terms of service

terms and conditions

code of conduct

Terms of Service

Introduction

Len’s Lounge is the online community run by Len’s School (https://www.lensschool.com/). Len’s School was established by Len Metcalf who is an acclaimed fine art photographer and fully qualified adult educator, renowned for his supportive and professional approach. To read more about Len, click here. Len’s Lounge online community connects not only Len’s students, but also the wider community.

Our aim is to create a safe and supportive learning community. One where we feel we can express ourselves and develop our work. One full of inspiration.

This community is a private closed community, and people who do not agree to these terms and conditions cannot access the content within.
Access to this service and its content is only available to members with an active subscription.
Members are required to be polite, encouraging and supportive of other members at all times.
We welcome of all genders, sexuality, race, and beliefs.
This community is for adults, you need to be 18 years of age to join. This community is not intended for minors nor is it to be used by minors.
Hate speech, put downs, and bullying will result in being terminated from the service.
Members who do not respect the code of conduct or follow the terms of service will have their membership terminated and will not be accepted back into the community.
This Terms of Service can be changed at any time.

Community Rules

Positive and healthy critiques only. Negative comments will be deleted and repeat offenders will have their membership cancelled. The ratio of at least four positives to one improvement point is to be maintained at all times.
Leave our egos, politics, sexuality, religion, race, disabilities and other beliefs out of all of our discussions.
Treat everyone respectfully. Do not harass other members.
Report people to the moderators who are being upsetting or disrespectful.
No put downs or negative comments about other people or their art.
Our community forum is hidden from the rest of the world for a reason. The work you post there can only be seen by other members. Do not download to share other peoples writing, videos, nor photographs.

Terms and Conditions

Len’s Lounge and its members will take all care to give sound advice, it is not responsible for advice given that may cause you financial harm or cause harm to your equipment.
Len’s Lounge reserves the right to terminate this service and all active subscriptions at any time.
Len’s Lounge reserves the right to remove members who do not follow the forum rules or are disrespectful of other members.
You may not use this website to advertise nor coordinate your own products or services or those of others for your financial reward.
The content you post is owned solely by you. Copyright is always retained by the original artist. Len’s Lounge makes absolutely no claim to your personal work, and will not use it in any other way, other than the way you intend it to be used.
Len’s Lounge is not liable for or the content you post.
When posting artworks and you specifically request feedback, you hereby give permission for another member of the community to alter and re-post changes and suggestions to your work. This new work may not be used by the person making the modifications at all. Copyright is always maintained by the original producer of the work. You may only do this to artworks that have explicitly sought and requested feedback.
You may not redistribute, use or sell any content on this website or in the community.
You may post work of other artists only for the purposes of education (review, critique and study), provided you acknowledge the original artist, and reference the source where possible. Whole bodies of artwork cannot be posted in full, but less than 10% of the body of work can be for education, study and review as per educational institution copyright laws. For example posting a full movie that is still in copyright would be inappropriate, while posting a short clip to discuss its artistic merit would be appropriate providing it is referenced appropriately.
Sharing full copies of literary works, ebooks and pdfs that are copyrighted is prohibited. Sharing a small proportion for educational, study and review purposes (less than 10%) is permitted under copyright law for an educational institution. It is far better to link to the original source, and only include a small excerpt for the purposes of review, study and education.
Plagiarism is unacceptable in this community.
You may not share your login and membership with other people. The membership is for one person only. Couples who share a membership will be asked to pay for two people. The fees for membership are extremely reasonable and are solid value for money.
Len’s Lounge is not responsible, legally or financially, for any meet ups, excursions, walks, shoots, workshops, that may be organised between members. Members are responsible for organising their own insurance, permissions and safety. If meeting other members, consider organising to meet in a group in a public place. Len’s Lounge does not assess or approve any of these activities, which means you do them entirely at your own risk.
Len’s Lounge reserves the right to increase the general subscription fees from time to time. Subscribers are guaranteed that their subscription will not increase, as long as they remain continuously subscribed from the foundation period. If you are on a reoccurring subscription at that time, the price rise will not affect you. Members who are on manual renewals will have to pay the increase the next time the subscription is billed. If you stop your subscription and return you will be subject to any price increases.
Len’s Lounge reserves the right to change or modify scheduled content at any time. Where changes to the schedule are necessary Len’s Lounge will give as much notice as possible.
Len’s Lounge reserves the right to add to and modify these terms and conditions as needed to maintain a healthy community.
Please remember that we are not responsible for any message or content posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any content, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The content expresses the views of the author of the content, not necessarily the views of this community nor its organisers. Any user who feels that any posted content or message is objectionable is required to contact us immediately. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. We will remove members based on our judgement of the severity of each individual case.
Len’s Lounge is not responsible for inaccurate advice given by the members of the community that may cause damage to you or your equipment. It is your responsibility to make a reasonable judgment on the advice.
You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this community to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, threatening, invasive of a person’s privacy, or otherwise volatile of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this forum.
When posting content that requires model releases and proof of age, you agree to only post that content if you have that documentation. Len’s Lounge is not responsible for the content you post, though it will work hard to ensure that it is appropriate.
Len’s Lounge users are responsible for maintaining the security and confidentiality of their account credentials and for any activities that occur under their account. Do not share your log in details with anyone. Ensure you use secure passwords and do not record them.
Len’s Lounge specifically bans activities such as spamming, hacking, impersonating others, or engaging in illegal activities. These are that are strictly prohibited within the community.
Len’s Lounge has the right to moderate discussions, remove or edit content, and suspend or ban users who violate the terms or disrupt the community.
In the cases of dispute or conflict between members in the first instance the moderators, facilitators and group leaders will try to act as arbitrators and negotiators. If the dispute can not be resolved the management team of Len’s Lounge will act as arbitrators and negotiators.
Len’s Lounge reserves the right to terminate anyone’s account that doesn’t abide by our code of conduct and the terms of service.
Members must be 18 years of age to join, access and use Len’s Lounge.

Code of Conduct

Len’s Lounge is a unique learning community.

It is designed and managed to encourage support for creatives, and educational encouragement.

For a healthy learning community the following guidelines are encouraged and supported.

Positive encouragement is the priority in all communications
Unsolicited criticism is unacceptable
Think before you start commenting about the consequences of your words
Ask questions to start conversations
Own your feedback (start with ‘I’ rather than ‘you’)
Talk about the art not the artist
Ask yourself is your comment helpful and encouraging
Specific feedback is more useful and helpful for everyone
If you have nothing good to say, say nothing
Consider your language
For every improvement point you make, include at least two other positive points
The more specific you are the better
Build friendships and community
When posting artworks of others for the purposes of education, research, study, criticism and review, we always acknowledge the artist and the source where possible (we follow the 10% rule of acceptable use as per Australian copyright law for educational institutions).
This community is a safe space for all people, races, sexuality, and identity.
New groups will be formed through requests from the members.
Accept and encourage that art is subjective and not objective. Everyone is entitled to create art that makes themselves happy and feel fulfilled. There is no such thing as the correct or right way.

For examples on how to get the most from giving and receiving feedback please head to our welcome/start here section.

Unacceptable behaviour

No trolling (an internet troll, or online bully, deliberately tries to offend, cause trouble or directly attack people by posting derogatory comments)
Discrimination in any form is unacceptable
No spam, advertising or self promotion
Do not post copyright infringing material as your own work
Do not share copyrighted documents and files
Telling someone else how their artwork should look or be
Providing negative feedback without explicit consent (artists will request feedback when sought)
Do not cross post questions, links or artworks (find the most appropriate place to share once)
Avoid using the message system for private help
Do not use this site for dating or advances
Nudity can be posted if it is considered art by the art community. If it would need a content warning at the art gallery or in prime time television then we require you to post in specific private groups dedicated to that genre that have content warnings.
Do not post offensive material or content
Any material which constitutes defamation, harassment or abuse is strictly prohibited.
Material that is obscene, racist or otherwise overly discriminatory is not permitted in these forums

Len’s Lounge retains the right to remove content it finds objectionable without explanation. Len’s Lounge also retains the right to remove members who do not adhere to our Terms of Service or this code of conduct.

Len’s Lounge, Len’s Lounge logo, and Len’s Lounge content is owned by Len’s School & Len Metcalf (your content always remains yours).

Updated 15th January 2025