Terms of use

These terms describe how IvoryPen works for readers, responders and writers. By using the site you agree to them. We have tried to keep them short and plain.

The service

IvoryPen is an invite-only social network for writing. Anyone may read it free of charge and without an account. Writers publish by invitation. “We” and “the IvoryPen team” mean the people who run the site; “you” means anyone using it.

Reading and following

You may read, link to and share links to any public page. Following a writer by RSS is welcome. Please do not copy stories wholesale onto other sites; they belong to their writers, and quoting a passage with a link back is the courteous way to share one.

Responses

When you write a response, you are responsible for what it says. You allow us to publish it under the story with the name you entered. Responses are reviewed before they appear, and we may decline or remove any response, in particular one that breaks the guidelines.

Writer accounts

Writer accounts are offered by invitation and are personal. Keep your sign-in details private and tell us through the contact page if you think someone else has used your account. An invitation may be withdrawn if an account seriously or repeatedly breaks these terms or the guidelines.

Your content

Writers keep ownership of everything they publish. By publishing on IvoryPen, a writer gives us permission to host, display and distribute the content on the site and through its feeds, including RSS, for as long as it remains published. Writers are responsible for their own stories, including the accuracy of what they say and their right to publish any text and images they use. Links in stories are ordinary links chosen by the writer. A writer can ask at any time for a story, or their whole profile, to be removed.

Acceptable use

Everything published on IvoryPen must follow the guidelines. Do not try to disrupt the site, overload it, get around its protections or access parts of it that are not meant for you. Normal search engine crawling and feed readers are fine.

Removing content

We may remove any story, response or profile that breaks these terms or the guidelines, or that we are legally required to remove. Copyright complaints and reports can be sent through the contact page; each one is read by a person.

The service is provided “as is”

We work to keep IvoryPen available and reliable, but the service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind. We may change, pause or discontinue any part of it, or the service as a whole, at any time. Stories reflect the views of their writers, not of IvoryPen.

Limitation of liability

To the extent the law allows, IvoryPen and the people who run it are not liable for indirect or consequential losses arising from your use of the site, from content published by writers or responders, or from the site being unavailable.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. When we do, the date at the top of this page changes. Continuing to use IvoryPen after a change means you accept the updated terms.

Questions

Questions about these terms can be sent through the contact page.