The Hub Sri Lanka is an online community portal for all the Sri Lankan digital Citizen's to enthusiastically learn and connect with the society by enormously increasing their knowledge and careers through an extensive collaborative marketplace. Our privacy policies only applies to data we collect. We utilize some third party services on this site that may collect data about you. An example of some of the 3rd party companies that we utilize services from are Google, Facebook, Twitter and PayPal. Please refer to their privacy policies for more info.


Account Ownership

Accounts created here are licensed for exclusive use by the individual that created the account (they are not "owned" by anyone). Accounts are never "company accounts" regardless of the account creators affiliation or employment. The HUB user accounts may not be used by multiple people, sold or traded and are non-transferable in all ways.Users may have one account ever.


Changing/Deleting Your Posts

If you would like to edit (or delete) your posts, you can do so within 8 hours of making the post. After that, it is not possible for you to edit or delete the posts you have made here.By registering at this site, you grant The HUB non-exclusive rights to publish content (posts, visitor messages, etc.) that you create here.This is a public venue, a good rule of thumb is to simply not post anything that you don't want people to see.


Changing Another Member's Post

There are two options you have for getting a post altered (or deleted) that was written by another member (contacting moderators/administrators to do it here is not an option you have).The easiest method is to contact that member directly. They have the ability to edit their own posts for 8 hours after making the post. If the time frame is beyond 8 hours, the original poster can request the post be edited by an administrator (the request may or may not be approved). Generally, if a post does not violate our rules, it doesn't get removed.The other option would be to execute a legal court order to do so. We will of course abide by any court order issued by a Sri Lankan court.


Disputes Between Members

We do not have the time (or desire) to babysit members. If there is anyone that you don't get along with, we give you the tools to ignore them. You simply add them to your Ignore List. Please don't ask to have a member banned simply because you don't get along with them. There are plenty of members that the administrators wouldn't consider friends, but it's not our job to silence members that we don't agree with.
We don't get involved in business disputes between members, but you are welcome to use 3rd party dispute resolution services.The one time we *will* get involved is when one of the parties requests administrators to mediate a particular deal that they feel they were treated unfairly. The only way we will do this is if the deal was done within Buy/Sell/Trade (private deals will never be mediated) and BOTH parties must be premium members here. We will judge who is at fault and what the parties should do to rectify the situation. If one party does not comply with the result of mediation, their account is subject to infractions and/or suspension.


Username Change

We would prefer you did not change your username (since it can cause confusion with other users), but if you feel you *must* change your username, you may do so for a fee (this cost primarily is a barrier that prevents many people from doing it).


Trademarks

The Hub, thehub.lk, Hub.lk , Hubs.lk and the The HUB logo are registered trademarks of The HUB Sri Lanka.Please do not register domains that contain any of our trademarks. Doing so will result in your Hub.lk account being suspended until you abandon the domain in question.


DMCA Notices

As an online service provider (OSP) of a public forum, we fully comply with with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Part of the DMCA allows a copyright owner to file a DMCA notice to get copyrighted content removed.

Information Gathered

In common with other websites, log files are stored on the web servers saving details such as the visitor's IP address, browser type, referring page and time of visit. Web logs are not kept indefinitely. our current policy is to delete logs after 7 days. We also collect information from users when they interact with our site (for example when a user created an account).

- How The Information Is Used
The information we gather is used to enhance the visitor's experience, including (but not limited to) personalizing the website to display information specific to you or display advertising. Email addresses are never sold, rented, traded or leased to third parties.

- Digital Signatures
We employ various digital signatures to track users (for example browser cookies) to help create the best possible experience for all users.

- Notice from Copyright Owner
To file a DMCA notice, you may email it to [dmca <dash> notice <at> hub.lk]. This must include the following (failure to include all items will invalidate the take down notice):

  1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
  2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at this site.
  3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to allow us to locate the material.
  4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, email address at which the complaining party may be contacted.
  5. A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
  6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Once we process your DMCA request, the infringing material will be removed and we will notify the user of your DMCA notice.


Counter Notice From User
Any user subject to a DMCA takedown notice is notified and allowed to file a valid counter notice to have their content/material put back up. This notice should include:

  1. A physical or electronic signature of the counter-complaining party.
  2. Information reasonably sufficient to permit the us to contact the counter-complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, email address at which the counter-complaining party may be contacted.
  3. Identification of the material that was removed.
  4. A statement that the counter-complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material was taken down unfairly.

Once we receive a valid counter-notice, we will notify the party who filed the original notice. The original filer of the notice then has 10 business days to file a lawsuit against the user who allegedly infringed upon their copyright and notify us. If a lawsuit is not filed after that time, we will restore the removed material.

Creating New Threads

For the most part, this should be common sense, but in case it's not...

  1. Start threads in the most relevant forum category.
  2. Don't create empty posts that contain nothing but a link (if you are going to link to a news article for example, give a summary of it in your own words). Be careful when linking to sites you are affiliates with, as it may cross the lines into self-promotion/spamming.
  3. Unless it's earth shattering news (the discovery of intelligent life on another planet would qualify for example), don't post press releases.
  4. Don't post personal attacks against other members. Take up whatever your issue you have with them privately. The world probably doesn't care that you don't like Joe.
  5. Search before you post a new thread, because there's a good chance someone already posted it. We don't need 50 threads letting everyone know Michael Jackson died... One is enough.



Posting
This also should be common sense, but some of the things people like to try and do that isn't allowed...



  1. Don't post in threads just to "bump" them to the top of the list of threads. If you would like to push your thread to the top, simply use the "Bump" link within the first post of any thread you started.
  2. Don't hijack threads/topics. This includes (but not limited to) purposely changing the subject, posting in someone's sales thread to offer your opinion (like "great design" or "unlimited hosting is a scam" when you have no intention of buying).
  3. Don't post things that have no relevance to anyone other than who you are replying to (for example posting "PM Sent" or something along those lines is not necessary because the system already alerts them). If you really want to let someone know you sent them a private message, tell them in an extra private message to them.
  4. Don't be lazy and "post offers". Do not reply to threads with your copy and paste offers (including "check out this thread", "check my signature", or "I have a blog, interested?"). Instead, take the time to send a worthwhile PM to your potential business client. Copy/paste posts, junk posts, and other ambiguous replies will be treated as spam and will be deleted, wasting your time and ours. We may also issue spam warnings which could very quickly lead to a ban.
  5. Don't mask your links with a URL that redirects the user. If you want to link to something, link to the actual page. This includes affiliate links which are only allowed in signatures (not posts).
  6. Don't post stuff that is a copy/paste. We don't have any need for duplicate content/plagiarism.
  7. We do not have the time (or desire) to babysit members. If there is anyone that you don't get along with, we give you the tools to ignore them. You simply add them to your Ignore List.
  8. Please don't ask to have a member banned simply because you don't get along with them. There are plenty of members that the administrators wouldn't consider friends, but it's not our job to silence members that we don't agree with.
  9. We don't get involved in business disputes between members, but you are welcome to use 3rd party dispute resolution services.
  10. The one time we *will* get involved is when one of the parties requests administrators to mediate a particular deal that they feel they were treated unfairly. The only way we will do this is if the deal was done within Buy/Sell/Trade (private deals will never be mediated) and BOTH parties must be premium members here. We will judge who is at fault and what the parties should do to rectify the situation. If one party does not comply with the result of mediation, their account is subject to infractions and/or suspension.




Things To Note


  1. DMCA notices and counter-notices are processed by a human being in the order received. Because of this, there is no exact time frame that your notice will be processed.
  2. A copyright owner cannot file a DMCA takedown notice if the infringing material was posted by them (when you register for this site, you grant us non-exclusive rights to publish content you post here).
  3. It is our policy to document all notices of alleged infringement on which we act, including by sending a copy of the notice to one or more third parties or making it available to the public.
  4. Please note that DMCA notices may only be used for actual copyright infringement (you can't get a post removed because someone talked about you or your company for example).


Our rules really aren't that difficult to understand and follow. The abridged version of the rules is as follows:

  • Don't spam, pointless posts, filthy and vulgar, double meaning, irrelevant, attacking a user or someone personally, being shady, promoting negativism, illegal activities, promoting politics, religion purposely, chain of thread fighting and all other irrelevant posting activities which isn't related to this forum guidelines. If you can do that, your stay here will be easy and long.



Spamming

"Spam" is a pretty big catch all for posting things that overly promotional in nature. This can be traditional spam like Viagra or iPhones for cheap, but it can also be less blatant things like posting something just to drop a link into your post or asking questions about something you already know the answer to (for example if you worked at a web hosting company in New York and you start a thread asking people where to get web hosting in New York).
Don't direct users to your signature link. If someone actually needs whatever you have in there, they will see it on their own (or if you really must, you can send them a private message about it).
For the most part affiliate links are considered spam... You *can* have them in your signature (but not within a post).
Things related to spamming other sites are not allowed (selling blog commenting, YouTube/Facebook "Likes" for example). A good rule of thumb would be to not sell a service that involves a site you don't own.
"Signature" links that aren't actually in your signature (in the body of a post) are not allowed.
Attempts to artificially manipulate any of our systems can be seen as spam (for example if you "like" a zillion posts that are not really likable).


Pointless Activities.

First and foremost, this is an English speaking site (this means all public posts must be in English). If your English isn't that good, you are welcome to hang out, but please don't post something in poor English just for sake of posting. If you have a *legitimate* post, ask a friend to help you translate your post/question before posting it.
Ask yourself these questions...

  1. Did you just copy/paste your post or did you actually take the time to write it?
  2. Is your post understandable to someone who speaks English? Even better would be if it's actually grammatically correct.
  3. Does your post have any value to anyone other than the thread starter (if not, just send them a private message)? This includes things like posting publicly that you sent them a private message (they already know... the system notifies them).
  4. If you answered "No" (or even "Maybe") to any of those questions, simply don't post whatever it is.



Deception

Pretty normal things apply to not being deceptive.

  1. Are you doing anything that could be considered illegal? This includes (but not limited to) things like selling/distributing warez, offering hacking services, etc.
  2. Are you lying to someone about anything? This could be as simple as your geographical location (if you are in Nigeria, don't make claims that you are in California). We actually don't care where people are from, but we don't like liars (from anywhere). On a side note - cricket is an insect, not a sport.
  3. Shilling - don't "help a friend out" by pretending to be a customer or giving them an "unbiased" review. If you don't know what it is, read about it on Wikipedia.
  4. Duplicate Accounts - there are no circumstances whatsoever where we allow duplicate accounts (you may not have a "personal" and "business" account for example). Duplicate accounts can be multiple accounts you created, multiple accounts you use, etc. We don't allow shared accounts either (so don't let anyone use your account). There are no "business" accounts and accounts are non-transferrable (if someone is an employee somewhere, the individual "owns" the account, not the business). In case we aren't being clear enough, you are allowed to create (and use) one account in your lifetime (if you are reincarnated, you still must use the account you created in your previous life).




Creating New Threads

For the most part, this should be common sense, but in case it's not...

  1. Start threads in the most relevant forum category.
  2. Don't create empty posts that contain nothing but a link (if you are going to link to a news article for example, give a summary of it in your own words). Be careful when linking to sites you are affiliates with, as it may cross the lines into self-promotion/spamming.
  3. Unless it's earth shattering news (the discovery of intelligent life on another planet would qualify for example), don't post press releases.
  4. Don't post personal attacks against other members. Take up whatever your issue you have with them privately. The world probably doesn't care that you don't like Joe.
  5. Search before you post a new thread, because there's a good chance someone already posted it. We don't need 50 threads letting everyone know Michael Jackson died... One is enough.



Posting

This also should be common sense, but some of the things people like to try and do that isn't allowed...
  1. Don't post in threads just to "bump" them to the top of the list of threads. If you would like to push your thread to the top, simply use the "Bump" link within the first post of any thread you started.
  2. Don't hijack threads/topics. This includes (but not limited to) purposely changing the subject, posting in someone's sales thread to offer your opinion (like "great design" or "unlimited hosting is a scam" when you have no intention of buying).
  3. Don't post things that have no relevance to anyone other than who you are replying to (for example posting "PM Sent" or something along those lines is not necessary because the system already alerts them). If you really want to let someone know you sent them a private message, tell them in an extra private message to them.
  4. Don't be lazy and "post offers". Do not reply to threads with your copy and paste offers (including "check out this thread", "check my signature", or "I have a blog, interested?"). Instead, take the time to send a worthwhile PM to your potential business client. Copy/paste posts, junk posts, and other ambiguous replies will be treated as spam and will be deleted, wasting your time and ours. We may also issue spam warnings which could very quickly lead to a ban.
  5. Don't mask your links with a URL that redirects the user. If you want to link to something, link to the actual page. This includes affiliate links which are only allowed in signatures (not posts).
  6. Don't post stuff that is a copy/paste. We don't have any need for duplicate content/plagiarism.




Things Not To Do


  1. Warez : "Warez" is not allowed (this includes pirated software, nulled software, etc. You may not sell serial numbers/keys without the software itself (even if it's a legitimate license).
  2. Spam Related Products/Services : Don't try to sell spam related products or services. This includes automated posting services like forum posts or [blog, YouTube, etc.] comments. No social bookmarking, or exchanges are allowed (for example a "Like" exchange). You may not sell email lists here.
  3. Accounts/Currency : Selling of any types of accounts (or "invites"), currency exchanges/loans, etc. No selling of VCCs (virtual credit cards) or VCC related products are allowed.
  4. Physical Goods : You may not sell physical goods which you don't own physically. If you have to ship something, don't try and sell it.
  5. Affiliate Offers : No signings, referrals or affiliate offers are allowed.
  6. Duplicate Listings : Don't do it... ever. A sale that is "over" or "closed" does not mean you can create another listing. You can use the "Bump/Relist" option if you want to bump or relist something.


Use Caution

The marketplace is a "use at your own risk" setup. We will not get involved in disputes between members.
ALWAYS use an escrow service (for example escrow.com). Remember you are buying things from random people on the Internet that you don't know (people on the Internet can pretend to be anything they want... in reality they might be a homeless scammer that lives under a bridge, jacking someone's open WiFi). Again... USE AN ESCROW SERVICE whenever possible for things that the seller has to deliver (domains, sites, custom work, etc.)
If you think something isn't covered here, it doesn't necessarily mean it's allowed (if you think it's something that we may not allow, ask before posting it).
If something sounds too good to be true, it is.


Writing Quality Score

Our system evaluates articles that are posted for sale and assigns a "Quality Score" to each article. While this is useful as a general guideline, the reality is that it's still a machine assigning the Quality Score. Please keep this in mind as the Quality Score is in no way some sort of guarantee about the quality of the writing (which is subjective after all). It's best to always look at the writer's marketplace history and feedback to see how other users have rating them.
The Quality Score is a rating from 0 to 100, with 100 being the highest possible score.

Plagiarism

Plagiarized articles or content are strictly forbidden from being sold. We have an automated system that checks for plagiarism and blocks plagiarized articles from being posted at all. Nothing is infallible though, and if you purchase an article that you later find was plagiarized, please report it and the writer will be dealt with according