Member Guide & TOS

NicaLiving.com specifically addresses the needs of someone wanting to move to Nicaragua and needing information and for the person who has moved there and wants to get themselves integrated into local society. There is no "marketing bias" here--you see what people think and what people do. Many members, however, don't live in Nicaragua. It is worth checking author information to see where they are.

NL is also useful to travelers. While that is not its primary focus, much of the information here in general. For example, Regions offers general information about various parts of Nicaragua and Resources offers links to many information pages.

Beyond that, NL is a cooperative effort to support and empower people interested in Nicaragua. While the forums tend to be self-policing (that is, mis-statements tend to be quickly addressed) the information here is no replacement for the advice of a professional--be it a lawyer, doctor, ... . Monos Media, S.A., owner of NicaLiving.com is not responsible for loss or damage caused by inaccurate information posted here.

The content of the site is divided into:

Semi-static information

Content that is organized and updated by NL volunteers. Examples include the Links, Regions, and Resources sections.

User blogs

There are individual journals for each NL member. You can get to this area by clicking here. While we encourage people to talk about Nicaragua, this is the least focused part of the site.

Forums

Topical discussions consisting of an initial "question" followed by user comments. The forum list page is here. Note that I have added a new forum named Video. I am experimenting with it right now. If all is well, it will be opened up to those with permission to create new forum topics.

Photos

A place where members can share their photos. It is organized by region and by other categories. The main page is here.

Book Reviews

Member reviews of books about Nicaragua, the region or just of potential interest to NL members.

Reading Site Content

Anyone can read site content. You don't have to join or, if you have joined, you don't have to log in. The advantage of logging in, however, is that the system keeps track of what you have read and flags content you haven't read as new.
The navigation links at the top right of the page will get you to most areas of interest. If you want to return to the home page, just click on the NL logo in the upper left.

Also, there is a tracker page which shows recent content and will show you what you haven't read.

If you are having trouble with how the site is displayed, the most common problem is using an older version of Internet Explorer. A much safer, more reliable and cross-platform browser called FireFox is available for free. Clicking on the heading above will take you to the download page.

Membership

NicaLiving membership is free. Anyone is welcome to join. Joining gives you the ability to add content to the site. There are various levels of access. New members start with minimal access permissions. Once you have established yourself you can ask for your access rights to be upgraded. As a minimum, we will expect you to have a meaningful profile page. To get your access upgraded, PM fyl.

The general guideline for posting to NL is read before you write. That is, search the site to see if the topic has already been covered or is being discussed elsewhere. Note that there are two search options, the search box at the upper right and the Google search at the top center. In many cases, the Google search seems to work better.

Should you elect to post new content, make sure you are putting it in the right place and that it has a meaningful title. Read the sub-pages of this page to better understand the different types of content that is found here. Also, please do not post in all upper case. Besides being perceived as yelling, it is hard to read.

Moderation

Moderators are responsible for making sure NL content stays on track. You should get to know who the moderators are. Currently fyl and pete have overall administrative rights. Forum moderators will be added soon.

While there is no censorship per se of NL content, there are three reasons why content may be deleted or modified:

• The content is illegal (the most common problem being copyright violation).
• The content has nothing to do with Nicaragua.
• The content is a personal attack.

NL reserves to right to lower access rights or disable memberships for repeated violations of these basic rules. Also, see more about copyright issues below.

Important: When you establish your membership account initially; check and choose all categories. For instance; "private mail" is not a "default" and you must indicate that you would like to receive "private mail" from other members.