The Institution of Silly & Meaningless Sayings (ISMS) respects your privacy and assures you that any and all information given to this site either by e-mail or by any other means will be kept confidential and will not be sold or otherwise disclosed to any third parties. But please note the following:
Isms heard by members or others and submitted to the ISMS for inclusion in its database may be listed on this site in the database section, together with the name of the author or source of the ism, always subject to the final decision of the Chairman & Chief Executive. If you find an ism attributed to you and you wish to have your name removed from the database then please email the ISMS and we will remove your name. However, to maintain the integrity of its database the ISMS reserves the right to keep a separate record of the ism and its author but will, on this website, show only the ism with the author's name changed to 'known but anonymised by request'.
We publish isms on this site in good faith, not out of any form of malice, or in an attempt to embarrass anyone. They have brought us many moments of laughter over the years and our founding principle is to share ism humour with the rest of the world.
Links to other sites
We don't list isms from other sources on our web pages but do provide a Lynx page to like-minded sites. The ISMS is not responsible for the privacy practices, availability or the content of linked web sites. However, we will occasionally review external site content and, if necessary, remove links which are no longer appropriate to our values, aims and objectives.
Cookies
The ISMS web site does not set cookies, but we do use UK.Bpath.com and Bravenet.com to allow us monitor site visits and manage polls and application forms for us. These sites may set cookies; you can read their privacy policies on their respective web sites. Follow the links above.
Guest Books
The ISMS occasionally makes a guest book available to its members and visitors. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding whether or not to disclose your personal information.
There is no requirement to make an entry in our guest book to qualify for an ISMS Diploma or ISMS Award.
Family friendly site
The ISMS has accreditation as a Family Friendly Site. Following the guiding principles of Family Friendly Sites we will aim to ensure that this site:
- Does not contain adult-themed or sexually explicit text, images, or photographs
- Does not accept advertising for alcohol, tobacco, gambling, or pornography
- Does not promote hate, violence or discrimination in any way
- Does not promote any illegal substances or activities
- Links only to sites that, as far as we can tell, share the intent of being family-friendly
- Conforms to the COPPA rules.
A few of the isms collected by the ISMS and included in our Database and History contain mild profanity.
Choice
The ISMS will not communicate with you in any way except to acknowledge receipt of submissions for the ISMS database, the Spotty Ribbon campaign, Cliché Corner, in response to applications for ISMS Awards or in response to specific queries on isms or related matters. Unless specifically requested to by you, we will not communicate with you in response to your entries in our guest book or submissions to our Caption Competition.
ISMS Awards
In 2003 the Institution instituted a series of Awards for good quality web sites concerned with all things ismatical. To apply for an ISMS Award you should visit our ISMS Award Scheme pages and read our basic purpose and aims, our terms of application, criteria and rating system and complete a simple application form; you must also be at least 18 years of age.
We will acknowledge by email the receipt of your application, but only if you meet our Award criteria. Sites not meeting the basic ISMS criteria will not be contacted at all. If your site is successful in obtaining an Award, our next contact with you will be to send the source code to display the appropriate ISMS award on your site.
Sites that are unsuccessful in obtaining an Award, for whatever reason, may be contacted by the ISMS if we have some proposals for improving your site which would bring it up to the standards set by the Institution.
The Chairman & Chief Executive's decision is final.
There is no requirement to make an entry in our guest book to qualify for an ISMS Award.
Contacting the ISMS
If you have a query about the ISMS or its web site, or if you require any further information, you can contact the ISMS at any time by email.