Effective immediately, Alopecia World's new advertising and anti-spam policy is as follows:

Alopecia World will not tolerate unauthorized advertising by any business, organization, or anyone affiliated with a business or organization in an official or unofficial capacity.

Every business and organization allowed to maintain a profile on Alopecia World must receive written authorization from Alopecia World before posting any advertisement or promotional material elsewhere on the site.

Spamming is strictly prohibited. What constitutes "spamming" will evolve as Alopecia World responds to new tricks and tactics by spammers. However, in this context spamming may be broadly defined as using one or more of the interactive features of Alopecia World to send an unauthorized solicitation to other members of the site. Such unauthorized solicitations include, but are not limited to, things like event and mailing list invitations, commercial advertisements, as well as links to commercial products, services, and affiliate sites.

Like all other members of Alopecia World, businesses and organizations are encouraged to submit events to the "Events" section of Alopecia World, but each event will be approved or rejected at Alopecia World's sole discretion.

No member of Alopecia World may use any feature of the site to solicit funds from its members, or invite them to fundraisers, without the written consent of Alopecia World. In addition, no member of Alopecia World may post any contest, giveaway, or sweepstake without the written consent of Alopecia World.

Also prohibited is the inclusion of signatures containing unauthorized advertisements and hyperlinks, or attachments containing unauthorized solicitations, in posts on Alopecia World.

This policy does not prohibit members of Alopecia World from continuing to mention, discuss, recommend, debate, or inquire about commercial products and services or other resources in the context of appropriate discussions about the various treatment alternatives and support options available to people with alopecia.

However, no member of Alopecia World may post ads or any other promotional material that violates the letter or spirit of this policy.

All members of Alopecia World must adhere to this advertising and anti-spam policy as of Thursday, July 8, 2010.

Any member who violates the letter or spirit of this policy may receive a warning from Alopecia World or simply be banned from Alopecia World.

If you want to know more about this policy, believe you may need Alopecia World's permission to advertise or promote something, or simply would like information about Alopecia World's current advertising rates, terms, and conditions, please send the appropriate email to advertising[at]alopeciaworld.com.

Regardless of whether you receive special consent from Alopecia World, as a member, you must abide by all applicable laws as well Alopecia World's terms of service and its other written requirements.

Alopecia World reserves the right to enforce this policy at its sole discretion.

Policy Effective Date: Thursday, July 8, 2010