Terms of Service & Privacy Policy

Last updated: 27 June 2023

Your agreement to me

  1. By using this site, you are agreeing to abide by the terms and rules set forth below.
  2. It is your responsibility to occasionally check this Terms of Service document in case it ever changes. Your continued use if this site implies your agreement to the most recent version of this document. To help you determine if you need to review this document, the date of the most recent revision will be listed at the top of this document in "Day Month Year" format. If there are any major or important changes, I will announce it on Friendica and, for up to two weeks after the change, on the home page.
  3. You may not hack, attempt to hack, deface, attempt to deface, or otherwise attempt to vandalize or disrupt this site, the server hosting this site, or other services hosted on this server.
  4. You understand that the administrators and moderators have very little control over what is posted to this web site and cannot take responsibility for what is posted by others. The administrators and moderators of this web site do everything reasonably possible to enforce the rules listed within this documents and take all reports of abuse seriously, however we cannot control others and thus cannot be held responsible for damages caused by posts made to this site.
  5. The same OpenPGP key that can be used to verify my signatures (see below under "My agreement to you") can also be used to encrypt files and communications intended for me. OTR and OMEMO are also available for encrypting instant messages. If you decide to encrypt your messages to me, it is your responsibility to ensure that your encryption key is made available to me; for instant messages, this is usually done automatically by your chat client (assuming it supports OTR or OMEMO encryption), while for emails you will need to attach your OpenPGP key.
    1. If your messages to me contain sensitive data, you are strongly encouraged to use encryption, and depending on the nature of the sensitive data, I may require the use of encryption before any further communication occurs.
  6. If you create an account here, your responsibilities include:
    1. Do not create more than one account per service. You are permitted to register an account on each service offered by this site, but you are not permitted to register more than one account per service.
    2. Secure your account using a strong password, and also ensure that the email address linked to your account uses a strong password. See this comic to learn about strong passwords.
    3. Do not post anything illegal or illicit, including, but not limited to, pornography, hate speech, political statements, or any content which is commonly viewed as controversial.
    4. Do not post copyright material for which you do not own copyright, unless you have obtained express written consent from the copyright owner. If Fair Use applies, you are required to make a valid Fair Use declaration.
    5. Treat people with basic human dignity. That includes, but is not limited to, not engaging in harassment, threats, sexual advances, behavior or comments intended to make someone uncomfortable, stalking, or other rude behavior.
    6. Do not spam. That includes, but is not limited to, public advertisements, unsolicited private advertisements, and/or repeatedly posting the same or similar messages.
    7. The fountain pen community is a truly international and multi-cultural community. Be respectful of cultural differences.
    8. What seems benign to one person might seem offensive to another. Always assume good faith. If someone offends you and you think it was intentional, either report the person or ignore the person; if you think it was unintentional, either talk it out in a calm and mature manner or ignore the person.
    9. Do not engage in arguements or flame wars. Friendly debates are permitted, but they must remain friendly.
    10. Do not use overly-abbreviated language such as is common to forum speak, gamer speak, text messaging, "1337 sp33k", etc. Especially avoid abbreviations with multiple common meanings or abbreviations specific to non-fountain pen communites; for example, "ATM" means both "at the moment" and "automatic teller machine" ("bank machine"), and both meanings can be equally valid in some contexts. Overly-abbreviated language, and abbreviations that have multiple common meanings, can make your message hard to understand, especially for those who do not frequently engage in forms of communication where over-abbreviation is common. Abbreviations for commonly known entities (e.g. the FBI or GCHQ) are permissible.
    11. It is up to you to decide what to post and what to keep private. I have no control over what you decide to publicize, therefor I hold no responsibility for any lack of privacy stemming from your use of this site. Simply put: if you don't want something to be publicly known, it is up to you to ensure that it is not posted in a public manner.
    12. If you post any spoilers for stories, games, television shows, movies, etc. that were released within the past four months, you are expected to add a spoilers tag to your post.
    13. If you post anything that will generally be recognized as "not safe for work" or "not family friendly":
      1. Make sure your post does not violate the terms set forth in this document, or any additional rules or terms set for the service you are using.
      2. Add a nsfw tag to your post.
    14. Understand that anything you post to this site will be automatically and irrevocably licensed as follows. You will, however, retain ownership over all posts and may, at any point, use it under different licensing elsewhere or provide special permissions or licensing on a case-by-case basis.
      1. Friendica: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
      2. Pixelfed: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
      3. Wiki: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

My agreement to you

  1. I will do everything reasonably possible to secure this server and keep your private data private. Vulnerabilities do happen, however, and I cannot be held responsible for someone using an unknown or unpatched vulnerability to steal data from my server.
    1. In the event that this happens, I will make every reasonable attempt to notify all users of this server the instant I find out about it. I will also do everything reasonable possible to secure this server and all services provided by it as soon as possible.
  2. Notwithstanding legally enforceable warrants and subpoenas, I will not share any of your private data without your express written consent, and it is unlikely that I would ever ask.
  3. This server uses full-disk encryption to help protect private data. If the server shuts off or reboots, all data will be inaccessible until I enter the encryption key. Only I know the passphrase for the full-disk encryption key.
  4. I will make backups of important server data on a regular basis to facilitate restoration of services in case of server crash or migration. All backups will be encrypted prior to leaving my server and stored on removable media employing full-disk encryption. Only I know the full-disk encryption key, and I will do everything reasonably possible to ensure that the removable drive remains in my sole possession.
  5. Logs will be kept for up to seven days to facilitate troubleshooting services provided by the server hosting this site; these logs will not be used for any other purpose and will be digitally "scrubbed" after seven days.
  6. Any e-mail sent by me will be signed using my OpenPGP key with the ID and fingerprint below. If I need to replace my key for any reason other than my key being compromised, I will use my old key to sign my new key.
    1. Public Key
    2. ID: B513DF021B174E43
    3. ID (Hexadecimal): 0x1B174E43
    4. Fingerprint: 5CE7 A710 5497 0794 E8F3 F232 B513 DF02 1B17 4E43
  7. If you encrypt any communications to me, I will respect your desire for private communications and encrypt my response to you, excepting cases where you fail to provide an appropriate OpenPGP, OTR, or OMEMO key.

Employers/Job Managers

While YouHaveWrites.net and YouHaveWrites.social are generally focused towards the fountain pen hobby, it is my firm belief that people should be free to express their opinions and beliefs. If, at any time, an employer terminates the employment of a user of this site for something that he or she posted here, and the post in question does not violate the terms set forth in this document, the employer responsible for terminating the employment of said user shall be permanently banned from accessing this site and any services provided by YouHaveWrites.net and YouHaveWrites.social. This does not count instances where a user is terminated from employment for accessing this or other sites while on-the-job and applies strictly to the termination of employment for posts which are made on this site.

Data collected by this site

  1. Required:
    1. IP address, web browser, and operating system information: logged for up to seven days after each visit to this site for troubleshooting. Kept private.
    2. User name: required to register and log in. Displayed publicly with every post.
    3. Password: required to register and log in. Kept private.
    4. E-mail address: required for account activation and password reset, as well as optional notifications. Kept private by default, can be made public at your option.
  2. Optional:
    1. Real name. May be displayed publicly with your posts.
    2. Contact information other than your e-mail address, such as instant messaging addresses, social network profiles on other sites, etc. If added, this will be displayed publicly for other people to connect with you.
    3. Any content posted by you to this site, such as to the public timeline on our social network. At your option, this may be private and visible to whomever you specify, or public and visible to everyone. It is your responsibility to pay attention to whether a post is going to be private or public prior to clicking the submit/post button.

Cookie Policy

  1. Some parts of this site use browser cookies to keep you logged in and/or store site-related settings.
  2. These cookies are not used to track you in any way and are used strictly for the aforementioned purpose.

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

While this site is not commercialized in any way, it is intended for a mixed-age audience and is therefore covered by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Out of respect for your privacy, I do not ask for an age or birthday during registration; however, if at any point it is revealed to me that you are 12 years of age or younger, I will be legally required to suspend or terminate your account. By registering for an account on this web site, you attest to one of the following:

  1. You are 13 years of age or older.
  2. You are 12 years of age or younger, however you have had a legally responsible parent or guardian send their approval to the appropriate e-mail address on the contact page.

Parents & Guardians: You may e-mail contact+coppa@youhavewrites.net to let me know whether or not your child may use an account on this web site. Please list all services hosted through YouHaveWrites.net and YouHaveWrites.social that your child may register an account with, as well as the user name your child intends to register. You must also provide proof that you are the legally responsible parent or guardian; this can include, among other things, a legally recognized photo ID for you and legal identification (e.g. birth certificate or other things) for your child. Please keep in mind that it is entirely your responsibility -- not mine -- to monitor your child online and control what he or she is able to view and what he/she is able to do. I do everything reasonably possible to moderate what happens on this website and the services offered through it, however my time is very limited and I cannot always respond immediately to issues that arise, therefor I cannot make any guarantees on what your child sees or what your child does.

Additional Details

  1. DMCA take-down requests and reports of abuse may be sent to the appropriate e-mail address on the contact page.
  2. I reserve the right to moderate and remove any and all content on this site, and/or assign moderators to do this on my behalf.
  3. Due to the public nature of this site, I cannot be held liable for any content posted to this site, except content posted explicitly by me.
  4. I will comply with all legally enforceable (in the United States of America) orders requiring me to turn over data. Unless I am placed under a legally enforceable (in the United States of America) gag order, I will immediately notify those affected by all such orders. I will also provide a warrant canary if/when I receive such an order.

Violations of the terms set forth in this document

If you violate the terms set forth in this document in any way, you may, depending on the severity of your violation, be permanently or temporarily banned from this site and/or any services offered through this web site or the server hosting it. Furthermore, if you violate the terms set forth in this document, you understand that I will no longer be bound to these terms, and, if banned either temporarily or permanently, you understand that I may release any data and/or communications belonging to you on this service to any third party and/or publish it as I see fit. Furthermore, you understand that I may, at my option, charge a punitive fee of not more than $5,000 in U.S. currency to pay for the act of cleaning up and removing any abusive and/or vandalistic content posted by you, and that I may require you to pay any additional fees incurred in collecting this fee.