Terms of Service

Welcome to Half Quill. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of the Half Quill platform, website, and services (collectively, the "Service") operated by Half Quill ("we," "us," or "our").

By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to use Half Quill. By using the Service, you represent that you meet this age requirement.

2. Your Account

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and for all activity that occurs under it. You agree to provide accurate information and to keep your email address up to date.

3. Content and Copyright

Half Quill is a collaborative writing platform. While copyright in any contribution automatically vests in its author under applicable law, you agree to the following contractual restrictions on how that copyright may be exercised.

3.1 Platform License

By posting content to the Service (including plots, story sections, comments, and other writing), you grant Half Quill a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to display and distribute your contributions solely on and through the Half Quill platform. This license is non-sublicensable and non-transferable. Half Quill will not commercially exploit, adapt, sell, sublicense, or otherwise use your content outside of operating the Service.

3.2 No Individual Use

You agree not to individually extract, republish, adapt, or commercially exploit your own contributions — whether in whole or in part — outside of the Service. Your sections exist as part of a collaborative work and may not be separated from that context without the consent described in Section 3.3.

3.3 Unanimous Consent for External Use

No person or entity — including Half Quill — may use, publish, adapt, or commercially exploit a story or any part of it outside of the Service unless written permission has been obtained from every contributor (every author of a section) to that story. This applies to the story as a whole, to individual sections, and to any derivative works based on the story.

3.4 No Ownership of Stories

No single person owns a collaborative story. Stories exist on the platform for all contributors and readers to enjoy. Half Quill claims no ownership over user-created content beyond the limited platform license described in Section 3.1.

3.5 Content Standards

You agree not to post content that is illegal, harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable. We reserve the right to remove content that violates these Terms.

4. Collaborative Nature

Stories on Half Quill are built collaboratively. Once you submit a section, it becomes part of a shared story and cannot be individually retracted without affecting other contributors' work. You acknowledge and accept this collaborative nature of the platform.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose
• Harass, abuse, or harm other users
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service or other users' accounts
• Use automated systems or bots to access the Service
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service

6. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account at any time for violations of these Terms or for any other reason at our discretion. You may delete your account at any time by contacting us.

7. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. We do not guarantee that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free.

8. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Half Quill shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the Service.

9. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will notify you by requiring acceptance of the updated terms. Your continued use of the Service after accepting updated terms constitutes agreement to those changes.

10. Privacy

Your use of the Service is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which describes how we collect, use, and protect your personal information.

11. Contact

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us at [email protected].