Terms of Service

Woodstock Locals (“we,” “us,” the “Service”) is an online community for people in Woodstock, Georgia and the surrounding Cherokee County area. We provide tools to post, react, comment, message, browse local places, and join interest communities. Most posts and comments on the Service are shown to other users under a pseudonym instead of your real name; this Service is built around that anonymity model, and these Terms reflect it.

These Terms are a binding contract between you and Woodstock Locals. They govern your access to and use of the Service, including the website, mobile interface, embedded features, and any related communications.

• You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. Children under 13 are not allowed.
• If you are between 13 and 17, you confirm a parent or guardian has reviewed and accepted these Terms on your behalf and accepts responsibility for your use of the Service.
• You must use a real, working email address you control. Single-use forwarders, throwaway addresses that bounce, and addresses you don't actually have access to are not allowed and will be deactivated.
• One person, one account. Don't create alternate accounts to evade a ban, brigade content, manipulate votes, or impersonate other accounts.
• Don't scrape, mirror, or operate automated accounts without our prior written permission. This includes any tool that posts, comments, votes, reads, or messages on your behalf.
• You must not be on a U.S. sanctions list or be barred from receiving services under U.S. law.
• Previously banned users may not return under a new account without our written approval.

You're responsible for everything that happens under your account, including any anonymous content you post. Keep your password private. We strongly recommend a unique password not reused on other services. If you suspect unauthorized access, change your password and contact support right away — pick the “Account” category.

We never ask for your password by email, in DMs, or in support tickets. Anyone who does is impersonating us — please report it.

Your handle (the “@” identifier visible on your profile and DMs) may be reclaimed if it's deceptive, abusive, impersonates a person or business, or is intentionally confusing. We'll usually try to give you notice and the chance to pick a new one before reclaiming it.

You own what you post (your “Content”) — posts, comments, photos, poll options, profile fields, and direct messages. By posting, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, store, display, reproduce, modify (only for technical purposes like resizing images), and distribute your Content on the Service. This license exists only so we can run, secure, and improve the Service; we do not use it to relicense your Content to third-party advertisers, sell it, or feed it to external AI training systems.

You represent and warrant that you have the right to grant this license — that your Content is yours, doesn't infringe anyone else's copyright, trademark, privacy, or publicity rights, isn't illegal under Georgia or U.S. law, and is accurate to the best of your knowledge when you present it as fact.

If you delete your Content, our license to display it ends, with two narrow exceptions: backups (which roll out within a limited period — see the Privacy Policy), and copies retained for trust-and-safety, legal hold, or audit purposes.

Most posts, comments, and direct-message interactions on the Service are presented to other users under a generated pseudonym and emoji rather than your real name. This is a core part of how the Service works.

Anonymity protects you from other users. It does not anonymize you to us. On the back end, every post, comment, DM, and report is tied to the account that created it. We need this link to:

• Enforce these Terms when content breaks the rules.
• Investigate harassment, threats, doxxing, or coordinated abuse.
• Respond to valid legal process or imminent-harm emergencies.
• Honor your own data-access and deletion requests.

Section 11 describes the specific circumstances under which we will identify the author of anonymous content, including to the targets of credible threats and to law enforcement under proper legal process.

Don't treat anonymity as a license. Anonymous content that violates these Terms — harassment, threats, illegal activity, doxxing, fraud — gets removed and can result in account termination, and the author can be identified to victims and law enforcement as Section 11 describes.

Woodstock Locals is for our neighbors. Anonymity widens the door for honest discussion, but it also widens the door for abuse — so the rules below are stricter than you'll see on a name-attached service. You agree not to use the Service to:

• Harass, stalk, threaten, intimidate, or repeatedly target an individual or small group, whether by direct contact or by pile-on.
• Post hate speech, slurs, or content that targets people based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or veteran status.
• Sexualize minors in any form. Post non-consensual intimate imagery (“revenge porn”) of any age. We report child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) as required by law and preserve the data for law enforcement.
• Promote, organize, glorify, or threaten violence; threaten public officials; incite riots; coordinate physical harm to identifiable persons or property.
• Sell, give away, or trade weapons, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, stolen goods, controlled tobacco products, or anything else illegal under Georgia or U.S. law.
• Run scams, phishing, pyramid/MLM schemes, fake giveaways, fake job offers, romance fraud, or “get rich quick” content. No commercial mass-posting or paid promotion without our prior written permission.
• Post sexually explicit content, gratuitous gore, or shock content.
• Impersonate real people, real businesses, public officials, Woodstock Locals staff, or other accounts. (Clearly-labeled parody is fine when the parody is obvious to a reasonable reader.)
• Knowingly post false statements of fact about an identifiable person or business that could cause real harm. See Section 8 for what is and isn't fair criticism of public-facing entities.
• Try to break, probe, scrape, overload, reverse-engineer, fingerprint, or otherwise interfere with the Service or its security.
• Bypass, evade, or game moderation tools — including ban evasion, vote/reaction manipulation, and abuse of the report button to harass other users.
• Use the Service to violate any law, court order, or other binding obligation you have.

Don't share another person's private information without their consent. This includes their home address, phone number, government-issued ID number, financial account info, precise daily location/movements, employer (when shared in a targeting context), private email or messaging accounts, family members, or any other information a reasonable person would consider private.

Special case for anonymous posts: if you attempt to identify, name, or expose the real-world identity of a Woodstock Locals user who has chosen to post anonymously, we will treat that as harassment and remove the content. Identifying public officials or businesses by name in their public-facing capacity is allowed (see Section 8). Identifying private individuals is not.

We will respond to doxxing reports as a high-priority moderation issue, including outside business hours when we can.

Anonymous criticism of public officials, public agencies, and businesses acting in their public-facing capacity — including honest reviews, complaints, and political speech — is allowedand is a legitimate use of the Service. Telling neighbors that the new bakery has slow service, that the city council voted poorly, or that a developer's proposal is bad is exactly what this kind of community is for.

That protection has limits. The same content rules still apply:

• Don't state things as facts you know are false. Honest opinion and accurate description are fine; fabricating quotes or claiming someone did things they didn't do is not.
• Don't target a public official's family, home address, or non-public movements. Their public role is fair game; their private life and family aren't.
• Threats of violence are not protected, regardless of who they're aimed at.
• Coordinated, repeated targeting of one small business by accounts acting in concert is brigading, not criticism (see Section 9).

If a business or official believes content about them violates these Terms, they can open a support request under the “Safety” category. We'll review on the merits, not automatically remove. Honest local feedback is not subject to takedown just because the target prefers it not exist.

Anonymity makes this rule especially important: you may not coordinate, encourage, or participate in coordinated targeting of a person, business, or community. That means:

• Don't organize multiple accounts (your own or others) to pile on a single target.
• Don't use multiple accounts to manufacture the appearance of community consensus, sway votes, drown out disagreement, or fake unanimity.
• Don't direct off-platform groups (chat servers, social media, group texts) to target someone here.
• Don't use the report button as a weapon to mass-flag content you simply disagree with. False or coordinated reports are themselves a violation.

We take coordinated activity seriously because anonymity makes it especially hard for victims to defend themselves. Patterns of brigading typically result in immediate removal of every participating account, and may be referred to law enforcement when laws against criminal harassment or stalking are implicated.

We may remove any Content, restrict any account, hide a post, limit a feature, or terminate an account, at our discretion, when we believe a violation has occurred or is about to occur. We may act on reports from users, on our own internal review, on automated detection signals, or in response to law enforcement and legal process.

For most violations we'll give you notice — usually including a short description of which rule was broken — and a chance to fix or appeal. For serious or repeated abuse, imminent-harm cases, illegal content, or court orders, we may act first and explain after.

If we remove your Content for legal reasons (DMCA, court order, valid government takedown), we'll tell you what happened to the extent we're allowed. DMCA counter-notifications and other takedown disputes can be filed through our support page under “Other” — include the URL and your counter-notice details.

In rare emergencies — a credible threat to life, an active danger to a child, an urgent law-enforcement request with proper legal process — we may take action immediately. We prefer to be careful and slow; we will not be careful and slow when someone's safety is on the line.

Anonymity on Woodstock Locals is real to other users, but it is not absolute against the Service or against the law. We will identify (link real identity to anonymous content) in the following specific circumstances:

• Valid legal process.A subpoena, court order, search warrant, or other legal demand issued by a court or government authority with jurisdiction over us. We review every demand and challenge ones that are facially invalid, overbroad, or beyond the issuer's jurisdiction. We will tell you about a demand for your information when we are legally allowed to (some demands come with non-disclosure orders).
• Imminent threat to life or serious physical injury.If we receive a credible report — internal or external — of an active threat to a person's life or safety, we may disclose identifying information to law enforcement without waiting for legal process, consistent with applicable emergency-disclosure law.
• Child safety. Cases involving the exploitation of a minor are reported to NCMEC and law enforcement, and the relevant data is preserved for investigation.
• Targeted harassment, doxxing, or stalking with a clear victim.When anonymous content directly targets an identifiable person and crosses into criminal conduct (stalking statutes, terroristic threats), we will cooperate with that person's lawful investigation, which may include sharing identifying information with law enforcement under proper process.
• Investigation of repeat or coordinated abuse. When patterns of activity across multiple accounts indicate brigading, ban evasion, fraud, or organized harassment, we may correlate and disclose identifying information internally to take enforcement action.
• To you. You can always request a copy of what we associate with your own account — see the Privacy Policy.

We do not identify users on private business requests, ordinary civil disputes, hurt feelings, or in response to demands that lack proper legal process. We do not sell identifying information, and we do not voluntarily share it with marketers, data brokers, or third-party advertisers.

When the law allows, we publish a basic transparency note about the volume of legal demands we receive on a periodic basis.

If we remove your Content or restrict your account and you believe we got it wrong, you can appeal. Reply to the notification email, or file an appeal through support under the “Account” category — include the URL or ID of the affected content. We aim to respond to appeals within seven days; complex cases (legal review, third-party rights) may take longer and we'll tell you when they will.

If we sustain the original decision after appeal, we'll tell you which rule was applied and why. Continued violations after a sustained decision may result in account termination.

Use the Report button on a post, comment, or profile to flag violations. Reports are private — the author of the reported content does not see who reported them.

Disputes betweenusers are between those users — we are not a party to them and don't guarantee any particular outcome. We will act on Content that breaks our rules, but we don't adjudicate which neighbor is “in the right” in a personal disagreement.

False or weaponized reporting is itself a Terms violation. Repeatedly reporting content you simply disagree with may result in your reports being weighted lower, or your account being restricted from reporting.

The Explore and News sections include data about businesses, places, and articles published by third parties. We display this material as a convenience and don't endorse, verify, or take responsibility for its accuracy. Inaccurate hours, ratings, contact details, or article content are between you and the original third party.

If you're a business owner and information about your business is wrong, the fastest fix is usually with the upstream source (Google Business Profile for places, the publisher for news). If our display itself is harmful or out of date, you can also contact us.

The Service itself — the Woodstock Locals brand, name, logo, design, code, copy, and software — belongs to Woodstock Locals or its licensors. You don't get any rights to those just because you have an account.

Don't copy or substantially mirror the Service, reverse-engineer it, build a competing product on top of our protected material, or use our brand to imply endorsement we haven't given. You may link to public Service pages and quote brief excerpts of public Content with attribution.

DMCA / copyright claims. If you believe Content on the Service infringes your copyright, file a notice through support under “Other” including: your contact information; identification of the copyrighted work; the URL of the infringing content; a good faith statement that the use is unauthorized; a statement under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate; and your physical or electronic signature. We respond to valid notices and counter-notices in line with the DMCA. Repeated infringers will have their accounts terminated.

How we handle your information is described in our Privacy Policy, which is part of these Terms. The Privacy Policy gives the operational detail for many of the promises we make here — vendors, data retention, your access and deletion rights, and security practices.

We work hard to keep the Service available, but we don't guarantee uninterrupted access. We may add, remove, or change features at any time; we may take the Service down for maintenance; we may rate-limit, throttle, or temporarily restrict features that are being abused.

We may suspend or end the Service entirely with reasonable notice. If we shut the Service down for good, we'll do our best to give you a chance to export your data first.

You can delete your account at any time from Settings. Deletion is immediate from your perspective and removes your profile, your non-anonymous posts and comments, your reactions, your poll votes, your DMs, and your blocks list.

What happens to your anonymous posts and comments: when you delete your account, your anonymous posts and comments are orphaned, not deleted. The body of the post stays visible to the community under a generic “Deleted user” label, and the link back to your real account is severed in our database. Other users may have already replied or reacted; orphaning keeps those threads coherent. If you want a specific anonymous post deleted instead, delete it before deleting your account.

We can end your access if you violate these Terms, if we're required to by law, or if your continued use creates a real risk to the community. Termination notices describe what happened and how to appeal (Section 12).

After termination, sections that should reasonably survive — Sections 4 (your license to us), 11 (unmasking), 15 (IP), 19 (disclaimers), 20 (limitation of liability), 21 (indemnification), 22 (governing law), and any provision that by its nature should continue — remain in effect.

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the maximum extent allowed by law, we disclaim all warranties — express, implied, or statutory — including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and non-infringement. We don't warrant that the Service will be safe, secure, error-free, uninterrupted, or that defects will be corrected.

We are not responsible for the truth, accuracy, or legality of Content posted by other users. We are not your lawyer, doctor, financial advisor, or contractor — anything you read on the Service from another user is that user's opinion. Neighbor recommendations are not professional advice.

To the maximum extent allowed by law, Woodstock Locals (and our officers, employees, contractors, and agents) will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, lost goodwill, or business interruption, arising out of or related to your use of the Service — even if we've been advised of the possibility of those damages.

Our total liability for any claim relating to the Service is limited to the greater of one hundred U.S. dollars (US$100) or the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose.

Some jurisdictions don't allow exclusion of certain warranties or limitations of liability, so some of these limits may not apply to you. In that case, the limits apply to the greatest extent permitted.

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Woodstock Locals (and our officers, employees, contractors, and agents) from any claim, loss, liability, settlement, judgment, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of (a) your Content; (b) your use of the Service; (c) your violation of these Terms; or (d) your violation of any law or third-party right.

We'll let you know promptly if we receive a claim that triggers this section, and we may take over defense of the claim with counsel of our choosing. You can't settle a claim that requires anything from us without our written consent.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Georgia, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising from or related to the Service or these Terms will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Cherokee County, Georgia, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts and waive any objection to venue there.

You agree to resolve disputes individually and not as part of any class, collective, or representative action. If applicable consumer-protection law gives you rights stronger than what these Terms provide, those still apply.

We may update these Terms when the Service or the law evolves. If a change is material — for example, a new restriction on your rights, a change to liability or dispute terms, or a change to how we handle anonymity — we'll give reasonable advance notice in the app, by email, or both, and we'll update the “Effective” date at the top of this page.

Continued use of the Service after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms. If you don't accept an update, your remedy is to stop using the Service and delete your account before the change takes effect.