WriterLink.org Terms and Conditions

Last Updated: 11 June 2021

Welcome to our website writerlink.org ("Website"). We are WriterLink of Unit 49521, PO Box 6945, London, W1A 6US (referred to throughout this Website as "we", "us", "our"). You can contact WriterLink at this address or via email at support@writerlink.org, or through Twitter or Facebook.

These Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy (together the "Terms"), tell you about how you may use our Website and any of our services. This includes, for example, accessing our Website, uploading content, creating writing groups, browsing our Website, and/or registering as a member under our membership plans.

Please also be aware that these Terms will create a contract between the User (“You”, “you”, “Your”, “your”) and us when you pay for Pro membership. You are encouraged to read these Terms carefully and make sure that you understand them. If anything in our Terms is not clear, please contact us and we'll do our best to explain.

We may improve and enhance our Terms over time. By continuing to use the Website and access our services, you will implicitly accept the changes we make. If you breach any of the Terms, your authorisation to access or use our Website and our services automatically terminates. We may restrict, disable, suspend or terminate your access to all or part of the Website at any time in our sole discretion, without prior notice or liability to you.

If you continue to use any part of our Website or access our services, you agree to be bound to these Terms. If you do not agree with them or feel you are unable to comply, you may not and cannot use our services.

Our Terms of Service cover the following aspects of your use of the site:

1.OUR SERVICES & MEMBERSHIP

2. YOUR CONTENT

3. OUR CONTENT

4. RULES SET BY GROUP ORGANIZERS<

5. ISSUES WITH GROUP ORGANISERS<

6. PROFESSIONAL SERVICES ADVERTISED ON WEBSITE BY GROUP ORGANISERS (THIRD PARTIES)

7. PAYMENT, PRICING AND OFFERS

8. YOUR RIGHT TO CANCEL OR SEEK A REFUND

9. CODE OF CONDUCT

10. TERMINATION

11. LIMITATIONS AND OUR LIABILITY

12. GENERAL

1. OUR SERVICES & MEMBERSHIP

1. Use of our services: You can use our Website for personal or commercial purposes, subject to these Terms.

2. Registering as a member: You can search for writing groups and read about them without being a member. However, in order to join a writing group, create a writing group, and receive updates and correspondence about events, you must register as a member and be age 16 or over. 

   1. Membership Plans and Incentives

      1. Basic: A free membership where writers may join and attend groups, and create one community writing group. A community writing group must be a free or not-for- profit group, run for the benefit of its members, rather than as a business.

      2. Pro: A paid for ‘Professional’ membership plan where people can set up as many groups as required, and create events and business service pages, and list their details on the Website. The groups and services may aim to create profits for a business rather than offering a free or not-for-profit community focus. Pro membership is ideal for organisations and writing tutors who can add details of their services and events to the Website. 

3. About Pro Membership: 

   The different packages are described on our Payment page ("Pro Membership").  No contract between us exists until we send you a confirmation email after receiving your request to subscribe to Pro Membership and accepting your payment.

4. Payment for Pro Membership: If you buy a "Pro" professional Membership package from us, you will pay a monthly recurring fee as defined on the pricing page, unless and until cancelled.

5. Passwords: When you register as a member you will set a password. Where you have a password, you must not share your password with any other person. Responsibility for the security of any passwords issued rests with you and if you know or suspect any unauthorised uses of your password and/or other breaches of security, you agree to notify us immediately at support@writerlink.org. We will not be liable for any loss or damages of any kind, caused by your failure to comply with your password security obligations or caused by any person to whom you grant access to your password(s).

6. Changes to our services: We will have the right to make any changes to our services (which includes without limitation our Pro Membership packages) at any time which do not materially affect the nature or quality of our services.

2. YOUR CONTENT

1. Responsibility of content created by you: On some parts of the Website you can publish your own content. You are responsible for managing any content you create, including using any privacy settings we make available. You also acknowledge and agree that we have no liability of any kind should anyone you grant access to your content modify, destroy, corrupt, copy or distribute it, or otherwise violate the terms that you may impose on the use of your shared content.

2. Your content is owned by you: The content you add to our Website, such as descriptions of a writing group, a user profile description, or uploading a story to be read by other members of the writing group, belongs to you and remains your intellectual property (including copyright). We do not claim intellectual property rights over plans and writing ideas created by others on our Website, or on any of the content you add or upload to the Website.

3. We will not share your content: We will never publish your content or promote it, or share or reveal this work to others, unless you expressly give us permission to do so. Your ideas and work are kept securely on our server as further described in our Privacy Policy.

4. Monitoring content created by users: We generally do not monitor all content published by our users, however the Website reserves the right to review content at own discretion. The Website takes no responsibility for things that you or others publish. Users have the opportunity to report offensive content to the Website for further investigation.

5. Offensive content: You agree to not submit or link to any content which is defamatory, abusive, hateful, threatening, spam or spam-like, likely to offend, contains adult or objectionable content, contains personal information of others, risks copyright infringement, encourages unlawful activity, or otherwise violates any laws.

6. Private content: All content you submit or upload may be sent to third-party verification services (including, but not limited to, spam prevention services). Do not submit any content that you consider to be private or confidential.

7. Moderating content: We reserve the rights to remove or modify any content submitted for any reason without explanation. Requests for content to be removed or modified will be undertaken only at our discretion. We reserve the right to take action against any account with the service at any time.

8. Idea theft: If you decide to post a story, a scenario to a film, or other literary work, idea for a film or literary work creation in a public area of the site, you voluntary and knowingly take a risk of that your story or idea can be stolen and wrongfully used by users of WriterLink. We do not bear any responsibility for theft and wrongful use of your works or ideas by users of our site. By posting your work or idea at our site, you release us from any responsibility for damages or loss caused by or connected with such theft or wrongful use.

3. OUR CONTENT

1. • Our content: Our content means all content and information such as web pages, communications, text, images, photographs, graphics, videos, content, tools, resources, software, code, programs and products on the Website created by, owned by or licensed to us ("WriterLink Materials").

   • Rights in our content: -WriterLink Materials are protected by copyright, trade marks, patents, trade secrets and all other intellectual property and proprietary rights, and any unauthorised use of the WriterLink Materials may violate such laws and these Terms.

   • Licence to use our content: If you are a free member, we grant you a non-transferable, non-exclusive licence to add your written and visual content to writing groups and to search for writing groups nearby. If you are a Pro Member, we grant you a non-transferable, non-exclusive licence to use the Website as permitted and described in Section 1 and in Section 3.

   • Use of our content: Except as agreed under these Terms, You agree not to copy, republish, frame, download, transmit, modify, adapt, create derivative works based on, rent, lease, loan, sell, assign, distribute, display, perform, license, sublicense or reverse engineer the WriterLink Materials or any portions thereof. This includes without limitation any attempt to discover the source code of the software contained within the WriterLink Materials. Any unauthorised use may result in civil and criminal penalties. Violators will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible.

   • Use of trade marks and logos: The trade marks, logos and service marks displayed on this Website are the property of us or other third parties. You are not permitted to use them without the prior consent of WriterLink or such third party that may own the marks.

   • Use of our content for publicity purposes: Despite Clause 3(d) above, we may grant prior written permission for you to reproduce or publish our website content for publicity purposes. Any such requests should be made in writing to support@writerlink.org and such permission will be granted in our absolute sole discretion.

4. RULES SET BY GROUP ORGANISERS

1. Criteria: Individual community members and group organisers may establish membership criteria for their groups. Not everyone may join every group, and you should not expect to be eligible to join all groups. However, you may apply to any number of groups you wish. In the event you are blocked from a group, you may not create a new account to get around your removal from a group. Violating the foregoing terms of this Section 4 will result in suspension and/or termination of your account.

5. ISSUES WITH GROUP ORGANISERS

1. Responsibilities: Users setting up groups and organise meet-ups for those groups are expected to act responsibly by responding to inquiries, avoiding last-minute changes to schedule, and any other foreseeable inconveniences. In the event it comes to light that an organiser has mishandled a meet-up or event, or is otherwise poorly managing a group, the Website reserves the right to re-assign a group organiser’s administrator to another group member. In the event a community group organizer becomes unavailable, unresponsive, or has not paid fees due, the Website reserves the right to re-assign the group to another administrator. Professional or business service listings will not be reallocated to another administrator without the permission of the the owner.

6. PROFESSIONAL SERVICES ADVERTISED ON WEBSITE BY GROUP ORGANIZERS (THIRD PARTIES)

1. Fees: Group organisers may charge fees for events and/or memberships, such as membership subs or event fees (e.g. $100 for five writing sessions). Professional services offered in these circumstances, and issues arising therefrom, are not part of the Website or its business. Further, payment in these circumstances, and issues arising therefrom, are to be directed to the service provider. The Website only advertises the services; we do not control any element of third-party services, business, agreements, and we are not responsible for content quality or outcomes. You are advised that these third-party service providers may have their own terms, conditions, and policies.  
    

2. We recommend that you should use common sense in deciding whether to make a payment to any organizer. We cannot ensure that organizers will use payments as they promise or as you expect. You should check the refund policy of the WriterLink group or service before making any payments.

7. PAYMENT,PRICING AND OFFERS

1. Summary: We charge for certain features on our Platform, with prices detailed on our 'Upgrade Membership' page. If you’re a WriterLink group organizer, you are responsible for paying for organizer subscription fees related to your group or service. These fees are billed on a regular and recurring basis (unless you cancel your subscription), and may change in the future. If our fees change we will give you a minimum of 4 weeks notice. Additionally, some organizers charge money for participation in a WriterLink group or events. 

2. Payments to WriterLink: Organizers and WriterLink members are responsible for paying subscription and any other applicable fees to WriterLink on time and through our approved payment methods. Pro members who allow their subscription to lapse are subject to removal as the organizer of the WriterLink groups associated with their account, and their group or service listing (along with all of the information and Content associated with or posted to that group or service) may be terminated or transferred to another member. You may only pay organizer fees to WriterLink using a valid payment method acceptable to us, as specified via the Platform. If we terminate, suspend, or remove your account in connection with violation of this Agreement, we are not obligated to refund any organizer subscription fees paid to WriterLink. 

3. You represent and warrant that you are authorized to use the payment method you designate via the Platform. You authorize us (and our designated third-party payment processors) to charge your designated payment method for the total amount of any fees you owe to WriterLink, including any applicable taxes and other charges. If the payment method cannot be verified, is invalid, or is otherwise not acceptable to us, your payment may be suspended or cancelled.

4. We reserve the right to adjust, or to instruct our payment processors to make adjustments to a payment that has already been requested or received, in order to correct errors or mistakes.

5. We recommend that you learn more about organizer subscriptions and what happens if they expire, by reading our FAQ on Expired Subscriptions.

6. Automatic Subscription Renewals:  Fees for certain aspects of our Platform will be billed on a recurring basis. Subscriptions billed on a recurring basis will have the fees payable in advance of the applicable period specified via the Platform. We will automatically bill you for each renewal period until cancellation. By purchasing any feature or other aspect of our Platform for which we charge, you authorize us to keep your payment current by charging the applicable fee to your credit card account (or any other means of payment used by you). You can cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings.

7. We recommend that you understand how to cancel your Pro  subscription, by reading this FAQ on Modifying Subscriptions.

8. Free Trials: We may offer free trials of subscriptions and other products on our Platform. We will inform you of the length of the free trial, your renewal period, and the date and amount of your first payment. You will be required to enter payment details when the trial is initiated, but we will notify you and allow you the opportunity to cancel a free trial subscription before the first payment is taken. If you do not cancel, after your free trial ends, your paid subscription will begin and we will automatically bill you for each renewal period until cancellation. You can cancel your automatic subscription renewals at any time according to the terms and procedures described above, by visiting your account settings to cancel your Pro subscription.

9. Third Party Payment Processors: Any WriterLink member that uses the Platform to accept payments from other members must comply with the terms and conditions of the third party provider of the applicable payment service used to receive the payment. WriterLink does not provide those payment services, is not a party to your agreement with the applicable third-party provider, and will not be liable or responsible for your use of those third-party payment services.

8. YOUR RIGHT TO CANCEL OR SEEK A REFUND

1. Cancellation and your right to a refund: Subject to Clause 8(b) below, you may cancel a Pro Membership package within 14 days (effective as of the date you received our confirmation email) and we will give you a full refund as long as you have not used our services during that period. If you have used the service we cannot offer a refund. We will make any refunds due as soon as possible and in any event within 14 days after you inform us of your decision to cancel.

2. Loss of cancellation right: You acknowledge that if as a Pro member you use our site services before the 14 day right to cancel ends, you therefore consent to the immediate performance of the contract and acknowledge that you will lose your right to cancel.

3. Who to contact if you wish to cancel: To cancel your Pro Membership package, simply notify us at support@writerlink.org. Please include your membership details to help us to identify you. Your cancellation is effective from the date you send us the email.

4. Any refunds will be returned to you on the method you used to pay.

5. We do not provide refunds if you cancel after this 14 day period, except where elements of the Website are faulty, non-functional, or misdescribed.

9. CODE OF CONDUCT

1. Code of conduct: This code of conduct is primarily intended for the infrequent cases where people might abuse our services. We reserve the right to terminate your access to our Website and our services if you breach the following terms of this Section 6.

2. You cannot share your account: Each account can only be used by a single person at one time. If you are part of an organisation that wants to provide access to several people at one time, contact us to find out about our forthcoming shared account plan, which is suitable for schools, writing groups, and anyone else who needs several people to have access at the same time.

3. You cannot not give false information: You cannot use a false email address, impersonate others, or misrepresent your affiliation with others.

4. You cannot violate the law or rights of others: You cannot use our Website or any of our templates in a way that violates the law or that violates the intellectual property or other rights of us or others, or that is fraudulent, obscene, unprofessional, offensive, misleading or defamatory, or breaches any of the foregoing and following terms.

10. TERMINATION

1. When we might stop you using the Website: If you breach these Terms, including without limitation, if we have not received and are unable to process a payment for a Pro Membership subscription when it is due, we reserve the right to stop you using the Website or/and to terminate the contract between us. You will not have the opportunity to receive a refund.

11. LIMITATIONS & OUR LIABILITY

1. Availability of the service: We do not guarantee or promise that our Website and services will always be available or fully functional. We will not be liable to you for any losses you might suffer from lack of availability. Like all other web-based services, we are vulnerable to the inherent unreliability of the Internet. However, reliability is something we are proud of, and our platform is backed up on a server that offers a reliable professional service.

2. Changes to the service: Our services are provided on an "as is" basis and are subject to change. We reserve the right to withdraw elements of our services or any content on our Website at any time and will not be liable to you for any losses you might suffer. However, where we remove content from your subscription, we will try to replace any content you have paid for with a comparable substitute.

3. Things beyond our control: We will not be liable to you for any loss you may suffer during any period where we cannot provide a service as a result of circumstances beyond our control. This includes circumstances such as so-called 'Acts of God', strikes, equipment failure and anything else we cannot reasonably be expected to have control over. We will always try to notify you about such problems.

4. Limit of liability: We make no guarantees about the success of our service to match you with other writers in a group, or the success of using them generally, and to the extent permitted by law, we exclude all conditions, warranties, representations or other terms which may apply to our Website or any content on it or our services, whether express or implied (except where set out in these Terms). We will not be liable to you for any loss of profit, or any indirect or consequential loss arising under or in connection with our services, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with our Website or our services. For any other loss you suffer that is caused by us, we limit the liability we have to you to the total money you spent on our services in the 12 calendar months before the event giving rise to the claim.

5. Nothing in our Terms exclude or limit our liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, or our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by English law.

12. GENERAL

1. Entire agreement: These Terms constitute the entire agreement between us and they may only be modified by written agreement between us and you.

2. Governing law & jurisdiction: These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with English law. Disputes arising in connection with these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

3. Non-assignment: You may not assign, sub-license or otherwise transfer any of your rights under these Terms.

4. Rights of third parties: Only the parties to these terms and conditions may seek to enforce them under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

5. Comments and complaints: We value your comments and opinions and always aim to fix problems where we can. If you have a question, suggestion or complaint about the Website or any of the content featured on it please let us know.