Terms of Service

Glossary

• Matchbox: A publicly accessible live or archived event on The Construct consisting of a text exchange
• Figure: One of the principal interlocutors in a Matchbox
• Rhet: A segment of text posed by a Figure in a Matchbox
• Gallery: The live audience of a Matchbox
• Ring: The purpose of a Ring is to serve as a destination hosting the Matchboxes initiated by its member(s). A Ring is an entity on The Construct that represents an an existing group, organization, or individual outside of The Construct.
• Bounce, Block, Bar, and Blackball: terms referring to levels of Figure and Ring control of access to content by specific individuals. (features forthcoming)
• Note: An annotation added to a Rhet, aka a footnote

Content

• The Construct will not engage in content moderation in Matchboxes (except in the cases outlined below in italics), nor are tools provided for moderation of Figures by any other user.
• • It is prohibited to post, publish, or display the following anywhere on The Construct. If such content is discovered it may be deleted, Matchboxes may be removed, and accounts and/or Rings may be suspended: information such as addresses, geo locations, email addresses, phone numbers, identity numbers, credit card or account numbers, etc. – including one’s own
• By posting on The Construct, all users assume legal responsibility for their content and indemnify The Construct in any legal actions arising from it.
• A Rhet cannot be edited or removed from a Matchbox.
• Entire Matchboxes may be hidden from view by request of a Ring admin.
• The content of a Note on a Rhet may be strikethrough edited in perpetuity by the original posting Figure.
• Plagiarized content in Rhets is prohibited. If discovered, the Ring may be suspended.
• Factual information in the About section of a Ring profile page and in Ring member bios must be accurate and not misleading. All information posted in these sections will be reviewed and assessed by The Construct.

User Content and Copyright

• The Services may include text, images, data, and other media and materials provided by users (“User Content”).
• The Construct makes no claims to copyright of any User Content, except as provided in the license below. Any use by The Construct of your User Content to promote the Services or The Construct platform will be with your express consent. You retain ownership of any User Content that you submit or otherwise make available through the Services, subject to the following license:
  You grant to The Construct a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, sublicensable, royalty-free license to reproduce, display, distribute, modify, adapt, and otherwise use your User Content solely for purposes of providing, developing, and improving the Services.
• By using the Services, you also agree that copyright of all Rhet and Note content in Matchboxes is held by the posting Figure, and that the other Figure(s) in a Matchbox hold a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to reproduce, display, or distribute - but not to modify or adapt - said User Content, only with correct attribution, and for any purpose.
• By using the Services you also agree that copyright of all comment content is held by the poster, and that the Figures of the Matchbox in which the comment was posted hold a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to reproduce, display, or distribute - but not to modify or adapt - said User Content, either with attribution or without (but not to claim as their own original expression), for any purpose.
• By submitting User Content to The Construct through the Services, you are stating to us that you have the right to make such User Content available through the Service and to grant The Construct and other users the licenses set forth above.
• You are solely responsible for your User Content. You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless The Construct from and against any claims arising from your User Content or your breach of these Terms. The Construct reserves the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter which is subject to indemnification under this section, in which case you agree to cooperate with any reasonable requests to assist our defense of such matter.

Authorized Use and Moderation:

• By posting on The Construct, all users assume legal responsibility for their content and indemnify The Construct in any legal actions arising from it.
• Rhets, Notes, and comments cannot be edited or removed from a Matchbox by any user.
• By written request to The Construct, and at its discretion, entire Matchboxes may be hidden from list view and new entry prevented, but will remain available to previous entrants.
• The Construct will not engage in content moderation of Matchboxes by removal or editing of Rhets, nor are tools provided for moderation of Figures by any other user.

• Detailed personal information of any person or group, including oneself, without exception - such as addresses, geo locations, email addresses, phone numbers, identity numbers, credit card or account numbers, etc.
• Personal information about persons other than yourself (except if such information is currently being widely disseminated in publication by the person in question) - such as aliases or former legal names, existence or identities of family members or partners, place of work, state or municipality of residence, medical or sexual information, etc.
• The url of any dark web cache of images, videos, or links
• Plagiarized content. All quotes or paraphrases must be attributed with good-faith accuracy.

• Impersonate another individual or entity by display name, image, or other means
• Create multiple log-in accounts
• Make misleading claims about yourself, your organization, or its members in the About section of a Ring profile page of which you are the admin
• Gain unauthorized access to another user’s account or to computer systems used to host or provide the Services
• Post or transmit any file that contains viruses, corrupted files;Trojan Horses; or any other contaminating or destructive features that may damage someone’s computer
• Scrape content on The Construct or otherwise use any automated means, including without limitation, agents, robots, scripts, or spiders to access, monitor, copy or harvest data from any part of our Services
• Take any action that damages or disrupts the functioning of our systems or Services, or that creates unauthorized access to our codebase or account holder data

• The Construct may at any time, with detailed prior notice but at our sole discretion, terminate or suspend any Ring or user account, or take any other action not adressed in these Terms, in response to violation of the above rules.
• Gallery access to a Matchbox confers a right of live observation and archived review. You accept that commenting is a privilege and not a right. Any Figure in a Matchbox may Mute any commenter for the duration of that Matchbox for any reason, or may turn off commenting privileges for the entire Matchbox. Commenting is also restricted by a maximum number of comments per Rhet (determined by Rhet length), and by a feature preventing consecutive comments by any one user on any one Rhet. See: https://about.thisistheconstruct.com/algorithm

Security and Identity

• Multiple log-in accounts by individual users are prohibited, and may be prevented by The Construct by any technical means. Future versions of The Construct will require anonymity-protecting ID verification processes. In this version of The Construct, we may log IP addresses and device identifiers. At the discretion of The Construct, any discovered existing multiple accounts may be cancelled and/or the user may be banned. When ID-verification processes are enacted in future, all IP address and device identifier data (except any ongoing necessary to deliver the platform) will be deleted.
• All Ring member Figure/display names are subject to review and to revision request by The Construct, and must represent an established identity of the user such as a social media handle with sufficient history, a professional or pen name, a legal name, etc. Individuals added as Ring members must be included or associated with the entity represented by the Ring as it is named and described. Ring admins will be held responsible for adding Ring members according to these guidelines. Rings that repeatedly add members in ways that do not meet these guidelines are subject to suspension, and responsible Ring admins are subject to loss of Ring creator role on the platform.
• The Early Adopters Ring is administered by The Construct and promoted on other platforms. Members of the Early Adopters Ring will either: (a) be assigned as their Ring member/Figure name their handle from whichever platform they used to contact The Construct; or, (b) may propose a name of their choice for approval by the Early Adopters admin, if personally known to The Construct team.
• Ring creator/Ring admin account roles are granted at the discretion of The Construct. The user must be known to The Construct team and/or must demonstrate their initiation of, or integral role within, the group, project, or organization for which the Ring will be created. Solo Rings are acceptable. All information on a Ring page such as the Ring name, Ring avatar, and the About section - including any biographical information or credentials of Ring members - is subject to review and to revision request by The Construct. Information must be accurate (except in cases of obvious fantasy, artistic expression, or satire) and in any case not misleading.
• Account holders on The Construct must be at least 16 years of age, without exception for parental consent. Ring admins will be held responsible for maintaining the age requirement, and individual accounts may be contacted by The Construct for proof of age.

Privacy and Behavior

• There is no direct or private messaging function on The Construct. All spaces on The Construct are public spaces.
• The Construct operates in and is subject to the laws of the United States. As in all public spaces, any criminal activity (or web links to same) - including speech that is not protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution - is subject to report to authorities by any user of the platform or by The Construct itself.
• In any case of content amounting to criminal activity, or in any other case not specified, The Construct agrees not to reveal non-public account information (such as multiple public identifiers used by one account, email address, or IP address), nor to reveal information about user activity (such as lists of Gallery attendees), except to comply with a specific, valid U.S. federal warrant; or to defend itself in a legal claim against it arising from User Content; or to protect the safety or vital interests of another person.
• In the case of content piracy or an attack on The Construct itself (or on any other service or platform with an aim at accessing or damaging data stored on same by The Construct) The Construct will make all reasonable efforts to protect the data of non-involved users while actively assisting any prosecution, and/or any investigation carried out by law enforcement or by private parties engaged on our behalf.
• Excepting in the cases already specified, The Construct will not use any personal or activity data - either individual or aggregate - for any purpose other than displaying an account to a user. No user data whatsoever will be shared with any private or commercial third parties for any reason other than the processing of payments (PayPal), email communication (Twilio/SendGrid), platform software bug/error logging (Sentry.io), and cloud service of the platform (Google Cloud Services).
• By using the Services, you accept that third parties holding data from The Construct may have different policies, procedures, and jurisdictions, and you agree to hold The Construct harmless in any action by third parties with whom data has been shared in accordance with these Terms. The Construct will always name these third party services in these terms of service.

Tracking and Targeting

• The Construct does not track users in any way across other apps or websites, nor does The Construct collect or use personal data related to usage, comments, browsing, opinions on Rhets, or other activity within the app for any purpose other than delivering the service of the platform.
• Cookies are for functional purposes only.
• There is no feed on The Construct. Listed Matchboxes are displayed according to time/date of creation, and the list appears the same to all users. Sophisticated search and follow functions are in development, and no perpetual feed nor any feature for algorithmically-weighted suggested content will be used in the future by The Construct. 
• Any algorithms in use for any purpose on The Construct will be posted in plain English here: https://about.thisistheconstruct.com/algorithm

Matchbox Access Fees and Payments

• When creating and listing a Custom Matchbox as a Ring member, you agree to collaboratively decide with the other Figure(s) on the amount of any access fee. Gallery members entering the Matchbox will be charged the access fee plus any fees imposed by card processors or other third parties. 
• You agree that The Construct will retain 20% of the total of access fees collected, and that the 80% remainder will be evenly split between you and the other Figure(s). 
• You agree to provide The Construct with a payment app account to receive payments. If providing a PayPal account, you will receive the full amount; other apps may impose fees for which you will be responsible. Access fee totals will be tallied and payments made twice monthly.

General

• If any provision in these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect. 
• You may not assign your rights under these Terms to anyone else. 
• These Terms will be governed by the laws of the United States of America and the State of Wyoming, and you agree that said courts shall have sole and exclusive venue and jurisdiction over matters related to these Terms or your use of the Service.