About SimHQ

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Site History

Staff Biographies

The SimHQ Pledge to Our Readers

The SimHQ Privacy Statement of Policy

Forum Registration and Use Agreement

Frequently Asked Questions

Site History

Since 1997, SimHQ has existed for one purpose... providing the simulation community with the best articles, news, message boards, and tips to make our common passion more enjoyable. What started out as one man’s personal website has quickly risen to become the community’s leader for sim information.

This didn’t happen by accident… it took dedicated volunteers, the support of our readers, and a continuing desire to be the best. Many of our writers not only have “been there and done that” around the world, but continue pushing the envelope today. They are our inspiration and our ‘reality check’ that we are, after all, gaming, but their deep knowledge of the topics they write about shines through in their articles.

Another ‘SimHQ difference’ is our technical knowledge. We’re all tinkerers…the kind of people who understand what makes our PCs tick, and who always seek to make our sims run the fastest, most stable, and with the highest quality that it can. Several of our staff either currently work for the world’s leading technology companies, or have in the past. We’re the best of both worlds…a site focused on simulations, but deeply interested in the hardware that makes it happen.

Lastly, SimHQ staff are here for a simple reason….the freedom to tell it like it is. Many of us have written for other commercial or fan sites, and the experience hasn’t always been a good one. That desire to be accurate, truthful, and respectable comes through in any of our articles, and it’s the core of our Pledge to our Readers. Check the pledge out, and think about it the next time you’re reading an article trying to decide whether to spend your hard-earned money on a software title or piece of hardware. We mean what we say, and for good reason.

If you’re a long-time SimHQ reader, you already know all of this, and hopefully have seen it in action. If you’re new to our site, welcome, and thanks for choosing us. Be sure to read our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page to learn more about the history and current operations of the site, and please drop us a line if you have any suggestions, comments, or questions!

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SimHQ Staff

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The SimHQ Pledge to Our Readers

• SimHQ has never and will never force one of its writers to change an article due to commercial pressure or the desire to please / recruit an advertiser. Articles written by SimHQ staff will be edited for clarity and grammar only. All writers have the final approval and edits of their articles.
  
  
• SimHQ has never and will never mislead industry companies by using voluntary cooperation / publicity as a leverage for commercial solicitations.
  
  
• SimHQ has never and will never write articles about fictional products as if the products are real or planned.
  
  
• SimHQ has never and will never limit discussion or promote discussion of a certain simulation-related product because of commercial and / or advertising reasons.
  
  
• SimHQ will promise to make full disclosure in articles if the object being written about have been tested by the author, or if any SimHQ staff receives any kind of reward, monetary or otherwise, for their involvement in the development of that product.
  
  
• SimHQ will promise to ensure that its content will be original publications, not reprints or recompilations of existing articles, unless it is so noted.
  
  SimHQ staff have agreed to assume the following responsibilities:
  

• SimHQ staff will never use an alias to criticize another site or magazine publicly.
  
  
• When discussing matters related to another site, SimHQ staff will always publicly announce their affiliation with SimHQ.
  
  
• SimHQ staff will never exaggerate their experience in biographies, articles, or features, or offer misleading representations of past experiences.
  
  
• SimHQ staff will never knowingly publish an untruth.

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The SimHQ Privacy Statement of Policy

The trust of the simming community is essential to the success of SimHQ. Therefore, we take concerns regarding privacy very seriously.

What Information Does SimHQ Collect On Its Traffic?

We collect general site server statistical information from all visitors to SimHQ, both to monitor utilization and for site security purposes. While this information contains such features as the machine (IP) address you are using, as well as the date, time, and file(s) requested, it typically cannot be used to identify you on an individual basis. Specifically, our tracking software logs the following:

• Web Browser Used
• Operating System Used
• Visitors Top Level Domain (i.e. aol.com)
• Full Server Address
• Visitor IP Address
• Links that brought a visitor to SimHQ
• Links followed from SimHQ
• Hits to local documents and files
• Hits by time, day, week, and year

Cookies

Persistent client side data ("cookies") are used for some features on the site, particularly the Ultimate Bulletin Board system. This cookie is a built-in feature of the bulletin board software and is used primarily for the purposes of tracking whether new message board threads have appeared since you last visited.

SimHQ's Policy on Children

While this site is a general purpose information provider, it is not directed, in whole or part, at children under the age of 13. Children under the age of 13 years are expressly prohibited from providing any personal information. We strongly recommend parental supervision of children when using this, or any, web site. For more information on children's online privacy generally and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, please see the FTC's Kidz Privacy site. If you are a minor (under the age of 18), you may not take part in any contest run by SimHQ.

Sharing of Personal Information

Certain features of the site (such as registration for the message boards) do require the provision of personal information. The following categories are requested during the board registration process, but only those marked with an asterisk are required.

• User Name*
• Password*
• Email*
• City, State, Country
• Occupation
• Homepage
• Interests
• ICQ Number

We may occasionally request additional information, primarily for contests or giveaways. If you are a minor (under the age of 18), you may not take part in these contests.

Banner Ads

Our banner ads are monitored by a software package that tracks exposures, hits to the banner, date / time, and the viewer's / clicker's IP address. All banner ad "customers," whether free (such as affiliates) or paid advertisers, have access to the information for THEIR banner ad(s) ONLY.

Dissemination of Personal Information by SimHQ

Any information collected by SimHQ, for instance at a survey or in a contest, is for the internal use of SimHQ and will not be disclosed to third parties without your prior express consent, except under extraordinary circumstances, such as a court order. Other examples of exceptions are to notify a contest partner of the winner's names, addresses, etc. OR if a party requests that SimHQ provide a feedback form for them on their product for readers to fill out.

Another exception to this may be aggregate data shared with advertisers (for instance, "90% of our viewers responding to a survey rate our news as "excellent.")

This policy is effective and updated on July 31, 2000, and is subject to change without notice, particularly as new site features are added.

For any questions about this policy, please contact us.

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Forum Registration and Use Agreement

SimHQ’s forums are intended for our members to learn and exchange information about our common interests, share experiences and enjoy time spent with one another. We expect members to treat each other with respect and civility. The forums are open 24 hours a day. Our moderation is done on a wholly volunteer, unpaid basis. Accordingly, we cannot watch every post in every thread all the time. SimHQ array (“The Site”) is not responsible for any member's posts, emails, or messages array(collectively, “Postings”), including without limitation the content, tone and accuracy of a Posting, or for any material in a Posting that may be offensive to a particular viewer. The author of each Posting is solely responsible for its contents, and each viewer waives all claims, rights and causes of action he or she may assert against The Site arising from or in connection with a Posting. The views of any member, however relayed, are not necessarily the views of The Site or any entity associated with The Site or any of its advertisers. We encourage members to notify us of any Posting that may be objectionable so that we may deal with it accordingly. These concerns can be addressed to any of the moderators, staff, or the webmaster. We reserve the right to edit or delete all or any portion of any member’s Posting as we in our sole discretion deem appropriate. Your use of The Site is at our discretion and you agree to abide by our rules as they may be amended from time to time, including but not limited to the following:

You agree that you will not use The Site to post or link any material that is deceptive and/or defamatory, abusive, hateful, harassing, obscene, discriminitory, profane, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or in violation of any law, license or copyright. The Site’s server may not be used for illegal purposes or in support of illegal services, will not be used to harm or attempt to harm minors in any way, and will not be used to transmit anything that threatens or harasses another person. The Site actively discourages cheating, and the posting of hacks or cheats for any games is forbidden. You agree that you will not attempt to impersonate another person.

The Site’s server will not be used to make unsolicited offers to sell or buy products, items, or services, or to advance any type of financial scam or scheme such as pyramid schemes. We reserve the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or other wrongdoing, and to provide information we know about you in the event of a complaint, claim, suit, or other legal action or investigation involving you. You agree to remain solely responsible for the content of your Postings, and to indemnify and hold harmless The Site, it’s owners, staff, moderators or it's ISP, all advertisers and their agents, their affiliates, successors and assigns of the foregoing parties, for all expenses of any nature incurred with respect to any claim or demand arising from or based upon your Postings.

Image posting and reposting. We cannot allow unauthorized, copyrighted images in the SimHQ Forums. If you find an image that you know is copyrighted and not posted by the owner, email the webmaster and it will be deleted. We will allow: a) images created by the poster; b) screenshots taken by the poster; c) images and/or screenshots directly released from developers to promote their games/sims. Do not post images originally published on another enthusiast web site. In all other cases beside these examples a link to the image at the source site must be used in lieu of the reposted image. We ask that members not repeatedly embed images in their posts, similar to a signature image. Any images not complying with those criteria will be deleted.

Unauthorized advertisements, solicitations, chain letters, commercial or bulk e-mail array(SPAM) are not allowed.

The Site may amend these rules from time to time without notice.

Effective October 26, 2008

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Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to maintain SimHQ?

The hours provided by our volunteers each month is well into the hundreds, as is the amount of money to pay for server space and traffic. The site depends on advertising revenue to exist. If you would like to advertise on SimHQ, click here.

How can I support SimHQ?

There are several ways to support us.

• Purchasing a book, video, or other product through our Library. A percentage of the Amazon sales help maintain the site's costs.
• Supporting our advertisers’ banner ads and letting them know you appreciate their supporting SimHQ.
• You can also support us by recommending us to a friend.
• By visiting the site yourself!

Do you accept freelance articles?

We’ll be glad to take a look, at the very least! Let us know before you start writing something, though, just in case we’re working on the same type of article.

Do you pay for articles?

Not at this time, sorry.

Wasn’t the site once owned by....?

SimHQ has had six owners since it was started in 1997. They are:

Frank "Crimson" Morissette, Founder (1997-1999)
Robert "Baron" Litchfield (1999-2000)
Dan "Crash" Crenshaw and Pete "Pygmy" Marone (2000-2001)
Bubba "Masterfung" Wolford (2001-2004)
Doug "guod" Atkinson (2005- )

How do I know your staff are who they say they are?

Well, ask them. We take our staff’s background very seriously, and have publicly removed staff who lied about their backgrounds.

How much traffic do you get?

A lot. ;)

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Copyright 2009, SimHQ. All Rights Reserved. Contact the webmaster.