Terms of Service

01 Acceptance & Eligibility

By creating an account, posting in Whisper Network, ordering a website service, or subscribing as a Community Supporter, you agree to these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, don't use those features — you can still read the public site.

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account or subscribe as a Community Supporter. This is an interim policy while we finish the age-assurance and minor-protection work that would responsibly support a lower minimum (our longer-term intent is 13+ with real protections in place) — see the Privacy Policy's Children's Privacy & Minimum Age section for the full explanation, including the Florida minors-online-safety law we researched before setting this. This age requirement is not yet technically enforced at registration (no age field is collected today); it is a binding condition of use stated here, and enforcement may be added later.

02 Accounts & Security

You're responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and for everything that happens under your account. Tell us right away if you believe your account has been compromised. We may require email verification before you can fully participate, and we may disable accounts that use inaccurate registration information, impersonate others, or are used to evade a prior restriction.

You may not share your account with others, transfer it, or operate automated scripts/bots against the service without our written permission.

03 User-Generated Content

You own what you write. Posting a message, discussion, or reply in Whisper Network doesn't transfer ownership of it to us. What we need, and what you grant us by posting, is a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, display, reproduce, and distribute that content as necessary to operate and promote the service — for example, showing your post to other members, including it in search/discovery within the platform, or featuring community discussion in connection with the service (we will not sell your individual posts to third parties as a product).

This license lasts as long as the content remains on the platform, and ends when you delete the content or your account — except where a copy needs to be retained for moderation records, legal compliance, or because another member has already quoted or referenced it in ongoing public discussion, which is outside our control once posted (see the Privacy Policy, Section 5).

You're solely responsible for what you post. We don't pre-screen content before it's published, and we don't endorse any individual member's opinions, including on Whisper Network, by allowing them to be posted.

04 Community Conduct & Moderation

Participation in Whisper Network is governed by these Terms and by our dedicated Community Guidelines, which go into more depth on permitted expression, prohibited conduct, and how reporting and moderation actually work. The Guidelines are incorporated into these Terms by reference — violating them is a violation of these Terms.

In short: honest disagreement, criticism, debate, and ordinary profanity are not, by themselves, violations. Credible threats, targeted harassment, doxxing, unlawful content, and similar serious misconduct are never permitted. See the Community Guidelines for the full policy.

05 Independent Commentary & Public-Interest Discussion

Part of what Whisper About It does is independent commentary and public-records investigation — including projects like ClayMoneyTrail — covering government spending, public officials, and matters of legitimate public concern. Statements of opinion, fair commentary on matters of public interest, and factual reporting based on public records are a core, protected part of what this platform is for, and we intend to defend that work.

At the same time, members (including the operator) are expected to distinguish opinion from factual claims where reasonably possible, avoid knowingly false statements of fact about identifiable individuals, and correct material errors when credibly brought to our attention.

06 Faith-Based Content

Whisper About It includes faith-based content and discussion, including references to YHWH and Scripture, as a genuine part of its mission. Participating in or encountering this content is part of using the platform; the community itself remains open to people of any faith or no faith, and you're never required to agree with or adopt any religious viewpoint expressed here, by the operator or by other members, to participate in Whisper Network otherwise.

07 Community Supporter Subscription Terms

These terms apply specifically to the Community Supporter program described at /support, in addition to the rest of these Terms of Service.

• Recurring billing — disclosed before you pay. Community Supporter is a $9.99 USD/month recurring subscription, billed automatically through Stripe until canceled. The price and "recurring monthly" terms are shown on the Community Supporter page above every checkout button, before Stripe checkout ever opens — you're never taken to a payment screen without having seen the price and billing frequency first.
• Voluntary support. Supporting Whisper About It is entirely voluntary. Whisper Network and the rest of the community remain free and open to everyone, whether or not you subscribe.
• Cancellation. You may cancel anytime through the billing portal linked from your account. Canceling stops future billing; you keep supporter access and recognition through the end of the period you've already paid for.
• Refunds. Community Supporter contributions are generally non-refundable once a billing period has processed — as voluntary recurring support rather than a purchase of goods, that's the default position. Exceptions are made where required by law, or where we decide in our discretion a refund is warranted (for example, an accidental duplicate subscription or a billing error) — contact us (Section 17) to request one; there's no guarantee a discretionary request will be granted. This is separate from the existing website-services refund policy published on the Services page, which already commits to refunding eligible payments made directly to Whisper About It (excluding third-party costs) when we can't deliver satisfactory work — that policy is unchanged by this one.
• Recognition and opt-out. Supporter recognition (a public badge and occasional public acknowledgment) is on by default and can be turned off at any time from your account settings. We never display your billing name, payment amount, or email address as part of recognition.
• Annual thank-you merchandise eligibility. One thank-you item is earned after twelve consecutive qualifying paid monthly billing periods. A missed/failed payment opens a fourteen-day recovery window — if payment succeeds within that window, your consecutive-month streak continues; if not, the streak resets. If you cancel and later resubscribe, a new streak begins at zero, though any reward you already earned remains on record.
• Merchandise fulfillment not yet finalized. Merchandise type, eligible shipping regions, shipping costs, and fulfillment timelines have not been finalized. We are not promising specific merchandise, shipping availability to your region, or a delivery date until those details are set and published.
• No earmarking. We do not represent that any fixed percentage or dollar amount of your support goes to any single project (such as DEMP, ClayMoneyTrail, or any other initiative described on the Community Supporter page); your support sustains the mission broadly.
• Not tax-deductible. We do not represent Community Supporter contributions as tax-deductible charitable donations, because that status has not been independently verified. Treat it as a voluntary paid subscription unless we tell you otherwise with documentation.

08 Third-Party Links & Services

The site links to third-party destinations we don't operate or control — including external game sites surfaced in Whisper Arcade, social media pages, and publications like Amazon listings. We're not responsible for the content, availability, security, or practices of those external sites. Visiting them is at your own discretion and risk, and their own terms and privacy policies apply once you leave whisperaboutit.party.

09 Intellectual Property & Copyright

The Whisper About It name, branding, and original site content (excluding user-generated content, which remains owned by its authors as described in Section 3) are owned by Whisper About It or used under license. You may not copy, republish, or create derivative works from our original branding or site design without permission.

Copyright complaints. If you believe content on this platform infringes your copyright, contact us at the address in Section 17 with: (1) identification of the copyrighted work, (2) identification of the allegedly infringing material and its location on the site, (3) your contact information, and (4) a good-faith statement that the use is not authorized. We will review and respond to credible complaints and may remove or disable access to material in response.

10 Prohibited Conduct

In addition to the conduct standards in the Community Guidelines, you agree not to:

• Access or attempt to access accounts, data, or systems you're not authorized to access.
• Interfere with, disrupt, or place an unreasonable load on the platform (including automated scraping, denial-of-service attempts, or circumventing rate limits).
• Use the service for fraud, scams, impersonation, or to distribute malware or malicious links.
• Misrepresent your identity or affiliation in a way intended to deceive.
• Use the Community Supporter checkout, service-order checkout, or any payment flow for fraudulent transactions or chargebacks made in bad faith.
• Violate any applicable law in connection with your use of the service.

11 Service Availability & Modifications

We may modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the service (including specific features, channels, or the Community Supporter program itself) at any time. We'll make reasonable efforts to avoid disrupting active Community Supporter subscriptions without notice, but we don't guarantee uninterrupted availability — this is a platform run primarily by one person and small contributors, not a large company with guaranteed uptime commitments.

12 Account Restrictions & Termination

We may warn, restrict, suspend, or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or the Community Guidelines, consistent with the moderation approach described there — reasonably consistent enforcement, with escalation appropriate to the severity of the violation, rather than a one-size-fits-all penalty for every issue. We may also terminate or restrict access for safety, legal, or security reasons even absent a specific rule violation, such as a credible threat to the platform or its members.

You may stop using the service and request account closure at any time (Section 7 of the Privacy Policy covers how). Canceling a Community Supporter subscription does not, by itself, close or delete your account.

13 Disclaimers

The service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law — including, without limitation, warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We don't warrant that the service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or completely secure, or that content posted by other members is accurate, reliable, or appropriate.

14 Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Whisper About It and its operator will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for loss of data, profits, or goodwill, arising from your use of the service. Where liability can't be fully excluded under applicable law, it is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim, or (b) $100. Nothing in these Terms limits liability where doing so is not permitted by law.

15 Governing Law & Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles, and any dispute will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Florida — subject to any consumer-protection law that gives you rights or a venue a court won't let us contract around. We've kept this section deliberately simple and have not added an arbitration clause or a class-action waiver without legal review, consistent with the instruction to avoid extreme or legally questionable clauses just because they look protective.

16 Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms as the platform evolves. We'll update the "Last updated" date above when we do, and for material changes we'll make a reasonable effort to give more visible notice (a site banner or email) rather than relying on the date alone. Continued use of the service after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms.

17 Contact & Open Items

These Terms govern use of Whisper About It, operated by Brandon Milar as an individual under the name Whisper About It. Questions about these Terms, copyright complaints, or Community Supporter billing questions: [email protected].

This page is a careful, platform-specific draft — not a substitute for review by a qualified attorney familiar with Florida and applicable U.S. internet law before it's treated as finalized legal protection.