Content Guidelines

Before you Begin.

Before posting any content to any of the StoryPlace platforms (herein referred to as “StoryPlace”), we ask that you read our Content Guidelines. If your content does not comply with these guidelines it may be removed at any time.You own all the rights to the content you create and post on all StoryPlace platforms. However don’t submit content you don’t hold the copyright for, unless you have permission, including to grant StoryPlace all the rights outlined in these terms.

When you post content to StoryPlace, we need the legal permission under applicable copyright laws to display that content to users of the StoryPlace platforms. Legally this means you give us a nonexclusive license to publish your content on the StoryPlace Services, including anything reasonably related to publishing it (like storing, displaying, reformatting, and distributing it), as well as use it for marketing related content (social media, campaigns, PR and newsletters)

You’re responsible for the content you post. This means you assume all risks related to its publication and display, including someone else’s reliance on its accuracy and any claims relating to intellectual property or other legal rights.

Please read our guide on Copyrights for further information.

The opinions and views expressed on these pages do not in any way reflect the views of the site they are posted on, other sites affiliated with the site, the staff involved with maintaining the site or any members of the site.

StoryPlace reserves the sole right to review, edit and/or delete any content it deems inappropriate, in its sole and absolute discretion. Comments including but not limited to the following may be deleted or edited by the moderators:

• Abusive or hurtful comments about others;
• Comments that use foul language or "hate speech" (for example, including but not limited to racial, ethnic or gender bashing language);
• Personal attacks or defamatory statements;
• Comments that violate the privacy of any individual;
• Promotion of self-harm or suicide. 

We want to prevent people from celebrating or promoting self-harm. We also must consider the safety of the people who such posts which may trigger thoughts of self-harm or suicide in others. We don’t want people to share content that promotes self-harm, but we also don’t want to shame or trigger the person who posted the content by removing their post. As a result, we reserve the right to restrict content to persons over the age of 13 and legally able to enter into binding legal agreements as persons of the age of consent and content construction, include a sensitivity screen, and provide resources so that people are aware the content may be upsetting.

If you are entertaining suicidal thoughts, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and the Crisis Text Line (listed below) or local crisis phone numbers.

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Dial 988

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a trained listener, call 988. Visit 988lifeline.org for crisis chat services or for more information.

By submitting content to StoryPlace, you understand and acknowledge that this information is available to the public, and that StoryPlace may use this information for internal and external promotional purposes. Please note that other participants may use your posted information beyond the control of StoryPlace. If you do not wish to have the information you have made available via this site used, published, copied and/or reprinted, please do not post it here.

To preserve the culture and integrity of StoryPlace, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access if postings do not adhere to these expectations for professional behavior. Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important rules. We may change these rules from time to time.Please recognize that you are personally responsible for protecting any desired or legally required confidentiality for yourself.

Using StoryPlace in any way means that you agree to all of these Terms, and these Terms (as may be updated) will remain in effect while you use StoryPlace. If you don’t agree to all of the following, you may not use or access StoryPlace in any manner. You represent and warrant that you are of legal age to form a binding contract (or if not, that you’ve received your parent’s or guardian’s permission to use StoryPlace and that your parent or guardian agrees to these Terms on your behalf). If you’re agreeing to these Terms on behalf of an organization or entity, you represent and warrant that you are authorized to agree to these Terms on that organization or entity’s behalf and bind them to these Terms (in which case, the references to “you” and “your” throughout this document refer to that organization or entity).

Content Ownership

First and foremost, you own what you create. Any original content you post, upload, share, store, or otherwise provide to StoryPlace remains yours and is protected by copyright and any other applicable intellectual property laws. 

Publisher Agreement

Anything posted on StoryPlace must abide of the following rules: 

Your Posts should not violate someone else’s rights. Don’t copy, reproduce, modify, translate, publish, broadcast, transmit, distribute, perform, upload, display, license, sell, commercialize or otherwise exploit for any purpose any content not owned by you unless you have prior consent from the owner of that content. 

• Limited License to Us: In order to display your content, and to allow other users to enjoy it, you grant us certain rights in your content.

• If you share your content on StoryPlace, You hereby grant us a license to translate, modify, reproduce, and otherwise act with respect to your content to enable us to provide, improve, and notify you about new features within StoryPlace. You understand and agree that we may need to make changes to your content to conform and adapt it to the technical requirements of networks, devices, services, or media, and this license includes the rights to do so. 

• If you share your content on StoryPlace,  you grant us the license to display, perform, and distribute your content. 
• You agree that the licenses you grant are royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and worldwide. This is a license only – your ownership in the content is not affected.

We reserve the right to remove any content from StoryPlace at any time, for any reason (including, but not limited to, if someone alleges you contributed that content in violation of these Terms), in our sole discretion, and without notice. We respect others’ intellectual property rights, and we reserve the right to delete or disable content alleged to be infringing, and to terminate the accounts of repeat alleged infringers. You promise to abide by copyright notices, trademark rules, information, and other restrictions you may receive from StoryPlace. You understand that these Terms don’t grant you any right, title or interest in StoryPlace or our trademarks, logos, and other intellectual property. 

In the event that you have a dispute with one or more other users of StoryPlace or with a third party, you release, indemnify and shall defend us, our officers, employees, agents, and successors from claims, demands, and damages of every kind or nature, known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, disclosed or undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and/or StoryPlace. 

By submitting content to StoryPlace, you agree that to the fullest extent allowed by applicable law, under no circumstances and under no legal theory shall StoryPlace, its licensors, or its suppliers be liable to you or to any other person for:

• Any indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages of any kind, or

• Any amount, in the aggregate, in excess of the greater of (1) $100 or (2) the amounts paid and/or payable by you to us in connection with StoryPlace in the twelve-month period preceding the applicable claim.

StoryPlace is provided to you on an “as-is” basis. This means we provide it to you without any express or implied warranties of any kind. That includes any implied warranties of merchantability, warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, or any warranty that the use of StoryPlace will be uninterrupted or error-free. Accordingly, we do not make any representations or warranties about any content contained in or accessed through StoryPlace, and we will not be responsible for the accuracy, copyright compliance, legality, or decency of material contained on our products and services. 

Failure to follow any of these Terms shall constitute a breach of these Terms, which may result in immediate termination of your account. StoryPlace has the sole right to decide whether you are in violation of any of the restrictions set forth in these Terms. 

By submitting content to StoryPlace, you agree to the fullest extent allowed by applicable law, to indemnify and hold StoryPlace, its affiliates, officers, agents, employees, and partners harmless from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages (actual and consequential), losses and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) arising from or in any way related to any third party claims relating to (a) your use of StoryPlace (including any actions taken by a third party using your account), and (b) your violation of these Terms.  In the event of such a claim, suit, or action, we will attempt to provide notice to the contact information we have for your account (provided that failure to deliver such notice shall not eliminate or reduce your indemnification obligations hereunder).

By submitting content to StoryPlace, you agree that you may not assign, delegate or transfer these Terms or your rights or obligations hereunder, or your StoryPlace account, in any way (by operation of law or otherwise) without our prior written consent.  We may transfer, assign, or delegate these Terms and our rights and obligations without consent.

These Terms are governed by and will be construed under applicable federal law and the laws of the State of California, without regard to the conflicts of laws provisions thereof. Any dispute arising from or relating to the subject matter of these Terms shall be finally settled by arbitration in Los Angeles County, California, in accordance with the Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures of Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, Inc. (“JAMS”) then in effect, by one commercial arbitrator with substantial experience in resolving intellectual property and commercial contract disputes, who shall be selected from the appropriate list of JAMS arbitrators in accordance with the Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures of JAMS. Judgment upon the award so rendered may be entered in a court having jurisdiction, or application may be made to such court for judicial acceptance of any award and an order of enforcement, as the case may be. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you agree to waive your rights to seek or actually institute an action in a court of proper jurisdiction for injunctive or other equitable relief and agree to limit all recourse you may seek to monetary damages at law.  For all purposes of these Terms, you consent to exclusive jurisdiction and venue in the state or federal courts located in, respectively, Los Angeles County, California. The prevailing party in any action or proceeding arising out of these Terms will be entitled to an award of costs and outside attorneys’ fees. To the fullest extent permitted by law, you and StoryPlace agree that all claims against the other can only be brought in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, consolidated, or other representative proceeding. You agree that arbitrators may not conduct any class, consolidated, or representative proceeding, and are limited to providing relief warranted by an individual party's claim. You agree there are no third-party beneficiaries intended under these Terms. You hereby acknowledge and agree that you are not an employee, agent, partner, or joint venture of StoryPlace and you do not have any authority of any kind to bind us in any respect whatsoever. The failure of either you or us to exercise, in any way, any right herein shall not be deemed a waiver of any further rights hereunder.  If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or eliminated, to the minimum extent necessary, so that these Terms shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable.  

You agree that these Terms are the complete and exclusive statement of the mutual understanding between you and us, and that it supersedes and cancels all previous written and oral agreements, communications and other understandings relating to the subject matter of these Terms.  Furthermore, you agree that you shall not publish or post other people's private information (such as a personal phone number or home address) without their express authorization and permission. We also prohibit threatening to expose private information or incentivizing others to do so. The publication of publicly accessible information is not a violation of this policy.  We don’t allow any sexually exploitative content on StoryPlace including any descriptions of sexual acts for the sole purpose of sexual gratification. 

This Publisher Agreement (“Agreement”) is a binding contract between you and StoryPlace (“we”, “us”, “our”). It contains the rules and restrictions that govern your use of StoryPlace to distribute your content therein. 

Using StoryPlace in any way means that you agree to this Agreement, and this Agreement will remain in effect. If there is a dispute between you and any third party on any issue, you agree we are under no obligation to become involved and that we will not be held liable for any such dispute and we won’t provide you with any legal advice regarding such matters. You can flag any violations of our Terms of Use by sending an email to [email protected]

StoryPlace Services

StoryPlace is a business service and to continue to offer the service and function as a business you understand that we sometimes enable advertising on the Services, including in connection with the display of your content or other information. We may also use your Content to promote the Services but we will never sell your content to third parties without your explicit permission.

In your use of the StoryPlace platform and its related services (the “Services”), you may enter into additional terms and conditions and other agreements that alter or override these Terms of Service, such as when you choose to enter into a competition, special request, or submit to a sponsored collection. In case of any conflict or inconsistency, the terms and conditions of those additional terms and agreements would be stated to you and would override these Terms of Service.

Copyright Issues

StoryPlace has adopted a policy toward copyright infringement on the Services in accordance with theUnited States Digital Millennium Copyright Act(the “DMCA”). While our policy is based on the US law we apply this same policy globally to all jurisdictions in which our Services are available. If you’d like to submit a claim of copyright infringement, please visit our page onReporting Copyright Infringement. StoryPlace reserves the right to remove content alleged to be infringing without prior notice, at our sole discretion, and without liability to you or anyone else. 

Content Guidelines

At StoryPlace, we offer a diverse range of stories and do not arbitrarily censor or modify the content posted, with the goal of creating a safe, inclusive and comfortable space for everyone. That being said, if a story or user violates our code of conduct, their story will be removed and the user’s account will be blocked from the app/platform/Services. At StoryPlace, we embrace anonymity, promote kindness and enforce empathy. We ask that you separate listening from agreeing and help us create an inclusive and respectful space for everyone and their stories. We want to ensure that StoryPlace users know what type of content they can discover as well as content they can or cannot post.

StoryPlace Code of Conduct

By using the StoryPlace Services you agree to the following code of conduct. 

• Post your thoughts and feelings, not spam. Please do not use StoryPlace to express any hate speech, threats, offensive comments, divisive political views, spam, advertising or irrelevant content.
• Separate reading from agreeing. Not all people have the same opinions and that’s OK. Respect the story as told. If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say it.
• Kindness is key! Treat all stories the way you would want yours to be treated. Keep in mind that sharing a story is an act of bravery.
• Empathy is not always pretty. Keep in mind that life’s biggest lessons often come from stories that are difficult to read. Appreciate different perspectives.

Stay informed! Familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct, Content Guidelines, Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

THREE STRIKES YOU’RE OUT!

StoryPlace has a strict 3 STRIKES AND YOU ARE OUT Rule. If your profile is rightfully reported for breaking StoryPlace code 3 times, you will be banned indefinitely from using our Services.  You will be notified if your account is reported (but not the identity of the reporting parties) and all reports are reviewed. If you come across any content that violates our guidelines, let us know by reporting it.

SPAM: Any content that advertises products or services unrelated to, or not sanctioned by StoryPlace is not permitted and will be removed.

Story Ratings on StoryPlace

Some stories have content that can be considered “Mature” or “Sensitive” for a general audience. All StoryPlace users are expected to rate their stories accordingly if the following criterion applies to their story. If you come across a story that has been rated incorrectly, you can let us know by reporting it. Please note that we will change your rating if it does not comply with these guidelines. If you are unsure about your story’s rating category, please email us at [email protected] and we will guide you through this process.

Mature Rating

Mature stories are intended for an audience that is 18+ years of age. A story may be rated Mature if it contains any of the following:

• Sexual content (involving sexual intercourse and other sexual acts, including, but not limited to, oral sex or self-gratification, both consensual and non-consensual)
• Excessive use of curse words
• Drugs or substances that are overall illegal or only legal for 18+ people

Sensitive Rating

Sensitive stories are intended for an audience that can emotionally handle delicate content. A story may be rated Sensitive if it contains any of the following:

• Self-harm themes or scenes (including suicide and eating disorders)
• Graphic depictions of violence; including but not limited to: sexual, verbal, emotional and physical abuse.

GENERALLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How does StoryPlace protect my story from being stolen?

StoryPlace encourages all storytellers to express themselves and their creativity freely through original and true stories. We do not allow any copyright infringement or pirated material on the platform and will remove any works that we discover to have been published illegally. While some users may not be aware of copyright law, we do our best to educate and inform our community. Please read below for more information about Copyright law:

The StoryPlace platforms are designed with the intention of protecting Storytellers and their stories as much as possible. We have several measures in place to help StoryPlace users feel safe and limit copyright infringement on our platforms:

• Interactions between users on StoryPlace are managed with full transparency to both parties. The moment a user takes any action on a story, (opens it, reads it, downloads material, sends a message, etc.) that action is recorded and an activity record is kept on file and visible to both parties at all times.
• By law, your work is automatically protected under Copyright Law as soon as you put it into a fixed format, such as writing it down. There are several additional copyright license tools that you can use to submit or register your work prior to posting on StoryPlace, and you can find them in our Copyrights article. Keep in mind that to get the most protection or sue if someone unlawfully infringes on your work, you need to register it in your country’s copyright office.
• We abide by the DMCA process, so if you believe your work has been copied improperly, you can submit a DMCA Takedown Request and we will respond as soon as possible.
• The copy/paste functions are also disabled on StoryPlace, which prevents users from easily copying your work.

What is considered copyright infringement?

• Posting the copyrighted works of others without their legal consent
• Posting on behalf of someone else and giving credit to them. This is still a violation of copyright and will be treated the same way. Consent is ALWAYS required from the person who owns the material or story.
• Adaptations or slight alterations to a work, such as changing names, copying the events and writing them in your own words, or simply changing a point of view.
• Using an image, other video or audio file that you do not own. This includes making a cover with an image that you do not own the rights to (unless it is in the public domain).

What does and doesn't copyright law protect?

Copyright law only protects the physical representation of an idea, not the idea itself. Unfortunately, similar plots, story themes, and titles are not enough to constitute a copyright infringement. This is why there are many stories and movies that are very similar to each other.

Unless there is substantial evidence of copyright infringement that can hold up in a court of law (based on recent caselaw), website administrators will not be able to remove the story. If this is the case, we suggest you try to contact the other writer and respectfully try to resolve the issue in private. If you are unsure of whether a work infringes your copyright, we encourage you to seek professional/legal advice before submitting a notice.

How does StoryPlace deal with copyright infringement?

StoryPlace takes copyright infringement very seriously. Users are not permitted to post stories that are not original material or that they do not own unless they have legal permission from the owner and can provide evidence when requested. Any published works that are reported to us, or that we discover, are removed immediately. If the work is not published, we require the owner to submit a Copyright infringement report and we will remove infringing works as quickly as possible.

How do I report copyright infringements on StoryPlace?

Please submit a Copyright Infringement report by going towww.storyplace.com/copyright-claimor email us at [email protected]

Copyright in your country

If you want to register your story with your country’s copyright office, there are a lot of resources online to help you. You can search for your country’s copyright office through WIPO’s Directory of Intellectual Property Offices athttp://www.wipo.int/directory/en/urls.jsp.

 If you have any additional questions or comments please email us at [email protected]