Admin_01

Dear Twin Wolf, et al, The owners of Chiriqui Life (CL) are Bud Huber and wife.My name was not removed from the Real Name field in my profile. I note that you viewed my profile about 9 hours ago (as have others). It clearly shows my name (Bud Huber) as the real name for Admin_01. Please check again and advise if you see something other than Bud Huber.In other communications I noted that we were having software problems and that I was unable to create any other admin or moderator accounts. I opened a trouble ticket with the software vendor (IPS). That problem was resolved yesterday afternoon, resulting in my ability finally to create additional admin and moderator accounts. That is precisely what was done. We now have five admin account (plus a special admin used by the software vendor), and five moderator accounts. There are no names associated with these new accounts because those positions have not yet been allocated. That will take time because training is necessary with this fairly sophisticated software.There is no linking of CL with any other site. CL is a standalone service not associated with, linked to, or dependent upon anyone else or any other system.You did not ask, but CL was initiated as a project several months ago at the urging of many expats in this area because they wanted alternative information resources. You might wish to view Significant Milestones. Glad that you asked those question publicly so that all can see what the truth really is. Let me know if you have additional questions or concerns. Thanks again, have a great day! Bud Huber, Admin_01

This posting is being done by the staff to relocate a blog posting and its replies to a more appropriate place on this website. For technical reasons we do not have the ability to relocate a blog into the bulletin board forums. (We have the tools to relocate topics and postings within the forums, but just not between different "channels" of this website.) So as not to be accused of deleting any content, the blog that was begun by Jaime Daniel and containing one posting and six comments is captured as a PDF file and attached herewith. See the link at the very bottom of this posting. The sole reason (read these words carefully) that the blog was locked and relocated is that its content does not belong in a blog. The content is discussing some rumors and personal thoughts. That kind of content properly belongs in the bulletin board forums. The blog was not locked because of displeasure with the content. Jaime and others have not violated any of this website's Governance Documents, other than posting in the wrong forum. Unfortunately, the only technical means for relocating a blog results in an awkward situation for everyone. If you wish to continue responding to the content of the blog, please do so here in this forum as a reply to this posting. Further, I cannot put Jaime's name as the originator of this posting (for several reasons, and it would be inappropriate to credit him since he did not write what I am writing). I hope everyone can understand. Click the below link to see the four page PDF containing the transplanted content from Jaime Daniel's blog: New Ning forum by Jaime Daniel - Is this the forum Ambreen described.pdf

Funding for Chiriqui.Life is from personal resources. If you will allow me to expound upon your "...unfamiliar..." thought for a bit, I respect that you added that phrase to the concept of a less friendly user interface. And so, here I go.... I am not a user of the other website that you mention, but based on a quick glance there appears to be a fundamental difference in how things are structured. The other site appears to be a "blog" structure with the principal dynamic information in a single "feed" (but in fairness, there are additional tabs and sections for categories of dedicated information, etc.). Chiriqui Life is principally a community bulletin board (forum) structure, but then also includes the blogging functionality, calendaring, etc. One big difference between a blog and a bulletin board is that the information categories are pre-established (but expandable) in the bulletin board approach; that makes it somewhat easier (in the opinion of many) to target the information of interest. In a blog, one must sort through everything. Blogs typically file and display information in reverse chronological order; a bulletin board categorizes (segregates) the information and displays it in ascending chronological order, but within each category. Neither web style is perfect and each has advantages and disadvantages. Chiriqui Life chose the bulletin board approach, but being appreciative of the benefits of a blogging structure resulted in the selection of a software application that accommodates both. It is everyone's right to choose to use or not use the information resources that work best for them. We only ask that our targeted community of interest try Chiriqui Life's bulletin board structure (with additional functionality) for a while and then make an informed decision. It has also been suggested that there are some fundamental differences in website administration policies and practices between the site that you mention versus Chiriqui Life. That is a different topic that I choose not to engage in. In closing, it is obvious that our community needs, uses, and will support information resources that help them in their journey. Part of the reason for that prior sentence is based on the overwhelming interest and support that has bubbled up, and we are less than a week into this project. Support for some websites means paying money as a subscriber or perhaps as an advertiser. Chiriqui Life's perspective is that support means nothing more than using the resource, but in compliance with our Governance Documents -- and nothing more. There is no money involved in the use of Chiriqui Life, but there is a time commitment, which is an even more precious resource.

News Boquete - What It Is and How to Subscribe News Boquete is a free community news service. Anyone with a valid email address can ask to have their name added to the subscriber database at no cost. To request that you be added to the subscriber database, please send an email to news.boquete@gmail.com and include your first and last name. The full name is important for the subscription to be processed. News.Boquete and Chiriqui.Life are two separate communications channels, each with its own management. Both News.Boquete and Chiriqui.Life work closely together, but again totally separate. Note that emails that are distributed via News.Boquete are also archived in a dedicated forum here on CL for archival research purposes.

PanamaPatrick, In overview, there are three general categories of registrants: members, moderators, and administrators. The correct answer to your question is that the term management is a classification, and the term administrator is a function (or responsibility). An administrator is not just one person, but a responsibility assigned to -or- assumed by a person or persons. We have four administrators in Chiriqui Life. We currently have no moderators -- simply because we haven't had time to vet them and "anoint" them yet, which actually requires a good deal of training. This is fairly sophisticated software using the latest in Internet technology. The term 'management' applies to the collection of moderators and administrators. In place of the term "management", regular members will cycle through various titles, such as newbie, novice, etc., as their positing levels increase through time. As an aside, once a member gets to a certain level, they will then be allowed to pick and use their own title. (We are not publishing what that level is, however.) You could see a "Grand Poobah" or "Cinderella" or "Your Highness" in the future -- who knows what. Management cannot be reported (for offensive posts, etc.), nor can management be given reputations, etc., etc. We definitely hope your last sentence is prophetic. It has been a lot of work and frustration for the past three months trying to get this thing going. The main thing that will make it a success is for you, the members, to post and provide your thoughts, questions, answers, referrals, recommendations, etc. (and to do so in full compliance with our Terms & Rules). And so far, at roughly 72 hours after going public, we have been very successful (actually beyond our wildest dreams). A bit more detail which you didn't ask about, but I offer here: We currently have seven registrant applications pending because of not providing their real name, and two registrants that did get registered but are on a "watch list" as known or potential spammers. We believe five of the seven lacking their real name is simply an oversight on their part, but the other two appear to be attempts to do bad things. We are very protective of website security, etc. Thank you for your support. Keep spreading the word and using CL to our collective benefit. Admin_01 (Bud Huber) P.S., Our policy is that the real names of the management team are not made known to the public, however I do not mind having my real name associated with Admin_01.

The software detects what kind of platform is being used and adjusts its display based on the available "real estate". There are three categories of platforms that it recognizes: full screen capable (desktop and laptop devices, etc.) type devices, tablets (e.g., an iPad, etc.), and mobile devices (e.g., an iPhone or Android, etc.). The software pares down on what it is trying to display based on the capabilities of the device receiving the information. The above offered as an explanation, not an excuse.

Good question that has come up a few times so far. Once a member has posted something on this website, they have a five (5) minute grace period in which to review and potentially (1) do nothing, or (2) to edit the content of their posting; it is not possible to delete that posting. Once that five minute grace period has expired, then the posting is locked. Administrators and moderators can edit any content on the website at any time, but a request by a member for such an edit would have to be justified per our Terms & Rules.

Dear Chica de Chiriqui, You are correct in that the five minute grace period before locking a posting does NOT permit the complete deletion of the posting. I apologize for my mistake. I have also updated the Terms & Rules to clarify this fact. Refer to Global Rule #17. I will also repost my original answer so that the correct and complete wording is available for all to see.

This topic is being relocated to a more appropriate forum because it is not directly related to life in Chiriqui Province. This topic is NOT being deleted, and others may continue to respond as they desire.

Thank you. The thing that will make this the success that we hope it achieve is for the members to use it, and use it, and use it, ....

Good question that has come up a few times so far. Once a member has posted something on this website, they have a five (5) minute grace period in which to review and potentially (1) do nothing, or (2) to edit, or (3) to delete their posting. Once that five minute grace period has expired, then the posting is locked. Administrators and moderators can edit any content on the website at any time, but a request by a member for such an edit would have to be justified per our Terms & Rules.

Thanks for using Chiriqui Life (CL). We suggest that you place an event entry on the calendar here in CL. At the very top are some tabs, e.g., Forums, Blogs, Calendar, etc. Click on the calendar tab, then the Create an Event button, and then enter the name of the event and other details. Note that we currently have two calendars configured on CL. One is a community calendar and the second is a crime report calendar. Obviously your event should go on the community calendar. If you do put your event on the calendar, you probably will NOT be able to put the location in the location field. The way that field is currently programmed does not allow for locations that do not fit a US standard address. I have ticket with the service provider to fix that issue. Just leave that field blank and put all of the pertinent information in the description field. Next, if you would like a dedicated calendar for your group, just send an email to support@chiriqui.life requesting such. There is no cost for a dedicated calendar. (There is no cost for anything associated with CL. This is a free community information sharing resource.) And finally, please "talk up" Chiriqui Life with your friends and group members. The more the merrier.

It is a judgment call by the management based on prior website experience.

Keith, regular members cannot edit or delete content that has been posted after a five (5) minute grace period expires. In other words, from the time a posting is submitted, the originator has five minutes to rethink what they have posted, and either edit the content or delete it entirely. After the five minute grace period has expired, no regular member can do anything with their posting other than be responsible for what they have posted. Administrators and moderators, on the other hand, have a full tool chest of editing, deletion, hiding, moderating, locking, etc., tools available to them. I repeat from my earlier post: "For the record, Chiriqui.Life has removed no posts" (as of this message). Not exactly sure what happened in your case, but know for a fact that regular members cannot edit or delete anything after the five minute grace period has expired. As long as the website's Guidelines and Terms & Rules are complied with, then the content will remain untouched and it will not be deleted. At the risk of being repetitive, CL has not deleted anything.

Should readers presume that you are referring to some other website removing your content? For the record, Chiriqui.Life has removed no posts. For Alison: you are a "legit" member of Chiriqui.Life. Happy that you are stoked.

Regular members may only see the number of members. Only administrators and moderators have access to the membership database. Note that regular members are able to see who is currently online. Use the "More" icon in the upper right of the window, and select the "Online Users" option in the drop down box. See the gray highlighted line in the attached image.

Access to the "reputation" buttons is in the bottom right of each posting. Take note of the up pointing green arrow and the down pointing red arrow. Reputations (as currently configured) can go in both directions. The daily limit of 5 reputations is based on prior experience where "flamers" started abusing such a capability. There is no inference in that prior sentence that anyone on this website has (so far, at least) abused the reputation functionality. If any of you feel extremely disadvantaged by being limited to five reputations per day, please respond to this post and I will reconsider. Thanks for your continued support. It truly is appreciated.

Recommendations noted. At the time moment I have much higher priorities, but just know that your comments have been read and recommendations gone on the "todo" list. And thanks for your support.

There was a software glitch in the configuration. We are aware of the issue. The software configuration has been corrected, and I will soon be resetting their counter to the correct value. Also, I am moving this thread to a more appropriate forum. (This is NOT being deleted, just relocated.) Sharp eyes!!! Thanks for your support. Admin

Welcome to the Chiriqui.Life Website Understanding and Taking Advantage of Chiriqui.Life If you want the "quick and dirty" on how we recommend accessing CL, please see The CL Activity Stream -- What It Is and How to Use It. If you are ready to sign up (register) and start reading and posting, but need help with registration, please see How To Register For A Chiriqui.Life Account. If you need help with posting a new topic or replying to an existing topic in a forum or blog, please see How To Post A Topic, and How To Reply to A Topic. If you need help with posting a new event on the calendar, please see How to Post An Event on the CL Calendar. What is Chiriqui.Life? Chiriqui.Life (CL) is a free information resource available to anyone having access to the Internet. From the domain name you can discern that the target audience is not just Boquete, but all of the residents, businesses, and clubs/groups of the Chiriquí Province of the Republic of Panama. The content on CL focuses specifically on any aspect of life (residing, working, or visiting) in the Chiriquí Province, as well as topics about Panama in general that may affect life in the Chiriquí Province. A few forums have a more global scope, but those forums are limited in number and incidental to what CL is about. Think of CL as your [digital] homegrown, daily, self-published, neighborhood newspaper and community discussion forum targeting Chiriquí and its highlands region, principally Boquete. The URL for this website is www.chiriqui.life (or simply chiriqui.life in most browsers). The majority of the information on CL is contained in forums, and secondarily in blogs; events and activities are contained in the calendar; a minor portion of the content is in the photo galleries. The Goals for Chiriqui.Life The owners/administrators (i.e., the management team) of CL have two primary goals for this website: to assist in the integration of the different cultures that are coming together in the area, and for everyone using CL to have a satisfactory experience in the: sharing of information, sharing of ideas and thoughts, announcing events (via a calendar) or things (discrete postings in forums or blogs), inquiring about things that are important to its users, and helping others in their journey. On the Subject of Language(s) No "official language(s)" has/have been mandated for this website. English is likely to be the lingua franca used on CL. Given that Spanish is the native language for Panamá, those choosing to use Spanish are welcome to do so. We do ask that languages other than Spanish and English be used sparingly. What Is the Difference Between a Guest, a Member, and a User of CL? A guest is an unregistered user of CL. A guest is limited to reading most but not all of the public content on CL. Guests have very limited access to the functionality offered by CL (see the next section), including no privileges with regard to posting, uploading, downloading, no access to premium content, etc. Guests do not even get to see signature blocks at the bottom of member postings; signature blocks often contain contact information. A member is a registered user of CL. A member is someone who has successfully registered, and who is logged into CL at the time they access CL. A member who is not logged into CL is treated as a guest. Members have full access to all functionality offered by CL (see the next section). A user is a collective term that includes both guests and members. What Functionality Does CL Offer? Functionality of this website includes: threaded community bulletin board forums with unlimited nesting, Q&A (question and answer) forums, blogs, photo albums, document archives, sharing of audio and video files, calendaring, member “reactions” to forum and blog postings, display of upcoming calendar events, polling (surveys), private messaging (PM), tagging of postings, including title prefixing, reputations of users, rating of topics, reporting inappropriate content, sharing of content links via social media or emailing of content links, display of a configurable "activity stream", viewing only new content since last login (a subset of an activity stream), viewing only previously unseen content (a subset of an activity stream), following of forums, following of topics, following of members, ignoring selected members, configurable notifications (online and/or email) of a comprehensive list of activities of interest. The two highlighted items above are perhaps the most important functionality of CL. Because of the importance of activity streams, please read the topic at The CL Activity Stream -- What It Is and How to Use It. The initial configuration of this new information portal is complete, but we know that this website will change based on user needs and feedback. This is a work in progress. Who Is Behind This Website? Chiriqui.Life is intellectual property of Oswego LLC OÜ, which is an LLC chartered in Tallinn, Estonia. The servers are located in the USA. The originator of this project was Bud Huber, along with his wife and a small team of volunteer administrators, moderators, and advisers. Bud first came to Boquete in 2001. He and his wife moved back to USA in 2021, and the site is now primarily managed by Phil Bennett - a resident of Boquete since 2017. The owners/administrators of CL and a small volunteer advisory group (i.e., the management team) administer the website. The management team receives no compensation. The Commitment of CL's Owners /Administrators Both owners/administrators are committed to transparently: providing a comprehensive, user-friendly, non-sponsored, non-confrontational information resource based on facts and truth, and that focuses on life in Panama in general and the Chiriquí highlands in particular, ensuring compliance with CL's guidelines and rules, and treating each CL member on a fair, unbiased, respectful, and equitable basis. When either one of CL's owners/administrators has a concern about an incident then we actually have a "board meeting" and discuss all aspects of an issue. We are human and thus subject to mistakes, and when we misstep, CL members take us to task. That is why we have a small core of CL "advisors" to keep us on that path. Please also see the last paragraph of the section below entitled Your Personal Data and Privacy. Who Sponsors CL? CL is a non-sponsored website. All costs are underwritten by the owners. There are no sponsors who pay or provide favors for advertising, endorsement, special consideration, promotion, etc. What If You Need Assistance? Send an email to support@chiriqui.life. Who Can View, Post, and Download? Anyone (guests included) will be able to view most (but not all) of the public content of CL. To post any kind of content and to view all of the public content will require a successful account registration procedure. Once registration has been completed, members will then be allowed to post and upload, etc. Only members (registered users) who are logged in are permitted to download content. To download is different from reading/viewing. Guests (unregistered users) are not able to download any content stored on CL. To Moderate or Not? Moderation means that registered members can post, but those postings must be approved (by CL's moderators or administrators) before their postings display to other users. Management has opted not to routinely moderate postings by members, and not even postings by most of the new registrants, but rather trust that members will honor the published guidelines and governance documents (see the next two sections). Moderation may be invoked on a case-by-case basis in situations where members wish to test the limits of the guidelines and the rules (see the next two sections). Website Guidelines There are only two basic “guidelines” for the use of this website: respect others, and know and abide by the law and respect community standards. We trust that users will heed those two simple guidelines, but rest assured that the tools necessary to enforce compliance are available. The Specific Rules About Using CL - The Governance Documents There are three documents that comprise the governance for this website, and we strongly urge you to read those three documents because registration with or use of this website implies your understanding and concurrence. Those three documents are: the Site Guidelines, the Terms and Rules, and the Privacy Policy. Classified advertisements (i.e., buy and sell forums) on CL have some additional rules based on member request. See Forum Specific Rules for Classified Ads. Freedom of Expression versus Censorship Always present in the life of a community information resource is the topic of censorship. Management knows from prior experiences with similar websites that the topic of censorship will not go away and will never be acceptable to everyone. One goal of CL is to allow everyone to express themselves in an unfettered manner. However, there are limits. It is okay to disagree with someone, but (as documented in our Terms & Rules) one should respond to the topic and not attack the person. Sometimes people get caught up in the moment and become emotional. That is okay, but then maybe an apology might be in order. If in the final analysis someone has gone over the line and takes no steps to correct the situaiton, then there are various tools available to deal with an untoward incident in varying degrees of severity. Searching Content - What If I Am Looking for Something Specific? The search capability of CL is quite powerful. Look for the "magnifying glass" icon in the upper right of most pages here on CL. Type something rather unique about what you are interested in. For instance, if you are looking for everything that contains content about Banco Nacional, then perhaps either "banco" or "nacional" (you could include both words if you wish) might be a good search argument. Search arguments are not case sensitive. The only "rule" about searching is that there needs to be at least one search argument (word) of at least five (5) characters. Search arguments of four or less characters are ignored. Multiple search arguments in one search are permitted. Once the search argument(s) is/are entered, then click on the magnifying glass to execute the search. If you use more than one search argument, then consider using the advanced search options to specify whether you want all or any of the search arguments; any is the default, but you may prefer to search based on all search arguments. Note that searches are for words, meaning a character string (of at least five characters) that is bounded by white space or punctuation, etc. If you search for "elephant" and all occurrences of that word are "elephants" (note the plural), then the search will be unsuccessful. So search for all reasonable variations of the words. However, the search argument may include a "wild card" character at the end so as to match anything. For instance, the search argument "elephant*" (note the terminal asterisk wild card character) will find all words that start with "elephant" plus any additional characters on the end of that word. That search argument would find "elephant", "elephants", "elephantiasis", "elephantine", "elephantabcxyz", etc. If you wish to search in other than the entire website, then just below the search argument is a drop down menu of other more limited targets to be searched (e.g., blogs only). If you are looking for a specific phrase, such as the title of a movie, then consider putting the search argument inside of quote marks ("example here of a phrase consisting of several words"). Doing so effectively makes everything inside the quotes look like a single word for the search argument. For instance, assume someone wrote a review of Around the World in 80 Days. A search argument of "around the world in 80 days" (specifically including the quotation marks) would look literally for the exact phrase as entered inside of the quotation marks other than case insensitivity, and be successful. If you entered a search argument of "around world the in 80 days" (specifically including the quotation marks; also note that the words 'world' and 'the' are transposed), then the search will not be successful. Search arguments inside quotation marks are literally interpreted as one word/search argument, other than case insensitivity. Your Personal Data and Privacy In the interest of full disclosure, during the registration procedure users will be asked a few questions. Most of these questions are optional — but obviously recommended. For instance, to share what your interests or hobbies are, so that others with similar interests can reach out to you. One question, which is not optional, is the requirement to provide your real name. That field, once entered, will be viewable by anyone. The underlying purpose behind the voluntary disclosure of some of your information is so that others with like interests can connect up with you. For those who object to such disclosures, a "choose not to reply" type response is acceptable in most of the fields (but specifically not including the real name field). In cases where there may be a [perceived] violation of CL's guidelines and rules, CL management conducts an investigation, and works with the affected parties. Investigations into violations can be initiated either by a member asserting a violation, or, as is more common, by CL management based on the routine monitoring of all content posted on CL. All communications related to investigations into violations are private and never discussed with anyone other than CL management and the affected parties. Be advised that these investigations do take time, sometimes a few days, but they are handled as expeditiously as possible. Closing Comments CL is YOUR resource. The management team normally doesn’t post content for others (either members or guests); if you have something to post, then do so, and without cost, and if you need help, just ask. CL management simply is providing a community resource for you to: share information, share ideas and thoughts, announce events (via a calendar) or things (discrete postings), inquire about things that are important to you, and help others in their journey. For more detailed information, simply look at the website (www.Chiriqui.Life, which can be shortened to Chiriqui.Life in most browsers). If you need to contact management, you may do so via the website (use the Problems, Feedback and Suggestions forum) or send an email to support@chiriqui.life. Management prefers that feedback and comments about the website be posted online (see the Problems, Feedback and Suggestions forum) for the entire community to see and respond as desired. There also is an online Questions and Answers forum. Use Problems, Feedback and Suggestions for general support questions; use Questions and Answers for questions about specific website features or functions and how to use them. Management will be monitoring the website and responding to suggestions and criticisms. Welcome aboard. Enjoy. Sincerely, Marcelyn Jandreau, Bud Huber and Phil Bennett Owners / Administrators, Chiriqui.Life support@chiriqui.life

Overview of the Terms & Rules In overview, these first few paragraphs are general Terms & Rules for the use of the Chiriqui Life website. If you wish more detailed description of our Terms & Rules, then scroll down to the below sections that are labelled "Conditions for Use" and "Specific Rules." We urge you to take a moment to review these rules (and the associated Privacy Policy, along with the Site Guidelines) because your use of this website indicates your understanding of and agreement to comply with all Site Guidelines and our Terms & Rules. You also may want to read our Welcome Aboard message. Please remember that Chiriqui Life is not responsible for any content posted on this website. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this website. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by using the "Report Post" link next to the name of the post. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this website to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of any law. Our software uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a personalized experience when you browse this site. Conditions for Use To use our services, you: Must be at least 13 years old. May need to register with Chiriqui Life to access and use some of our services and information content. Must not initiate or participate in any activities on our services that are illegal, harmful, or interfere with anyone's use of our services. If you wish to post content on Chiriqui Life, you: May post content that you create, that you own, or that you have been given permission to post by the owner, that is legal, and that doesn't violate our Terms & Rules. Are solely responsible for content that you post to our services and assume all risks of posting personal information online. Continue to own the content that you post, but grant Chiriqui Life an unlimited, non-exclusive, non-cancelable license to use and distribute your content. The content on Chiriqui Life Is: Owned by us and may only be used as we specify. For general information, discussion, and entertainment purposes only; Chiriqui Life makes no representations or guarantees about the truth, accuracy, applicability, or quality of any content. You also agree that Chiriqui Life: Can change or terminate our services at any time without notice. Specific Rules Specific Rules are divided into two categories: Global Rules and Forum Specific Rules. Global Rules apply across the entire website. Forum Specific Rules may be invoked on a forum-by-forum basis as applicable, and are in addition to the Global Rules, but only for that forum. Global Rules: All members must be treated in a respectful and adult manner. All members should respect and adhere to the promotion of harmony within the community. Do not attempt to disrupt the community in any way. Refer to the Site Guidelines. No “Flaming.” Do not post any content that harasses, insults, belittles, threatens, attacks, vilifies, or flames anyone. No “Trolling.” Do not post any topic that disrupts the peace and harmony of this board. Don't create meaningless threads with the sole purpose of starting a dispute. This includes content in profiles and signatures and the URL links contained therein. No “Spamming.” Please do not double post or cross-post the same content (or essentially the same content) in multiple forums. You will not mass-PM (private message) or mass-email multiple members of this site with the same message. You will not flood post, meaning large numbers of topics or replies of related or unrelated content. You will not post for the sake of increasing your post count or improve your “reputation.” Postings by NewsLady in the dedicated News Boquete repository forum are not counted against regular members in the prohibition of double posting. No excessive “Bumping” (referring to Your threads/posts). Please do not repeatedly bump your threads to try and get attention. Most members of the site are not online 24 hours a day and so will not see your post the instant it is made. Do not bump a thread within 24 hours, and not more than twice a week. No “Bumping” (referring to Other’s threads/posts). Before replying to a thread, take notice of the last post date. Try and avoid replying to posts more than 6 months old. If you have a similar question or comment and cannot find the answer, create your own thread. Generally speaking, due to the progression of time, posts more than 6 months old are more than likely going to be non-applicable to the contemporary situation. Do not abuse the reputation logging system. Do not abuse the reporting of content function. No Offensive Material. Period. Do not post messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-oriented, hateful, threatening, racist, sexist, discriminatory, and/or otherwise violate any local or international laws or community standards. This includes links in your signature, profile, posted images, photos and avatars, and URL links contained therein. Management will ultimately decide if something is appropriate or not. No distribution of copyrighted material is to take place on this site without the expressed permission of the copyright holder, which must be attached to the material. No self-promotion. This includes not using the private messaging (PM) functionality for marketing or advertising purposes. Management has complete discretion over what is and is not acceptable on the site. Management decisions are final and not subject to appeal. Public discussions of management decisions are not permitted on the site. If you have any concerns or queries relating to a management decision, please take it up in private with a member of the site administration team. Stay on-topic. Human nature is such that people can easily diverge from a topic or thread. If you need to shift the topic, then start a new topic. Postings may be moved to more appropriate forums at the sole discretion of the management. All postings are subject to moderation, locking, hiding, merging, splitting, and potentially deletion. Once a member has posted something on Chiriqui Life, they have a fifteen (15) minute "grace period" in which to review and edit their content (if/as needed); erasing the entire posting is not permitted. Once that fifteen minute grace period has expired, then the posting is locked. The 15 minute timer does not start until the moment the posting is submitted. Administrators and moderators can edit any content at any time if requested by that member; send a PM (private message) to @Moderator_02 or email support@chiriqui.life. A request by a user to edit a posting by someone else generally will be disregarded. (There is a technical reason behind having a time limit for editing, and it has to do with reducing the possibility of causing broken links in content cross-references, which are fairly important and frequently used in the background here on CL.) Email addresses provided by users during the registration process will be validated prior to activation of an account, and may be re-validated at anytime by staff. Accounts that fail the email validation procedure are subject to closure. Users applying for an account are required to provide a "real name". The real name is different from a chosen user ID (Display Name) for posting purposes. The real name cannot be blank. Once entered, it cannot be changed by the user; administrators can correct data in this field if requested and justified. The real name field is visible to everyone using this website. For a person, the real name consists minimally of a first name and a last name; for a company or business or group or club, the real name must be the public name by which that entity is known, and additionally the name of a person associated with the management of that entity must also be provided. An entry for a real name will be reviewed during the registration process, and must be valid and acceptable to staff prior to activation of a new account. Chiriqui Life reserves the right to request documentation for a claimed real name, and may reject a registration application if documentation is requested but ignored or denied. The real name, the email address, and the IP address that were submitted and used are checked by management against public resources identifying known spammers, etc. [This rule was amended on 24 April 2016.] Check your grammar and spelling. Verify dates and times if applicable. Review your content before posting to be sure that critical information is not missing or misstated. Once posted, content cannot be changed or deleted by a user. For a critical error, administrators and moderators can modify content provided there is sufficient justification. Be aware that English may not be the primary language of those reading your content. Short and simple declarative sentences work best. Content being posted must be related to life in the Chiriqui Province. As an example, topics whose main theme is on gun control in the USA, political positions or opinions or punditry related to any entity outside of Panama, or world economic turmoil are NOT acceptable for this website. If those kinds of content arise incidental to a topic that is about life in the Chiriqui Province, then such content may be acceptable. Postings by blog owners in their blog may be given some leeway regarding the scope of their posted content on a case-by-case basis. Please also see the Forum Specific Rules section at the bottom of this posting. [This rule was clarified on 27 December 2016.] Do not "shout". The Internet equivalent of shouting is to TYPE IN ALL UPPER CASE LETTERS. There are times when all upper case letters are appropriate, such as an abbreviation of a proper name (e.g., BCP or ARF, etc.), or an occasional upper case word for emphasis. However, all upper case letters for topic titles, blog postings, etc., should be avoided, especially and specifically in titles. Postings related to for-profit commercial activities are restricted to the forums channel (typically only within the classified ads category), a non-repeating calendar entry, and possibly one blog at most; a repeating calendar event may be acceptable. Repeating calendar events (of any nature) should be limited to no more than a three month window. There may be special cases in which commercial postings may be acceptable within forums other than the classified ads, and those will be reviewed and decided by management on a case-by-case basis. [This rule added 12 April 2016.] Forum Specific Rules Forum Specific Rules apply to the specified categories or forums. Rules specific to a forum will be posted as the title of that forum, or in the header of that forum. Please read the announcements, the title, the description, and any sticky threads/postings in the forums for details. Forum Specific Rules are in addition to the Global Rules, and do not replace Global Rules, although a Forum Specific Rule may override identified Global Rules. For example, posting a “want ad” for a used car in the classified ad forum for automobiles is totally acceptable; that is what that forum is about. But asking a question about automobile repair facilities in a forum related to health care resources (as an example) would not be acceptable. Forum Specific Rules can modify or even suspend specified Global Rules for the designated category or forum.

Privacy Policy With only a few exceptions, any and all content and information that you provide to or that is collected by Chiriqui Life (CL) is public information. The few exceptions will be clearly identified as being private (limited distribution, non-public) information that is available only to CL management; such private information is used only for the purposes of administering an orderly website and shared only among CL management. It is safest to assume that any and all information about you, and information that you post is public information. For example, even though not recommended or generally prudent, the content of PMs (private messages) can be disclosed by any of the PM recipients should they choose to do so. The two most significant exceptions to information being public are: the email address that you used to register is private information, and not disclosed to anyone other than yourself and CL management; you can choose to or may inadvertently disclose* your email address, but CL management will not disclose your email address, and the password that you submit and use is private information, and is not visible to anyone, not even to CL management. We receive and collect information about users in various ways: Information you give us, such as for registration purposes or profile related information. When you post content, we and other users receive that information. We receive and collect information when you use our services, e.g., “cookies.” We may receive login information, information about how you access our website, your browser and operating system, your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, dates and times that you access our website, etc. We use the information we receive and collect to provide our services. Chiriqui.Life will: NOT sell, rent, or lease your personal information. NOT disclose private information to anyone unless compelled to do so under legal process. NOT keep you on a mailing list if you have requested to be removed; note that CL does not have a mailing list per se, but does require an email address to be provided so as to register for an account. It is technically possible for CL to distribute an email to all CL members, but members have an option to deny use of the registered email address for email purposes if a member so chooses. Chiriqui.Life will: Treat your privacy very seriously and will adhere to this Privacy Policy. Promote this Privacy Policy internally so all management and staff abide by it. Keep this Privacy Policy accurate. __________________ *Note that using the messaging capability of this website may result in disclosing your email address to whomever your message is delivered.

Site Guidelines for the Use of Chiriqui Life Chiriqui Life is a community information resource that is provided by Oswego LLC OÜ, which is an LLC chartered in Tallinn, Estonia. The purpose of Chiriqui Life is to be an information sharing portal focusing on life in the Chiriqui Province of the Republic of Panama. In order to create the best possible experience for everyone, we require that you abide by the following two guidelines. By using our service you assert that you have read, understand, and agree to follow all of these Site Guidelines (as well as the Terms & Rules), as follows: Respect Others Do not harass, abuse, attack, vilify, or threaten anyone. If you disagree with someone, respond to the subject and not to the person. Do not use hate speech. Hate speech is unacceptable. Chiriqui Life reserves the right to take appropriate action at its sole discretion against any account posting content contrary to this guideline. Do not engage in libelous or slanderous activity. Respect the content, the context, and the participants of the online areas that you visit and in which you post. Do not impersonate any person, business, or other entity. Doing so in an attempt to deceive, harass, or otherwise mislead anyone is forbidden. Know and Abide by the Law and Respect Community Standards Chiriqui Life has zero tolerance for illegal activity on the service. It is your responsibility to know and abide by the law, without exception, specifically including Panamanian libel and slander laws. Users of this website may come from different cultural or ethnic backgrounds with differing social customs, languages, and cultural sensitivities. It is your obligation to make yourself aware of those customs and sensitivities and not offend others. Chiriqui Life provides an easy way to report suspected illegal or unacceptable activity. Use the "Report Post" link that is located at the top left of each post body. Users of this website should also review CL's Privacy Policy.