The agreement.

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") are a binding agreement between you and MySailingStories ("MySailingStories", "we", "us", "our"), covering mysailingstories.com, the Writer's Desk, the email digest, and everything else we operate under that name (together, the "Service").

You accept these Terms by ticking the agreement box when you create an account or submit content, or by using the Service. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

The Community Guidelines and the Privacy Policy are part of these Terms and are incorporated by reference. When you agree to these Terms, you agree to those as well.

You must be at least 13 years old. By using the Service you represent that you are 13 or older.

If you are between 13 and 18, a parent or legal guardian must review these Terms with you, and by using the Service you represent that they have done so and agree to them on your behalf.

Nobody under 13 may create an account, submit content, or otherwise use the Service. If we learn that an account holder is under 13, we will close the account and delete the associated personal information. A parent or guardian may hold an account and submit a young sailor's story under that young sailor's byline; the adult remains the account holder and is responsible for the account.

• Give accurate information when you register, and keep it current.
• One account per person. Additional accounts used to impersonate somebody, evade a suspension, or agree with yourself in public will be closed.
• Keep your password to yourself. You are responsible for everything done through your account, and you agree to tell us promptly if you believe it has been compromised.
• We may refuse a registration, reclaim a handle that impersonates somebody or is being squatted, and suspend or close an account under section 10.

In these Terms, Member Contentmeans everything you submit to the Service: stories, photographs, video, comments, ship's log details, profile information, and anything else you upload or post.

Every time you submit Member Content, you represent and warrant that:

1. (a)You wrote it, or you have the full permission of whoever did, and you have the right to grant the license in section 4.2.
2. (b)It is a true account. Stories are published here as first-person nonfiction, and yours is your own account of events you experienced, to the best of your recollection.
3. (c)You took every photograph and video you submit, or the person who did has given you permission to publish it here under this license, and that person is credited.
4. (d)It does not infringe anyone's copyright, trademark, right of privacy, or right of publicity, and it is not defamatory.
5. (e)It does not breach any confidentiality or contractual obligation you owe to somebody else.
6. (f)It complies with the Community Guidelines and with the law.

If any of this stops being true after you post, tell us and we will take the content down. Telling us promptly is treated as good faith and is taken into account in everything that follows.

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless MySailingStories and its owner, operators, editors, and contractors from and against any claim, demand, action, loss, liability, damage, cost, or expense, including reasonable attorney fees, arising out of or related to (a) your Member Content, (b) your breach of these Terms or the Community Guidelines, (c) your violation of any law, or (d) your violation of the rights of any third party.

We may assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, at your expense, and you agree to cooperate with that defense. This section survives the closure of your account.

The Community Guidelines set out what belongs here and what gets removed, and they are part of these Terms. In addition, you agree not to:

• Scrape, crawl, or bulk download the Service or its content without our prior written permission.
• Collect Member Content, in bulk or otherwise, for the purpose of training machine learning or generative AI systems. This is expressly prohibited, whatever technical means are used.
• Probe, scan, or test the security of the Service, or attempt to gain access to any account, server, or data that is not yours.
• Circumvent rate limits, create accounts by automated means, or evade a suspension.
• Use the Service to send unsolicited commercial messages, or to upload malicious code.
• Misrepresent your identity or your affiliation with any person or organization.

If you are a researcher or a maritime organization who wants access to more than a person can read, ask us. The answer is often yes, and it costs a conversation.

We may review, edit for presentation, decline, delay, unpublish, quarantine, or remove any Member Content, at any time, with or without notice, and with or without cause. We may also suspend or close accounts under section 10. Exercising that discretion is protected activity under 47 U.S.C. section 230(c)(2).

We are not obligated to monitor Member Content and, consistent with 17 U.S.C. section 512(m), we do not undertake to do so. Reviewing some content does not make us the author or publisher of what members write, and does not create any duty to review the rest.

Removal is a decision about content, not a verdict about you. How moderation actually runs in practice, including the record we keep of every removal and how to appeal one, is described in the Community Guidelines.

We respect copyright and we expect members to do the same. We respond to notices of claimed infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. section 512.

You may leave at any time. Delete your content, or close your account from your account page or by asking the crew. Section 4.5 governs what happens to the license when you do.

We may suspend or close an account that breaches these Terms or the Guidelines, that is used to harm other members or the Service, that is subject to the repeat infringer policy in section 9.5, or where we are required to by law. We will normally give notice and a reason; where the risk to other members or to the Service requires immediate action, we may act first and explain afterward.

If we ever stop operating the Service, we will give registered members reasonable advance notice and a means to retrieve their stories and photographs before anything is deleted. Your work is the reason this site exists, and it should not disappear with it.

Sections 4.5, 5, 6, 13, 14, 15, and 17 survive the closure of your account by either of us.

The Service is free to read and free to publish on. There is no fee to hold an account, and members are not paid for Member Content unless we separately agree otherwise in writing. If paid features are ever offered, they will carry their own terms and will not change this agreement retroactively.

• The Service links to sites we do not control. We are not responsible for their content, their products, or their privacy practices.
• Some links on the Service are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission if you buy something after following one. These are labeled where they appear.
• Product links entered by members inside their own stories and reviews are never converted into affiliate links.
• House advertisements shown on the Service are our own and are labeled as such. We do not run third-party ad networks and we do not sell member data to advertisers.

The Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis, without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, or non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that any Member Content is accurate, complete, or reliable. Views expressed in Member Content are those of the member who wrote it.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, MySailingStories and its owner, operators, editors, and contractors will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or business, arising out of or related to the Service or these Terms, whether based in contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or any other theory, and even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability for all claims relating to the Service will not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount you paid us in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred United States dollars.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the limitation or exclusion of certain damages, so parts of this section may not apply to you. In those jurisdictions our liability is limited to the greatest extent permitted by law.

These Terms and any dispute arising out of them or the Service are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, without regard to its conflict of law rules.

You and MySailingStories agree that the exclusive venue for any dispute is the state or federal courts located in Erie County, Pennsylvania, and each of us consents to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

There is no arbitration clause in these Terms, and no waiver of your right to bring a claim in court.

These Terms are versioned and dated. This is version 2026-07-26, effective July 26, 2026. We keep prior versions and will provide one on request.

• Minor changes, such as corrections, clarifications, and updated contact details, take effect when they are posted.
• Material changes are announced by email to registered members or by a prominent notice on the Service, and take effect no sooner than 14 days after that notice, except where a change must take effect immediately to comply with the law or to protect the security of the Service or its members.
• Continuing to use the Service after a change takes effect means you accept it. If you do not accept a change, close your account, and section 4.5 governs what happens to your work.

• These Terms, together with the Community Guidelines and the Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and MySailingStories about the Service, and replace any earlier understanding on the subject.
• If any provision is held unenforceable, it is modified to the minimum extent necessary or severed, and the rest remains in force.
• A delay or failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of it.
• You may not assign these Terms. We may assign them to a successor in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, on notice to members, and the limits in section 4 travel with the assignment.
• Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, employment, agency, or joint venture relationship. Contributors are not employees.
• There are no third-party beneficiaries to these Terms.
• Headings are for convenience and do not affect interpretation.

Questions about these Terms, and everything else, go to the Contact page. Copyright notices go to the designated agent listed there. One person reads that mailbox, and you will get a real answer.