• How will the best be chosen?
  Using our secret algorithm. Actually, the formula, at its essence, is pretty simple: The more votes a post receives, the higher it is ranked. There is a little bit more to it than that (e.g. user votes are worth substantially more than anonymous votes) but more votes means a higher rank.
  
  
• Can I ask people to come vote for my posts?
  Absolutely. We suggest asking everyone you know: your family, friends, the readers of your blog, your hometown newspaper, the mayor, and anybody else you can think of. Every vote counts, and if they sign up their votes count even more.
  
  
• Can I submit posts that I didn't write?
  Yes, so long as you link to the original work. You don't have to have anything to do with the author. Just make sure they are blog post.
  
  
• What about copyrights and licenses?
  When your posts are linked to by YearBlook you retain full copyright to your work and aren't granting us any special licenses (you might not even be the one submitting your work). If your post is selected as the best for that day, we will contact you to work out a licensing agreement.
  
  
• If an entry is ranked highest, is it guaranteed to be included?
  No, it might be excluded for any number of reasons. We reserve the right to exclude any post. A few reasons why we would exclude a post: If we are unable to contact the original author; If we are unable to verify the authenticity of the author's copyright, or find evidence that the post was plagiarized; if we find evidence of vote tampering (asking people to vote for you isn't tampering); if the author does not wish for their material to be included; or a myriad of other reasons. We don't foresee having to exclude very many posts.
  
  
• If my post is selected, will it be printed verbatim?
  Maybe. Our intention is to keep each post as close to the original as possible, but there may be reasons (including space, factual inaccuracies, etc) that we will ask you to approve a slightly edited version for inclusion in the book. If at all possible we would like to include every post unedited and in its entirety.
  
  
• Where does the name YearBlook come from?
  The name given to a book that was originally a blog is "blook," and our book will be a record of the year from what is written by blogs - thus "Year Blook."
  
  
• I have a different question. How can I contact you?
  Using our contact form here
  
  

Terms and Conditions

1. Description of Service. Yearblook is a free, online application from Blooks LLC (the "Service"). You understand and agree that the Service is provided on an AS IS and AS AVAILABLE basis. Blooks LLC disclaims all responsibility and liability for the availability, timeliness, security or reliability of the Service. Blooks LLC also reserves the right to modify, suspend or discontinue the Service with or without notice at any time and without any liability to you.
   
   
2. Acceptance of Terms. Use of the web-site located at www.yearblook.com (the “Web-site”) and the services available from the Web-site is subject to these Terms and Conditions (”T&Cs”). Please read these T&Cs carefully before using or registering with the Web-site. Your use of the Web-site is expressly conditioned on your acceptance of these T&Cs. If you do not agree with any part of these T&Cs you must not use this site.
   
   
3. Personal Use. The Service is made available to you for your personal use only. Due to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (which is available at http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/coppa1.htm), you must be at least thirteen (13) years of age to use this Service. You must provide current, accurate identification, contact, and other information that may be required as part of the registration process and/or continued use of the Service. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Service password and account, and are responsible for all activities that occur thereunder. Blooks LLC reserves the right to refuse service to anyone at any time without notice for any reason.
   
   
4. Proper Use. You agree that you are responsible for your own communications and for any consequences thereof. Your use of the Service is subject to your acceptance of and compliance with the Agreement. You agree that you will use the Service in compliance with all applicable local, state, national, and international laws, rules and regulations, including any laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from your country of residence. You shall not, shall not agree to, and shall not authorize or encourage any third party to: (i) use the Service to upload, transmit or otherwise distribute any content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, abusive, fraudulent, obscene, contains viruses, or is otherwise objectionable as reasonably determined by Blooks LLC; (ii) upload, transmit or otherwise distribute content that infringes upon another party's intellectual property rights or other proprietary, contractual or fiduciary rights or obligations; (iii) prevent others from using the Service; (iv) use the Service for any fraudulent or inappropriate purpose; or (v) act in any way that violates the Program Policies, as may be revised from time to time. Violation of any of the foregoing may result in immediate termination of this Agreement, and may subject you to state and federal penalties and other legal consequences. Blooks LLC reserves the right, but shall have no obligation, to investigate your use of the Service in order to determine whether a violation of the Agreement has occurred or to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request.
   
   
5. Your Intellectual Property Rights Blooks LLC does not claim any ownership in any of the content, including any text, data, information, images, photographs, music, sound, video, or other material, that you upload, transmit or store in your Blooks LLC account. We will not use any of your content for any purpose except to provide you with the Service unless we recieve prior written authorization from you to do so. If your post is a finalist for inclusion in the Yearblook you will be contacted with further details on licensing your intellectual property.
   
   
6. Representations and Warranties. You represent and warrant that (a) all of the information provided by you to Blooks LLC to participate in the Services is correct and current; and (b) you have all necessary right, power and authority to enter into this Agreement and to perform the acts required of you hereunder.
   
   
7. Privacy. As a condition to using the Service, you agree to the terms of the Yearblook Privacy Policy as it may be updated from time to time. Blooks LLC understands that privacy is important to you. You do, however, agree that Blooks LLC may monitor, edit or disclose your personal information, including the content of your emails, if required to do so in order to comply with any valid legal process or governmental request (such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, or court order), or as otherwise provided in these Terms of Use and the Yearblook Privacy Policy. Personal information collected by Blooks LLC may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which parent company Blooks LLC or its agents maintain facilities. By using Yearblook, you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country. If you provide contact information such as email address, this information is only used for communications between you and us. We never use or share any information provided to us online in any way with third parties. We will never sell or rent any personally identifiable information about you (or your business) to any company. This site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this Web site. This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and subject to the terms of use for this website. By using our Web site and services, you consent to the collection and use of the information described in this Privacy Policy. If we decide to alter or amend this policy, we will post those changes on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it. If you have any questions about this privacy statement or the practices of this site, please contact us via the contact form from this site.
   
   
8. Indemnification. You agree to hold harmless and indemnify Blooks LLC, and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, and employees from and against any third party claim arising from or in any way related to your use of the Service, including any liability or expense arising from all claims, losses, damages (actual and consequential), suits, judgments, litigation costs and attorneys' fees, of every kind and nature. In such a case, Blooks LLC will provide you with written notice of such claim, suit or action.
   
   
9. Conduct. You agree that you will not use the Web-site to: * submit, post, upload or otherwise transmit any content that is unlawful, defamatory, libelous, abusive, tortuous, harassing, threatening, vulgar, obscene, pornographic, or otherwise indecent or that could constitute or encourage conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any law; * submit, post, upload, or otherwise transmit any content that infringes or otherwise violates the rights of any third party, including without limitation privacy rights and proprietary rights; * submit, post, upload or otherwise transmit any content that contains viruses, corrupted files or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another’s computer; * submit, post, upload or otherwise transmit any content that is of consistently poor quality or that is deemed inappropriate as determined by the sole discretion of the editors; * advertise or offer to sell any goods or services for any commercial purpose, with without prior written consent of Blooks LLC; * conduct, display, or forward surveys, contests, pyramid schemes, “spam” or chain letters; * impersonate, or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with, any other person or entity; * falsify or delete any attributions, legends or other proprietary designations of the origin or source of software or other Web-site Content appearing on the Web-site or contained in a file that is uploaded; * harm minors; * stalk or harass another individual; * collect or store personal data about other members; or * violate any applicable local, state, federal, or international law or regulation. You further agree that you will not use any robot, spider, or other automated device, or a program, algorithm or methodology having similar processes or functionality, or any manual process to monitor or copy any of the Web pages, data or content from the Web-site. BLOOKS LLC RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REMOVE ANY MEMBER ACCOUNT INCLUDING ALL CONTENT AND ANY OTHER MEMBER RELATED INFORMATION FOR ANY OF THE ABOVE OFFENSES OR FOR ANY OTHER REASON IN BLOOKS LLC’S SOLE DISCRETION.
   
   
10. Trademarks. At this time all trademarks and service marks including Blooks LLC and Yearblook are protected under common law. We reserve the right to register any or all trademarks in the future.
    
    
11. Changes to Web-Site or T&Cs. Blooks LLC may alter, suspend or discontinue any part or service of the Web-site at any time, with or without notice. The Web-site is currently available to you free of charge. Blooks LLC, however, reserves the right to charge you in the future for using one or more parts or services of the Web-site. Blooks LLC will notify you of any fees associated with any part or service of the Web-site it may charge, and will require your subscription to that part or service of the Web-site prior to charging any such fees. In addition, Blooks LLC reserves the right to modify these T&Cs at any time, without notice to you. Changes to these T&Cs will become effective when Blooks LLC posts them here, or directly e-mails to you a notification of the changes. You agree to review these T&Cs periodically to become aware of any changes and your continued use of the Web-site will signify your assent to any modifications to these T&Cs. You further agree that these standards for notifying you of changes to these T&Cs are reasonable.
    
    
12. Severability. If any portion of these T&Cs shall be held to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable under present or future laws, such provision shall be fully severable, these T&Cs shall be construed and enforced as if such illegal, invalid or unenforceable provision had never comprised a part of these T&Cs, and the remaining provisions of these T&Cs shall remain in full force and effect and shall not be affected by the illegal, invalid or unenforceable provision or by its severance herefrom.
    
    
13. Applicable Law; Attorney’s Fees and Injunctive Relief. these T&Cs shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Washington, United States of America, without giving effect to any conflict of laws provisions. You consent and submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in King County, the state of Washington, United States of America in all questions and controversies arising out of your use of the Web-site and these T&Cs. To the extent allowed by applicable law, any claim or cause of action arising from or relating to your access or use of the Web-site must be brought within two (2) years from the date on which such claim or action arose or accrued. If Blooks LLC or its affiliates take any action to enforce these T&Cs, such parties will be entitled to recover from you and you agree to pay, all reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees and any cost of litigation, in addition to any other relief, at law or in equity, to which such parties may be entitled. You acknowledge that a violation or attempted violation of any of these T&Cs will cause such damage to Blooks LLC as will be irreparable, the exact amount of which would be difficult to ascertain and for which there will be no adequate remedy at law. Accordingly, you agree that Blooks LLC shall be entitled as a matter of right to an injunction issued by any court of competent jurisdiction, restraining such violation or attempted violation of these T&Cs by you, or you affiliates, partners or agents, as well as recover from you any and all costs and expenses sustained or incurred by Blooks LLC in obtaining such an injunction, including, without limitation, reasonable attorney’s fees. You agree that no bond or other security shall be required in connection with such injunction.
    
    
14. Assignment. Blooks LLC may assign its rights under these T&Cs to any party without your consent. These T&Cs shall inure to the benefit of Blooks LLC, its successors and assigns. You may not assign, convey, subcontract or delegate your rights, duties or obligations hereunder.