Simple terms, in plain language.

1. The agreement

These terms are the agreement between you and DearestEllie (dearestellie.org), a private family memory archive run as a mission-locked nonprofit commons. By creating an account, contributing to an archive, or using the service, you agree to them. Our Privacy Policy — at dearestellie.org/privacy — is part of this agreement and explains how we handle your information.

2. Accounts and eligibility

You need an account to create or steward an archive, and you're responsible for keeping your credentials safe and for what happens under your account. Give us accurate information — invitations and recovery depend on your email being real.

You must be old enough to consent to these terms yourself (at least 13, or older where your local law says so). Children below that age don't create accounts; they take part only as invited contributors under a named guardian's supervision, and nothing they share is seen more widely until that guardian approves it.

3. Your content and our licence to host it

Everything you add to an archive — memories, photos, videos, audio, letters, timelines — remains yours (or the rightful owner's). You grant DearestEllie a non-exclusive licence to store, back up, process, and display that content, solely as needed to run the service you're asking for: showing it to the people the steward chooses, producing exports, and producing keepsakes you order. That licence ends when the content is deleted, except for the short period residual copies persist in backups.

You promise you have the right to share what you upload. When content is about someone else, get consent where it matters — that's both a rule here and the spirit of the place.

4. Roles: stewards, contributors, and guardians

Each archive has at least one Archive Steward with final say over what the archive contains, who can see it, and who may contribute. Contributor submissions are pending until a steward approves them, unless the steward has chosen a more open mode. A contributor marked as a child always requires a named guardian's approval before their contribution is shared.

Stewardship can be shared and handed off. If you are the sole steward of an archive, you must hand it off (or delete the archive) before deleting your account — so no family ever loses an archive because one person left.

5. Acceptable use

Use DearestEllie to remember and honour real people. You may not:

• Upload content you have no right to share, including content that infringes copyright or was shared with you in confidence.
• Use an archive to harass, defame, impersonate, or harm anyone — living or dead — or their family.
• Publish private information about someone without their consent, or a guardian's consent for a child.
• Upload unlawful content, malware, or content sexualising minors (reported to authorities, always).
• Probe, overload, scrape, or otherwise interfere with the service or other families' archives.

6. Enforcement

We may remove content, suspend access, or close accounts that break these terms. Because archives hold things families can't replace, we act proportionately: where it's safe and lawful to do so, we'll tell you what happened and give you a chance to export before an account is closed. Content that endangers someone comes down first, questions after. To report content, write to [email protected] — a person reads every report.

7. Payments, contributions, and keepsakes

Basic archives, privacy controls, contributors, and full export are free, always. Remembrance is never gated by payment: no archive becomes unreadable, and no export is withheld, because a family cannot pay.

Voluntary contributions and keepsake purchases sustain the commons. Payments are processed by Stripe; we never see your card number. Printed keepsakes are produced by a print partner and, being made to order from your own content, generally can't be resold — so if an order arrives damaged or misprinted, write to [email protected] and we'll make it right with a reprint or refund. Where local law gives you stronger cancellation or refund rights, those rights stand.

Recurring contributions can be cancelled at any time and stop at the end of the paid period. Contributions to the commons are gifts to sustain the mission; they don't purchase influence over it.

8. Export, deletion, and leaving

You can export a full archive at any time in an open, documented format — that promise is permanent, and it's how you leave with everything if you ever go. You can delete entries, whole archives, or your account whenever you choose. Deletion is permanent, so export first; we will always offer it. If we ever had to wind the service down, we would give families ample notice and time to export before anything was removed.

9. Our content

The DearestEllie name, mark, site design, and software are ours (or our licensors'). Our media kit at dearestellie.org/media-kit covers permitted uses of the brand. These terms don't give you any other rights to them — and give us no rights to your family's content beyond the hosting licence in section 3.

10. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

We work hard to keep archives safe, private, and available — including encryption, backups, and the security practices described in the Privacy Policy — but the service is provided "as is", without warranties of any kind, express or implied. Keep your own export of anything irreplaceable; we make that easy on purpose.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, DearestEllie's total liability for any claim arising out of the service is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim or fifty US dollars, and we are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, and nothing takes away consumer rights your local law guarantees you.

11. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as the service and the law evolve. For material changes we'll give reasonable notice before they take effect — on this page and, for significant changes, by email — and continuing to use the service after that date means you accept them. We will never use a terms change to claim ownership of your content, gate remembrance behind payment, or weaken the export promise; those commitments are the mission, and our governance rules mean donors cannot buy control over it.

12. Contact and disputes

If something goes wrong, write to [email protected] first — most problems are fixable by two people talking, and a person reads every message. If a dispute can't be resolved that way, both sides agree to try good-faith negotiation before any formal proceeding, and these terms are governed by the law of the State of North Carolina, United States, without depriving you of protections your local consumer law grants you.