are affiliated with very carefully. If the "opportunity" lets you get a cut of the sales of someone you have recruited to be in your downline, your site is not eligible. If the "opportunity" merely lets you have a finder's fee for someone new who signs on, it may or may not be acceptable. I will tell you why if it is not. The bottom line is that I want to cater to small businesses that are not cookie-cutter subsites of some large business.

No site that promotes any multi level marketing scheme will be admitted to any of my webrings. Multi level marketing is the type of marketing done by businesses such as Amway or Shaklee. There are many different such businesses, and I make it a point to keep track of them. I know what to look for, to identify a multi level marketing scheme. Many of them try to disguise the fact they are involved. Multi level marketing is characterized by any marketing scheme which involves a pyramid of sellers. This means that those above the bottom of the pyramid have what is known as a "downline". A downline consists of people on the bottom, who make sales, and those sales generate revenue for people higher up in the pyramid. Ordinary wholesalers generally form one intermediate level in any retail sale. Their service is to distribute products from manufacturers to retail outlets. They perform a specific and useful function, which has real value. In contrast, someone in the upline provides no service at all, and simply collects a cut of the sales of people in the downline. This effectively places an indeterminate number of "wholesalers" in between, each of which gets a cut. This is the fundamental definition of multi level marketing. (A one-time finder's fee is not an example of a downline.) The business model has a number of flaws. Some of them are inherent, and some of them simply are the way these companies do business. These flaws include, but are not limited to:

1. The hourly income for the people on the bottom of the downline is well under minimum wage. This criterion must be combined with other characteristics, as listed below.

2. No person can make a decent living by being the person on the bottom of the downline. No person can make a decent living without having a downline of his own. Thus, any person who makes a decent living MUST do so at the expense of a number of people who do not make even minimum wage. In effect, any person with a downline becomes a "sweat shop" for the people in his downline. Some multi level marketing firms argue that it is morally acceptable for people in the downline to be doing this as a hobby with the understanding that they will make less than minimum wage. I find that argument unpersuasive. It means that the company believes it is ethical to rob people of a decent living wage as long as the company can find a good excuse! This is the fundamental flaw of multi level marketing, and EVERY such company, without exception, has this problem. Arguing that they are reputable does NOT change this fact. In fact, it was calculated that a person in the downline of one supposedly reputable company (with no downline of his own) probably makes about $1.51 an hour! And he must still deduct wear and tear on his car and delivery costs from that in some cases.

3. The recruitment techniques used smack of cult mind control. They defraud through silence. They depend on misdirection to cause people to jump to erroneous conclusions. What I mean by this is that a recruiter will talk about how anybody can do it (no, anybody can't do it. You have to be willing to take advantage of your friends, and push products onto people who don't need or want them, to make any money, and not everyone is willing to do this, nor do some people have the temperament to engage in hard sales tactics.) The recruiter will talk about the extreme success of the people in the top levels, and IMPLY (but not say) that you can become one of them; all it takes is a work ethic. In fact, most people will never reach such a level, and to represent that you can be one of them is just plain fraudulent. Most people won't even earn a decent living, which means it is not a viable alternative for a mother who needs to work at home. She will be spending a lot of time away from her kids (maybe physically present, but not paying them any attention and putting them off if they approach her) and have very little to show for it. Most likely, she will end up SPENDING more money for products than she actually makes! In fact, quite a few people will carry an inventory. The cost of that inventory must be subtracted from any "profit" made, but most people don't do that. This can represent thousands of dollars spent on products that may or may not sell, spent by someone who is in a poor position to spend that kind of money. I know plenty of people who have been left with a huge inventory and no way to sell it. Also, being involved does induce a lot of people to spend money on products they do not need, for personal use, often a lot of money. If they want to do this as a hobby and they can afford it, fine. But the setting encourages people to spend money they have no business spending. Even people who join for the sole purpose of getting the products at a discount are being defrauded. I will explain why in a minute. The bottom line is that recruitment meetings will give you just enough information so that you will jump to a false conclusion, without stating that conclusion, to evade fraud laws. They know you will jump to that conclusion because of the way they present the information. They're counting on it. The whole point of these meetings is to generate unrealistic expectations so that people will allow their personal greed to induce them to do something they wouldn't do if they were thinking clearly and logically. Fundamentally, all multi level marking companies are BUSINESS CULTS, and their recruits act like cult victims! I have seen this countless times. They have found loopholes in the law that they take advantage of, so they can't be put out of business by law enforcement agencies. The law is full of such loopholes. Fundamentally, if you aren't one of the founders of the company, count on being screwed. The likelihood of it approaches 100%. Of course, if you are an employee of a retail outlet, a fulfillment center, or a wholesale warehouse, and you are on wages with benefits, this doesn't apply.

These flaws apply even to the companies that are "reputable" or sell reputable products, or products designed for a reputable need. All the word "reputable" means is that the company or product has a good reputation. The reputation may be UNDESERVED.

4. The products are almost always badly overpriced, of poor quality, and contain very little of the listed ingredients. I have made comparisons between herbal products sold by multi level marketing companies, and compared them to products sold in a retail store or by retail web sites. The contrast is appalling! You usually pay roughly ten TIMES as much per unit of active ingredient if the product comes from a multi level marketing company. The doses of herbs are usually too small to accomplish anything in your body at all. Furthermore, the doses of herbs are very small by comparison to any comparable product from another source. Often, the quantity is not even listed, because the company doesn't want you making such comparisons. The formulas used are NOT state of the art. They are old formulas that have been around a long time. Many products are sold for the purpose of controlling bodyfat. Most of these products have little to no effect because they do NOT address the causes of obesity, and do not do anything substantial to change a person's metabolism. Some of the products can actually be medically dangerous. The pasword is "subterfuge." (misspelling is deliberate). Obesity is most often related to imbalanced hormones (something you usually cannot remedy with any of the things multi level marketing companies sell), lack of exercise, or disease. A person can take weight off TEMPORARILY with the products from a multi level marketing company, but it is very, very rarely permanent. Products from multi level marketing companies are also notorious for containing allergens or other harmful ingredients. And there is no guarantee that a nutrient-preserving method of extraction has been used. Most products may well be lacking in potency, but will sell on the basis of quantity of ingredient. Many companies will misrepresent that their formulas are state of the art, and many will recruit a few doctors to endorse their products. None of this is meaningful. Again, this becomes a source of fraud.

5. As if that were not enough, the contract you must sign to become a dealer has some hidden consequences. Most contracts specify that you must use your own resources without reimbursement for any business expenses, including gasoline and wear and tear on your car, to deliver products. You are taught how to sell (using misdirection as in the recruitment meetings) by the company, but the legal LIABILITY for misuse of selling techniques is assumed BY YOU, not the company. No person knowledgeable in the law would ever agree to sign such a contract!

6. Often, a person who is involved with the multi level marketing company IS UNAWARE that the company is using this business model. It is often carefully concealed. But I know how to figure it out. And I will not approve any web site that promotes a scheme simply because the webmaster or webmistress is unaware the company is a multi level marketing company. If you are encouraged IN ANY WAY to recruit people for your downline, it's MLM, and your site is not eligible for my webrings. If the company has an "affiliate program" or a "business opportunity,", usually it is an MLM company.

7. Occasionally, a company will sell a unique product not available anywhere else. An example of this is Tupperware. It's still multi level marketing, and I will not approve such a site. The fact that they are using a flawed business model that inconveniences everyone is sufficient to condemn them in spite of the unique product. In other words, you can't just buy Tupperware while you are in the store for another reason anyway; you must arrange to order, you must wait to receive the product in many instances, or make a special stop at the dealer's house, or someone must deliver it.

8. For those who join to get the product at a discount, the system is also fraudulent. This is because the products are so greatly overpriced to begin with that you are still paying more than you would for a more potent product you can buy retail. You are getting inferior quality, and you think you are getting something superior at a discount because they are not being up front with you. So if you don't ever intend to have a downline, you are still being cheated.

9. If you are encouraged to recruit anybody at all to sell under you, it's multi level marketing, no matter what the company says about it. In reality, multi level marketing is about recruiting people, not about selling product. When you look at their actual figures, if you are represented as a person with a downline, and they reveal that you make substantially more money from your downline than your own sales, then it's multi level marketing. When the only way you can make a wage above minimum wage is to have a downline, it's multi level marketing.

I can think of one possible exception to all of the above. If you are a retailer that operates directly under the parent company (you weren't recruited by anybody, you don't recruit anybody, and you weren't recruited by spam), with no upline, and you sell on a web site such that the company provides fulfillment (delivers the product by mail), then you might not be involved in multi level marketing. But those situations are rare. If you're involved in any kind of situation where they provide you with a canned web site, then it's almost certainly multi level marketing. You will be competing with a gazillion other such people, for a market that is already saturated. You still stand very little chance of making a decent amount of money.

The bottom line is that if I determine that your site is connected to multi level marketing in any way (this includes links to your multi level marketing site), I will not approve your site. I make the final determination.

It will NOT be an excuse if the products you are selling through multi level marketing are related to the subject of the webring, i.e. for example, homeschooling materials. Nor will it be an excuse that the products you are selling are good products, or desirable.

How can you tell if a business you want to affiliate with is multi-level marketing? If the web site for the business offers a "business opportunity", it probably is. Go to that section. If you are encouraged to sign up anyone under you as part of your "team", it's multi level marketing, even if you are only paid one level below yours. It will still form a pyramid, and that is what is wrong with MLM. The term "business opportunity" is just the latest buzzword, so just because that web site doesn't use that phrase does not mean it isn't multi level marketing. The key is whether or not you are encouraged to sign up anybody under you.

Please note also that any site that is affiliated with a business that DOES NOT TELL YOU what you will be asked to sell unless you submit your email address or any other personal information is engaging in subterfuge. Such a site is not eligible for my webrings. I got burned by a site that asked me to fill out a short form before presenting me with several job prospects. They sold my email address to a bunch of people I had never authorized as recipients. I ended up spending hours of my time, and making long distance phone calls at my expense to get these people to purge the information from their systems, because they were NOT AUTHORIZED TO HAVE IT. If you come across any site that asks you to fill out a form before telling you what they are doing, it's a scam. Also, any site which is affiliated with a business that requires you to read a sales pitch to find out what they are selling is also ineligible. A person should be able to determine at a glance whether or not the product or service is something he wants to sell.

Not all affiliate sites are MLM. Here is how to tell the difference. If they ask you to put a special link on your site to theirs, and you will be given credit for the prospect who clicks on your link, and receive a percentage of the sale if the person buys something, it is NOT USUALLY MLM. You can either give a link to the site at large, or to specific products. HOWEVER, if the COMPANY you are linking to IS MLM, then obviously, it's MLM! Any affiliate site or business opportunity that says you will be paid based on what people below you sell is MLM, no matter if it is only ONE layer. It will still form a pyramid. I'm repeating that for emphasis. Sometimes an MLM site is carefully disguised, but I know how to find out whether they are MLM or not. If you have any questions about this, do not hesitate to ask.

The mere claim that a site is not MLM is not sufficient. Many of those ARE MLM, but have carefully concealed their scams.

Companies that have a good reputation but are MLM include the following: Amway, Quixtar, Tupperware, Avon, Fuller Brush (unfortunately, they went MLM in the '90's), Shaklee, Discovery Toys, Watkins, Herbalife, Melaleuca, ASH (Advanced Scientific Health; has a distinctive logo consisting of a square divided diagonally with a lightbulb on the upper left and a blue area on the lower right). I will be adding to this list. Their good reputation doesn't matter; it's because they are very good at deceiving the people who affiliate with them. Most of them use cult mind control techniques.

For further information on multi level marketing, please see this web page: What's Wrong With Multi-Level Marketing?

Another really common problem is people who are NOT qualified selling a service. Examples of this are health insurance, mortgages, prepaid legal services, and so forth. The problem is that they allow people to sign up for their business opportunity without undergoing a training program with testing and some kind of licensing. If you find sites like this on your webring, and you see that there is evidence of lack of professionality, I will reject the ring.

Finally, even if your business is not multi level marketing, but I find it unacceptable for some other reason, your site will not be approved. That is subject to my own discretion. The only way to be safe from this requirement is not to put business materials on the site, and not to link to them. This is basically my out. If I find something not in this description, then I will explain what it is and why it's a problem.

Sites selling specific products for graphics software, which you have designed yourself, will probably be approved. Sites selling your own art or any other product you make yourself will probably be approved. Sites for the family business which is not affiliated with some other company may be approved.

Spamming, etc.

No site that promotes spamming in any form will be approved. Any mass email campaign is spam UNLESS it is double opt-in (you volunteer ON THAT WEB SITE to receive the email, and once you have signed up, you are asked to confirm your decision to accept email by receiving an email with further action you must take) AND you can remove yourself from the email list anytime you want. Further, it is spam IF the web site sells your email address to anybody else, because once they do that, you can't unjoin. You will continue to receive email from someone you have not signed up with.

If your site has too many popups, I may reject it. Geocities barely falls within my tolerance level, but lately they have been feeding people two or three popup windows. That is a little much. Another problem with popup windows and banner ads is that they are likely to set off the ActiveX warning. Usually it is because the ad is designed in Shockwave/Flash, but IE doesn't distinguish between Shockwave files and ActiveX. I don't think Shockwave can be used to download malicious code, however. If you have banner ads and popup windows on your site, you should test your site several times with IE, with ActiveX turned off, and if you get the warning, you should check with your server or with the ad company and find out if they are using any kind of ActiveX other than Shockwave. I would prefer if you would have this information ready for me because it costs me a lot of time to make that determination myself, and I might not always be willing to do it. More on ActiveX below.

If your site is hosted on Geocities or another such service, please be aware that I will be much harsher with it because of the extra material, though I will not hold it to the same standards as your site itself. Google-hosted sites or sites that have Google links on them may contain unacceptable links, and you have no control over this. If the links are not acceptable, I will not accept your site. If I find flashing ads that I CANNOT turn off by refusing images from the originating site, I may refuse your site. Most often, these ads are in Flash and cannot be turned off in that manner. But I personally find such ads highly obnoxious and distracting, and I am sure I have plenty of company.

For the moment, I am not accepting any sites that are hosted on FortuneCity. This is because they have popups that lack a corner X, so the only way you can get rid of them to see the content you came for, is to click on the link. That is unacceptable. Furthermore, they have popups that override various browsers' popup protection, and that is also unacceptable.

Sites that promote envelope stuffing, reading emails for pay, surfing for pay, and other such scams are not eligible. These scams are counting on you to pay more for the envelopes and stamps you will have to buy than they pay you, or they are counting on you to spend more money clicking and buying than you will be paid for reading and surfing.

I am sure I have missed a lot of other possible business scams. If I run across one on your site that you don't know about, I will be happy to tell you about it, and it will be your responsibility to correct the problem.

Programming Problems

I test most sites in two browsers. Usually I use Internet Explorer (which tells me if you have ActiveX on your site) and Mozilla 1.6 or Firefox. I want everyone who surfs the ring to be able to see the web pages. Some common problems I see when testing are 1. a page that won't display anything (due to improper closure of table elements) and text that is overlapped by pictures. The latter often happens because someone is using some web design program such as Dreamweaver, and there is absolute positioning of an image, which then displays right on top of existing text in some browsers. Since I do web design myself, I can almost always figure out what the problem is. If you can, learn HTML, and hand code your pages. In the long run, they'll be much less likely to break, and you will be much more happy with the results. I realize that some people cannot write their own HTML. It takes time to learn, but I urge you to do it. If the only reason I have for rejecting your site is programming problems, I will work WITH you to correct them. Only refusal to correct the problems will make you ineligible for the ring. Sites will not be rejected for having a few minor flaws, but I will tell you if an image is not displaying, and that sort of thing.

ActiveX

The following remarks also apply to the new .net technology that Microsoft has introduced.

Most people have no idea what ActiveX is. So I will describe it as clearly as I can. ActiveX is a feature that allows a web site to download to a user's computer, some kind of executable code. By this I mean that the web site downloads a little program to a user's computer and then runs it. The user is unaware this is happening. When people visit a web site and pick up a virus from the site, it is through the use of ActiveX that his computer is most often infected. ActiveX can also be used to spy on people. It can be used to gather information from the user's computer and send it to a designated recipient. This information can be anything at all which is on your computer. It can leave a "back door" that will allow someone to come in and hack your computer at a later date. It can be "spyware" which is designed to send private information about you, from your computer, to some recipient. It can be used for all kinds of vicious purposes. Not everyone uses it this way, but because it lends itself to abuse in such an egregious way, I consider it unethical for any web designer to use it for any reason! In addition, even if the ActiveX YOU put on YOUR site contains no vicious code or spyware, the mere fact that the visitor's computer has downloaded and run it means that his computer is vulnerable to vicious code from another web site that is totally unknown to you and unrelated to yours. Not only is it unethical, but it's lousy web design. This is because of all the browsers of which I am aware, ONLY Internet Explorer will even recognize it! (Mozilla makes it available, but you have to download and install it.) So basically, your web site will NOT be properly displayed unless a person is using Internet Explorer with ActiveX activated. Being willing to have your pages display improperly to a substantial number of users certainly demonstrates that you don't care how your pages are displayed, and certainly illustrates that you don't have any standards! There is NO LEGITIMATE THING you can do with ActiveX that you cannot do with good programming using other methods!

Internet Explorer comes configured to accept ActiveX. This means that there are millions of users of IE who are unaware that they have a huge security hole in their system that will allow anybody to hack their computers without their knowledge. This is UNACCEPTABLE. The act of downloading and running a program without the knowledge of the computer's owner is, in and of itself, morally reprehensible. It is called "hacking." If you are using Internet Explorer (which I don't recommend because of all its security loopholes), then you can turn off ActiveX. At the top of the browser window is a taskbar that lists: File Edit View Favorites Tools Help. Click on "tools" and it will give you a dropdown menu. Click on "Internet Options". You will get a dialog box. One of the tabs at the top says "Security". Click on that. Then click on the button that says "Custom". You will get a list of settings. At the top of the list will be five ActiveX controls. There may also be .net controls. Disable all of them. Click on OK twice. You're done. From now on, any time you visit a web site that has ActiveX running, it will notify you. Check your own pages. If you are running ActiveX, you are not eligible for any of my webrings.

Recently, Mozilla started making an ActiveX plugin available. Don't download and use it! Not unless you want viruses and spyware on your machine without your knowledge. If you have it, get rid of it.

It has also come to my attention that some sites which are NOT running ActiveX are on servers that are, or that have advertisers that are. I am able to determine whether this is the case, and if it is your server, I may make some effort to contact the server and complain. But it is really your responsibility to make sure that your site is on a server that is not allowing any ActiveX downloads to any of your visitors. In order to make that determination, please disable ActiveX in Internet Explorer (see instructions above) and download your page from the internet five times. If it's an ad, you will probably see the ActiveX warning sometimes but not others. If it's your host, the warning should display each time. Your host should not be allowing advertisers to use ActiveX on them, and they share legal liability for hacking people's machines if they do, so you should complain. If the thing that triggers the ActiveX warning is Flash/Shockwave, you can make this determination easily. Right click on the ad with your mouse, and you will get a characteristic menu. You will not be given the option of saving the image. If you do this a few times, you will recognize the Flash menu when you see it.

It has been my experience that Geocities is particularly egregious about these things, so if your host is Geocities, PLEASE check your site carefully before applying. I don't really have the patience to deal with this issue on a Geocities site.

If you want to eliminate ActiveX from your web site, then either you are knowledgeable and know you put it there (in which case, you should be able to take it off with no problem), or the program you are using to design your pages may be putting it there. I do not have a lot of information on that at this point, and would welcome any information you have about any of the web site generating programs that put ActiveX on a web page without the knowledge of the site designer. If it is the case that your host is running ActiveX, they are probably using it to get information from users (breaching the security of the user's computer and basically hacking his machine, such as by installing spyware on the user's computer) for marketing purposes. If you determine that your host is using ActiveX and refuses to stop, you should find another host! We won't put a stop to the wholesale hacking of people's computers until enough of us refuse to have anything to do with any host that does this.

Additional Criteria for Christian Webrings

To be eligible to join an explicitly Christian webring, you must have a site which is actually Christian. Cults will not be considered. The minimum requirement for membership is belief in the Trinity, the deity of Christ, Jesus' physical resurrection from the dead, and the Bible alone as the source of knowledge about God. If your site does not adhere to the principle of "grace alone" as the method of salvation, then at the very least, those parts of your religion which teach works or other things not practiced by most Christians, should be relatively unobtrusive and inoffensive to people who do adhere to this principle. There is a handful of denominations that adhere to the above beliefs, but add to the Bible some other "sacred writing" such as the Book of Mormon, or the writings of Ellen G. White. Such sites are not eligible for membership in the Christian webrings. By the way, if you have a Seventh-day Adventist site, I will be aware of it. The subterfuge that most such sites use to conceal the true identity of their beliefs doesn't work with me. :) Catholic sites will be admitted or rejected on a case by case basis. This means that sites that place a heavy emphasis on Fatima and similar occurrences, prayer to the saints, or other such practices are not eliglble. A passing reference to these things may not necessarily prevent me from approving your site. If you claim on your site to be a prophet, or your site contains prophecies that are extrabiblical in nature, please note that I require that ALL of the prophecies you have ever made have to have come true. If even ONE of them did not, then your site is not eligible. In general, I will be very strict with any site that claims to promote a prophet or prophecies. I will also be very strict with any site that has a heavy discussion of eschatology.

If it cannot be determined from your site at the time of application, whether you believe the fundamental doctrines I have listed, I may email you for information about your doctrinal positions. Not everyone who claims the title "Christian" IS one. If you claim to believe in these doctrines, but you have redefined the words, I will pick up on it. :)

Just so you know, I am pretty knowledgeable about cults, and I know what to look for. :)

One more thing: any site which claims to be Christian, but incorporates a

pagan

The pro-life webrings are open to nonchristian sites, but any site that applies to a ring intended for women considering abortion or abortion-experienced will be required not to offer any type of counseling involving spiritual darkness (see above).

I maintain one general homeschooling ring for nonchristian sites. I am much more lenient regarding content for that ring. You will find a link to that ring on my WebRing profile. My site is not in the ring.

These Christian criteria do not apply to webrings not explicitly labeled "Christian".

Sites Already in the Ring When I Adopt It

As time permits, I will review all sites within any webring which I adopt. If a site does not conform to these standards, I will put it on suspended status for one week, and notify you. During that time, if you contact me with a willingness to work out the problems, I will help you. If you do not contact me within the week, the site will be removed from the webring. Prior to the time I review your site, it will still be a member in the ring, but I WILL get around to viewing your site eventually.

Finally, I want every visitor to enjoy the webring, to find it profitable to surf there, and to be safe in doing so. Each of these criteria is designed for the purpose of achieving this goal.

If for some reason, your site does not meet the required criteria, I will email you telling you exactly what the problem is.

Again, if you have any questions, please email me through the ring page on WebRing. Thank you.