Restrictions Until Verification

To protect the safety and confidentiality of others, and to ensure no media of minors are uploaded, Midwest Nudists has an age / identity verification process. While not required, certain features are disabled for members until they verify:

• Custom avatars (uploading or using an external avatar via a URL)
• Uploading attachments (e.g. forum posts)
• Uploading any files or media (e.g. gallery entries, downloads, or the filedump)

Exception: These restrictions are not in place for Support Tickets (so you can communicate with staff effectively and provide screenshot evidence when necessary) and the catalog for uploading your verification photo.

You will also get nagged by a small reminder message on the page every time you load a page that contains one of these disabled features.

Verification Process

To get verified, click the link on the nag message telling you that you cannot upload media yet. This will take you to a "catalog" where you can upload a verification photo. The photo must include all of the following, unaltered (except to censor information on your ID card that we do not need, if you prefer), and all in the same / single photo:

• Your face, unobstructed
• A government-issued identification card (we will not accept temporary cards or papers), which must include the following in a legible and readable manner (everything else can be censored):
  • Your face / photo ID, and it must be similar to your actual IRL face
  • Your birth date, which must match the birth date you set on your profile, and must indicate you are at least 18 years old
  • The date the card was issued, and the date the card expires; the card must be valid
  • Any and all security features of the card which prove the card's authenticity, such as holograms, seals, logos, etc.
• A piece of paper, which you must hand-write the following information in a legible manner (other methods such as typing are not acceptable):
  • Your Midwest Nudists username
  • A 13-character Verification Code which is given to you on the form

Retention

Once you have satisfied the verification requirements, you will be granted the ability to upload files / multimedia. While you can now upload media, keep in mind that you are only allowed to upload media containing yourself; if other people are present, there are special rules surrounding that which may require you get written and documented consent. Please see the Terms and Conditions for more information (Section 11).

The photo you used to verify will be kept on record until your ID expires. You can request for us to delete it via a Support Ticket, but this means you will no longer be verified. It is important that when submitting your verification photo, that you change the "Visible to" option in Privacy Settings to "Myself only". Otherwise, other members will see your verification photo.

Your verification photo entry will automatically expire when your government-issued ID expires. At that point, the restrictions listed above will go into effect again until you re-verify with your updated government issued ID.

Help! I do not see the nag message!

If you do not see a message inviting you to get verified, then you are probably already verified. If you still cannot upload attachments / files / images, and you are not in probation (you will know if you received a Terms of Service violation message), then please let us know by opening a Support Ticket. It's probably a bug in that case.

Staff will get notified on a regular basis by the website software for content that needs reviewed for accuracy. This is via a feature called "Periodic Content Reviews". This feature is also available to members on some types of content if members would like to be reminded to review content for accuracy at a later or recurring date.

Spam has been a major problem on many websites, including other nudist websites. Therefore, we have a few systems in place to help significantly reduce spam:

Account Registration

New members must answer an open-ended question about their interest or involvement in nudism. These responses are manually reviewed by site staff. And new members cannot log in until they are approved.

The open-ended nature of this question means an answer cannot simply be searched online; the member must put in at least a little effort to write a passable answer. Considering this is a nudist website, we find it unlikely a legitimate spammer will be able to mimic a nudist with a good nature in their response.

Identity and Age Verification

Members by default do not have permission to upload multimedia or attachments; they must go through an age / identity verification process to get this permission. The full details are outlined in our Terms and Conditions. This safeguard ensures those who upload media, especially if anyone is nude, are at least 18 years old, and are only uploading media of themselves (unless others gave them written consent). It also deters spammers from being able to immediately spam the site with inappropriate media. 

Content Submissions

We have some automatic safeguards in place to help us reduce the amount of spam on Midwest Nudists:

• On every submission of a form, we run a check of the member's IP address with the Stop Forum Spam and Project Honey Pot IP blacklists. If the IP is listed, then either their submissions will require approval, they won't be able to submit anything, or they will be IP-banned entirely, depending on the threat level.
• On every page, we have hidden scripts from Project Honey Pot that humans cannot see and would never normally follow. If it is followed, the visitor is almost certainly a spam bot and will get listed on Project Honey Pot's blacklist.
• On every form, we have hidden fields that humans don't see and would not fill out. If any of these fields are filled out (usually by a bot), then the submission is flagged as spam and action is taken.
• On every submission of a form, antispam heuristics are run on the submission to determine the likelihood the submitted content is spam. If the confidence level meets certain thresholds, action will be taken.

When the website software determines someone to potentially be a spammer, one of three actions will be taken automatically:

• The content will be hidden and flagged for moderator approval, if the antispam system thinks the submission might be spam but is not confident.
• The attempt to submit content will be outright blocked if the antispam system is confident that it is spam.
• The attempt will be blocked and the IP address will be banned automatically if the antispam system is so confident that it was a spam submission that no reasonable person would ever submit something like that.

Report System

And of course, we have the report system as a last resort; no antispam system is perfect. Everywhere are report links and buttons which allow you to submit violating content to the staff for review. Please help us keep Midwest Nudists spam-free, and you will be rewarded!

Introduction

The "Account Standing" is a tab on your profile which can only be viewed by you and by staff members. This tab indicates your current overall account standing and a list of formal warnings you have ever received (along with their punitive actions, explanation, and a link to the Private Topic if applicable).

Account Standing Classifications 

Your Account Standing is classified in one of six categories which will appear on your profile's Account Standing tab:

• Good - You were never issued a formal warning
• Caution - You have a history of at-most two formal warnings with minor discipline taken. At this point, deleting your account will result in your username, e-mail address, and IP address being blacklisted (cannot be used with new accounts) to prevent a moderation loophole.
• At risk - You have a building history of violations. You are no longer qualified to apply for, nor run as, a staff member at this point. And you are at risk of more severe and restrictive discipline for future violations.
• Restricted - You have an active restriction in place (access to a zone / category / page being revoked, a privilege being revoked, or being silenced from a topic or forum). And you are at risk of more severe and restrictive discipline for future violations.
• Probation - Your account is currently in probation (you are very restricted with what you can do, and most content you submit will require staff approval before it becomes visible).
• Danger - You have a severe and unacceptable history of violations. The next time you violate the rules / Terms of Service, you will be permanently banned, no exceptions.

Does My Standing Improve Over Time? 

Not usually. The two exceptions to this are the Probation and Restricted categories; once you no-longer are restricted or no-longer in probation, you will typically go back to the 'at risk' category and stay there (unless you were in the 'danger' category in which case you stay there). We expect all members to follow the rules from the very start. So there are no rewards / decays for good behavior to make up for previous bad behavior.

What Causes Me to Drop a Category? 

• On your first formal warning, you will drop from the 'good' standing. Usually you will drop to 'caution', but for more severe violations, you could immediately drop further than that. Once you drop from 'good', you cannot ever go back to it (unless all your formal warnings get appealed).
• You will drop to 'at risk' on your third formal warning, when you were assessed 100 or more total bad karma from discipline, when you have a history of probation (under 14 days in total), or when you have a history of any privileges or zone / page / category access being restricted as part of discipline.
• You will be in 'restricted' when you are currently silenced from one or more forums or topics, or if you have an active restriction on a site privilege or page / category / zone access. You will usually go back to 'at risk' when the restrictions expire.
• You will be in 'probation' when your account is in probation. You will go back to 'at risk' when your probation expires.
• You will be in 'danger' when you've previously been account or IP banned and the ban was lifted (but not appealed), if you ever get reported to third-party blacklists for severe spamming, if you've been assessed 250 or more bad karma in total from discipline, if you have 6 or more formal warnings, or if you've been assessed 14 days or more of probation in total from discipline. This category takes priority over all others even when currently restricted or in probation.

We have a member-curated directory of nudist clubs, groups, venues / resorts, parks / trails, and websites you can visit.

We include lots of helpful information such as website/address, amenities, rates, member restrictions, and more.

For physical location listings, NOAA Weather Radio info and a weekly weather forecast will be presented from the National Weather Service.

If you made the personal choice to be offended by something someone said, and they were not directly targeting or cyberbullying you, then you should question yourself and ask why what they said made you uncomfortable. While Midwest Nudists wants all members to be respectful of each other, we also do not want to condone censorship beyond what is necessary. Members are encouraged to try respectfully working out their personal conflicts themselves (or blocking / ignoring each other and moving on if they cannot).

However, if they were directly targeting or cyberbullying you, or if what they said was making multiple people uncomfortable, you should report it to staff using the report links so they may review and potentially intervene. If you cannot use the report links, then take URLs and screenshots and send them via the contact us form under Help > Contact Us, or email [email protected] .

Here are a few examples to help determine when something probably should versus probably should not be reported to staff:

• Probably should be reported: Someone directly threatened you or is trying to coerce you
• Probably should be reported: Someone said something very obscene, and either it seemed intentional or multiple members express discomfort by it
• Probably should be reported: Someone is saying outright racist / sexist / etc things (if you are not confident it's intentional, try politely questioning / challenging them first, but remember they have the freedom to decline responding, and persisting to question / challenge them is harassment)
• Probably should not be reported: Someone sent you constructive criticism about something you submitted or said
• Probably should not be reported: Someone is challenging / questioning you (unless you decline and they persist; that then crosses into harassment and should be reported)
• Should not be reported (please do not waste our time with this one): Someone said something that goes against your beliefs (religious, political, etc, or not) but does not otherwise violate the rules

No; ignorance is no excuse.

Midwest Nudists expects that everyone read the rules / Terms and Conditions in full when joining the site. If you do not agree with them, then you should not use the site (though you can express your disagreements and counter-proposals respectfully in a Support Ticket or [email protected]). If you are unclear about something, you should ask the staff for clarification immediately.

When you created your account, you indicated that you read and agree to the rules and Terms in full (you had to or the site would not let you register an account). As such, you are responsible for any / all rules that you violate whether you did so knowingly or not.

Again, please do ask questions if you are unsure about something. And please let us know if you believe there is a better solution to something than what we are taking according to our rules or Terms. While the staff have a duty to keep the site safe, they are also here to help you.

Midwest Nudists does not allow discrimination of any kind based on a protected class. We also do not condone discrimination based on relationship status, even if it's a matter of safety (but we do not strictly enforce it as relationship status is not a protected class). A prime example of this is venues or clubs excluding single men from membership or participation.

While we understand the safety concerns surrounding why an entity may choose to discriminate based on relationship status, we believe this is a very toxic and bandage solution to a bigger problem.

There are numerous issues with banning people from nudist activities based on their relationship status. Here are a few:

• It is discriminatory and makes a wrong general assumption that everyone in the target group cannot control themselves in nudist environments.
  • For example, banning single men perpetuates in the nudist community that all single men are perverts or predators and cannot control themselves in nudist environments. This is far from the truth. While statistically speaking, most sex crimes (in the United States) are committed by men, this still overshadows the fact that an overwhelming majority of men are not like that. Furthermore, most men who commit sex crimes are not actually single, rather they are a partner of the survivor.
• It makes a wrong assumption that (in this example) single people are far more likely to be problematic than people who are married or are in a relationship.
  • This is not true. Those in a relationship can be just as problematic in a nudist setting as those who are single. The staff of Midwest Nudists can recall several incidents of couples doing things to get themselves banned from nudist resorts and clubs.
• In the example of excluding single people, it especially discriminates against those who choose not to be in a relationship or who are asexual / aromantic.
  • Arguably, those who are asexual / aromantic will be the least likely to cause any issues in a nudist resort because they have no interest in sex to begin with.
• Considering relationship status creates a paradox where, in order to keep sex out of nudism, we are considering a factor which, in our wrongful generalizations, is associated with how one perceives sexuality.
  • To explain in more simple terms, we are assuming those who are in a relationship are monogamous and much less likely to act sexual in a nudist environment than those who are single. By banning those who are single, we are creating a paradox where we are considering sexuality (the likelihood someone will act out sexually) in order to keep sex out of nudism. Therefore, we bring sex into nudism when trying to keep sex out of nudism.
• It is a blanket solution to a larger problem: not enough education and proper leadership / guidance in nudist communities.
  • We believe that banning people based on something like relationship status from a nudist function is a blanket solution which does not address the bigger problem. Instead, nudist venues / organizations / clubs should be taking the time to educate those on what nudism is and is not. They should also be taking the time to ensure proper training among their leadership, ensuring leadership will assert at all times the core values of the venue / club and nudism, taking prompt and appropriate action against bad behavior, and promoting a safe but inclusive environment.

While not explicitly against the rules to submit / promote entities which discriminate based on relationship status, Midwest Nudists discourages you from doing so. Instead, please bring this matter up with the entity and see if they are open and willing to re-consider their approach to safety.

Do remember that entities who discriminate based on a protected class will likely be rejected from promotion on Midwest Nudists; such is a violation of our Terms of Use. "Men only" or "women only" groups may be allowed providing they are not "men only" or "women only" for prejudiced reasons against other genders.

We can build form pages for your venue / club / organization

Forms can be used for a wide variety of things: member registration, event sign-ups, and more

Form entries will be e-mailed to an e-mail address of your choice

We can also make surveys if you want to receive feedback from others on something

Need someone to manage and send out newsletters? Midwest Nudists can do it!

We can list your subscription on our block for members to choose which newsletters to subscribe

Managed Web Hosting through PDStig, LLC is available for nudist venues, clubs, and organizations

PDStig, LLC will kick back 30% of web development income to a nudist cause of your choice

We have an option for simple sites utilizing the members / core functionality of Midwest Nudists

Please e-mail [email protected] if interested

We balance the decision making power between members and staff

Members can report anything that violates the rules or not in the spirit of nudism

Members can vote on decisions (such as changes to rules / features / staff members)

The more a member contributed in content to the site, the more voting power they have

We also have a karma system so members can understand who is most reputable / established in the community

Yes.

Midwest Nudists has tools you can utilize to download or purge most of your data. These can be found in your member profile. Go to your profile > Edit > Personal data.

On this page, you can select categories of data to download or purge. You can then specify if you wish to download the data or purge it.

When purging data, the data is either deleted or anonymised ("anonymised" means that the data cannot be traced back to you; all personally identifiable information about you [member ID, username, e-mail address, and IP addresses] are scrubbed from every applicable record). Note that not everything can be purged. This is explained in the tooltips / help icon next to each category.

There is a limit to how often you can download or delete your personal data as indicated on that page. This is because downloading or purging of personal data puts a heavy load on the web server. The limit ensures the server can continue functioning properly.

You can request more specific data to be downloaded or purged by contacting the staff (open up a Support Ticket). You can also purge [almost] all your data upon deleting your account on the "Delete" tab.