Terms of Service & User Agreement

URBAN LEGENDS SOCIETY
TERMS OF SERVICE & USER AGREEMENT

1. ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS

These Terms of Service & User Agreement (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of Urban Legends Society (“ULS”), a DBA of Death By Media LLC (“Death By Media,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), including the Urban Legends Society mobile applications, website, Archive, Explore map, Location Hubs, Stories, comments, media, community features, Podcast-related features, and other services we make available (collectively, the “Service”).

By creating an account, you will be required to agree to these Terms and acknowledge the ULS Privacy Policy. By continuing to access or use the Service after these Terms become effective, you agree to be bound by them.

If you do not agree to these Terms, do not create an account or use the Service.

These Terms incorporate by reference the ULS Privacy Policy, Community Guidelines, Content & Copyright Policy, Safety Guidelines, and Disclaimer.

2. ELIGIBILITY AND MINORS

You must be at least 13 years old to create or use a ULS account.

If you are between 13 and 17 years old, you represent that you have permission from a parent or legal guardian to create an account and use the Service.

ULS contains user-generated material concerning paranormal experiences, death, hauntings, crime-related legends, frightening encounters, occult or ritual subjects, folklore, unexplained events, and other subjects that may be disturbing, unsettling, or mature. ULS is not intended for children under 13.

3. YOUR ACCOUNT

You are responsible for activity conducted through your account and for maintaining the security of your login credentials and connected authentication methods.

You may not impersonate another person or organization, create an account for fraudulent or abusive purposes, or use an account to evade a suspension, ban, or other ULS enforcement action.

Purchases and transaction-derived benefits are associated with the ULS account under which they were purchased. Society Membership, Permanent Ad-Free, donations, purchase-derived badges, and other transaction-derived benefits do not transfer between ULS accounts.

Family Sharing of Society Membership or Permanent Ad-Free benefits is not supported.

4. THE ULS ARCHIVE

ULS is designed to preserve reports of urban legends, paranormal experiences, unexplained events, folklore, and related experiences in a lasting community Archive.

The Story Archive is for experiences presented as genuine reports. Fictional writing is not accepted, even if it is clearly identified as fiction.

You may not knowingly submit a fabricated or materially deceptive Story as a genuine experience. ULS may remove a Story when, in ULS’s reasonable good-faith judgment, available information provides a sufficient basis to believe that the submission was fabricated or materially misrepresented.

ULS does not require a contributor to prove that a paranormal, supernatural, occult, cryptid, UFO, folklore, religious, skeptical, or other extraordinary claim is objectively true. A Story does not violate these Terms merely because it is unusual, disputed, unverifiable, or difficult to believe.

5. AI-GENERATED CONTENT AND EDITED MEDIA

AI tools may be used for ordinary proofreading or editing assistance, including spelling, grammar, clarity, and formatting.

AI-generated Stories are not permitted.

AI-generated photographs, video, audio, documents, or other media may not be submitted as evidence of a reported experience.

Ordinary cleanup of genuine media is permitted, including reasonable cropping, rotation, brightness or contrast adjustment, stabilization, and noise reduction. Media presented as evidence may not be altered to add, remove, fabricate, or materially change what the media depicts.

6. OWNERSHIP OF YOUR CONTENT

You retain ownership of the original content you submit to ULS, subject to the license granted to ULS under these Terms.

You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise possess all rights, licenses, permissions, releases, and consents necessary to submit your content and grant ULS the rights described in these Terms.

This responsibility applies to Stories and to all photographs, video, audio, documents, and other media you submit. ULS does not independently verify every ownership claim, release, consent, or third-party permission associated with a submission.

7. LICENSE YOU GRANT TO ULS

By submitting content to ULS, you grant ULS a worldwide, durable, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, display, distribute, excerpt, format, edit, adapt, narrate, perform, promote, and otherwise use the submitted content as reasonably necessary to operate, preserve, promote, and commercially develop ULS, the Archive, and related ULS media and productions.

This license includes the right to use submitted content in or in connection with:

• ULS mobile applications and websites;
• the ULS Archive and Location Hubs;
• ULS social-media accounts;
• advertising and promotional materials;
• the Urban Legends Society Podcast;
• video and audio productions;
• publications and editorial projects;
• educational or historical projects related to ULS subject matter; and
• other official ULS productions and media.

ULS may also authorize or sublicense approved third parties to use submitted content in projects reasonably connected to ULS subject matter, the Archive, promotion, media, education, publishing, or productions.

This sublicensing right does not authorize ULS to license your submitted content for unrelated third-party purposes having no reasonable connection to those activities.

ULS may charge licensing, production, access, sponsorship, or other fees in connection with authorized uses or sublicenses.

Unless ULS separately agrees otherwise with you in writing, you are not entitled to royalties, licensing fees, revenue sharing, or other compensation arising from ULS’s or an authorized third party’s use of submitted content under this license.

8. CREDIT

When ULS uses a submitted Story in promotion, the Urban Legends Society Podcast, or another official or approved production, ULS will credit the contributor using the ULS username associated with the contribution or use.

ULS is not required to revise previously published Podcasts, videos, promotions, publications, or third-party productions because of a later account, username, or identity change.

9. PODCAST CONTACT PREFERENCE

ULS may ask during Story Submission whether you are willing to be contacted about the Urban Legends Society Podcast.

That preference indicates only whether you are open to possible contact or further personal involvement.

It does not limit the license granted to ULS and does not determine whether ULS may feature, discuss, narrate, excerpt, adapt, or otherwise use your submitted Story or media in the Podcast or another authorized production.

10. PUBLISHED STORIES AND ARCHIVE RETENTION

Once a Story is published, it becomes part of the ULS Archive.

Contributors cannot directly delete published Stories.

Published Stories may be removed by authorized ULS moderators through applicable moderation, privacy, copyright, legal, or other established ULS processes.

Deleting your ULS account does not automatically delete Stories you previously published to the Archive.

11. EDIT REQUESTS AND MODERATOR EDITING

Contributors cannot directly modify a published Story. You may request changes through the available Edit Request process.

ULS moderators may make reasonable editorial changes to published Stories, including changes for:

• grammar and spelling;
• formatting and readability;
• obvious typographical errors;
• presentation;
• Community Guidelines enforcement;
• privacy or safety;
• copyright or other intellectual-property concerns;
• legal compliance; and
• other ULS policy requirements.

Moderator editing should not materially rewrite the substance of a contributor’s reported experience merely because a moderator disagrees with the contributor or the reported experience.

If an approved Edit Request changes a Story after an earlier version has already been used in a Podcast episode, promotional item, publication, authorized third-party production, or other completed work, ULS and the authorized third party are not required to revise, withdraw, replace, or recreate that previously published work.

12. MEDIA MODERATION

Submitted Story media is subject to the same applicable content license and Community Guidelines as the Story.

ULS may remove or restrict an individual photograph, video, audio file, document, or other media item without deleting the underlying Story when the media raises a Community Guidelines, copyright, privacy, safety, legal, or other policy concern.

13. COMMUNITY STANDARDS

Your use of ULS is subject to the Community Guidelines and other incorporated policies.

Among other things, ULS prohibits conduct or content involving hate speech, targeted harassment, threats, sexual exploitation, prohibited explicit content, scams, impersonation, malicious deception, spam, copyright infringement, certain privacy violations, dangerous encouragement, encouragement of trespassing, and other prohibited conduct described in the Community Guidelines.

Paranormal, supernatural, occult, folklore, cryptid, UFO, religious, skeptical, frightening, or unusual subject matter is not itself prohibited merely because of its subject matter.

14. REAL PEOPLE, PRIVATE INFORMATION, AND PUBLIC LOCATIONS

ULS may include public businesses, landmarks, institutions, historically relevant locations, and other legitimately public location information.

Identifying a legitimately public location is different from exposing an individual’s private or sensitive personal information.

You are responsible for the information you choose to submit and for having any rights or permissions necessary to disclose information about another person.

ULS strongly discourages including unnecessary private or sensitive information about third parties.

ULS may redact, restrict, or remove information when ULS determines that doing so is appropriate for privacy, safety, legal, or policy reasons.

You may not knowingly publish maliciously false or defamatory accusations about an identifiable person.

15. MODERATION AND ENFORCEMENT

ULS provides community-safety tools that include reporting, moderation, and user blocking. ULS may review and moderate content and conduct whether or not another user has submitted a report.

Depending on the severity, repetition, circumstances, and applicable moderation procedures, violations may result in:

• removal or restriction of content or media;
• feature or participation restrictions;
• temporary suspension; or
• permanent banning or termination of an account.

Severe violations may result in stronger enforcement without ULS first imposing every lesser action.

Submitting a report does not guarantee that content will be removed or that another user will be disciplined.

Where an appeal process is available, eligible moderation decisions may be appealed. An appeal does not automatically reverse an enforcement action. ULS may uphold, modify, or reverse an action after review. Repeated or abusive appeals do not create an unlimited right to additional review.

16. ENFORCEMENT AND PAID ACCOUNTS

Society Members, Permanent Ad-Free purchasers, donors, and other paid users are subject to the same Community Guidelines and enforcement standards as free or ad-supported users.

Suspension, banning, or termination for violations does not itself entitle a user to a refund of prior subscription charges, Permanent Ad-Free purchases, donations, or other amounts already paid, except where a refund is required by applicable law or the applicable payment platform.

17. SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP

ULS may offer recurring Society Membership plans.

Monthly and Yearly Society Membership provide the same Society Member benefits, subject to the current membership offering.

Society Membership benefits, features, and offerings may change over time. ULS may add, modify, replace, or discontinue membership benefits as the Service evolves.

Changes to subscription price or billing terms remain subject to any notice, consent, or other requirements imposed by applicable law or the applicable purchase platform.

If you cancel a subscription, already-paid Society Member benefits may remain available through the applicable paid-through date while the entitlement remains active.

Subscription cancellation and management are handled through the platform where the subscription originated.

18. PERMANENT AD-FREE

Permanent Ad-Free is a separate one-time purchase that removes ULS advertisements from the applicable ULS account.

Permanent Ad-Free does not itself grant Society Membership benefits.

Permanent Ad-Free remains associated with the ULS account under which it was purchased and is not transferable to another ULS account.

19. DONATIONS

ULS may offer optional one-time donations.

Support ULS contributions do not provide Society Membership, Permanent Ad-Free, ranking advancement or points, or any other premium entitlement.

Successful Support ULS contributions unlock a Donor Badge as a thank you for supporting the Society. Repeat contributions do not create duplicate badges. Existing donation records and badges remain subject to the same refund rules.

If all qualifying donations associated with an account are later refunded, the Donor Badge may be removed.

Donations are voluntary. Suspension, banning, account termination, or other enforcement does not itself create a right to a donation refund, except where required by applicable law or the payment platform.

20. BILLING, RENEWALS, CANCELLATIONS, AND REFUNDS

Purchases may be processed through Apple, Google Play, RevenueCat, Stripe, or other payment services identified at checkout.

Recurring subscriptions renew according to the terms disclosed by the originating purchase platform unless canceled.

If a payment fails but the applicable platform continues to recognize a Society Membership entitlement as active during a grace or billing-retry period, ULS may continue providing Society Member benefits while that entitlement remains active.

Refunds, revocations, billing disputes, and platform-required remedies are subject to applicable law and the rules of the originating payment platform.

Nothing in these Terms limits a refund, cancellation, consumer-protection, or other right that cannot legally be waived.

21. ACCOUNT DELETION AND ACTIVE SUBSCRIPTIONS

ULS does not automatically cancel an external store subscription merely because you request account deletion.

If an auto-renewing subscription is still scheduled to bill again, ULS may require you to cancel the subscription through the originating platform before account deletion can proceed.

Once ULS receives authoritative confirmation that the subscription will not bill again, account deletion may proceed even if already-paid Society Member benefits remain active through a future paid-through date.

Permanent Ad-Free purchases and donations do not block account deletion because they do not create future recurring billing.

As described above, account deletion does not automatically remove previously published Stories from the Archive.

22. SAFETY AND TRESPASSING

A LOCATION ON ULS IS NOT PERMISSION TO ENTER IT.

The appearance of a location, pin, Location Hub, Story, photograph, comment, or other content in ULS does not mean that a location is open to the public or that you have permission to enter, investigate, photograph, explore, or remain there.

You are responsible for obeying:

• property rights;
• posted signs;
• closures;
• instructions from property owners;
• instructions from law enforcement or other authorities; and
• applicable laws and regulations.

Do not trespass.

Do not enter private property without permission.

Do not enter restricted or closed areas without authorization.

Do not unlawfully enter unsafe or abandoned structures.

Do not encourage, direct, pressure, or instruct another person to trespass or unlawfully enter a restricted or private location.

Do not put yourself or another person in danger to investigate, verify, recreate, or contribute a Story.

23. DANGEROUS ACTIVITIES, RITUALS, AND CHALLENGES

ULS may contain discussion or documentation of folklore, rituals, legends, challenges, dangerous historical practices, and unusual investigations.

Users may discuss or document those subjects, but may not use ULS to encourage or instruct others to undertake dangerous conduct that is likely to cause physical harm.

24. USER-GENERATED INFORMATION AND ACCURACY

Stories, comments, media, reactions, and other member submissions represent the accounts, views, or contributions of their respective users.

Publication in the ULS Archive does not mean that ULS has independently verified, endorsed, or confirmed the truth of a submission.

ULS does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, availability, or current status of map pins, addresses, location names, access conditions, historical information, Stories, comments, or other user-submitted information.

You are responsible for independently verifying real-world conditions before relying on ULS content.

25. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

ULS uses or may link to third-party services for mapping, hosting, authentication, analytics, advertising, billing, payment processing, app distribution, social media, Podcast distribution, and other functions.

Third-party services may be governed by their own terms and privacy practices.

ULS does not control the independent availability, operation, content, or data practices of third-party services and is not responsible for them except to the extent responsibility cannot legally be excluded.

26. SERVICE AVAILABILITY AND CHANGES

ULS may add, modify, replace, suspend, or discontinue features or portions of the Service.

ULS does not guarantee that the Service, Archive, maps, Podcast features, or any particular feature will always be available, uninterrupted, secure, or error-free.

27. EMERGENCIES, NAVIGATION, AND PERSONAL SAFETY

ULS is not an emergency service, navigation service, security service, or personal-safety service.

Do not rely on ULS maps, Stories, comments, pins, location information, or other content for emergency decisions or safety-critical decisions.

Contact appropriate emergency services, property owners, law enforcement, medical professionals, or other authorities when necessary.

28. ASSUMPTION OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR REAL-WORLD ACTIVITIES

To the extent permitted by law, you are responsible for your own decision to visit, enter, investigate, photograph, explore, or otherwise interact with a real-world location.

To the extent permitted by law, ULS is not responsible for injury, property damage, trespassing consequences, arrest, fines, hazardous conditions, or other losses resulting from a user’s independent decision to visit or interact with a location, except where liability cannot legally be excluded.

The ULS Disclaimer contains additional limitations and is incorporated into these Terms.

29. COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY COMPLAINTS

Users may not submit material they do not have the legal right to submit.

Copyright owners or authorized representatives may report material they believe was submitted without authorization through the process described in the Content & Copyright Policy. Until ULS establishes any additional formal copyright/DMCA contact process, copyright complaints may be sent to help@urbanlegendssociety.com. ULS does not represent that this email address is a formally registered DMCA agent.

ULS may temporarily restrict or remove disputed material while reviewing a claim.

Repeated or serious infringement may result in account enforcement.

Knowingly false or abusive copyright complaints may themselves violate ULS policies.

30. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, ULS and Death By Media LLC will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages arising out of or relating to the Service, including losses arising from service interruption, loss or corruption of data, inability to access the Service, reliance on user-generated content, conduct of other users, or the acts, omissions, availability, or operation of third-party services.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited. No specific monetary liability cap is established by the Terms of Service & User Agreement.

31. CHANGES TO THESE TERMS

ULS may revise these Terms and related policies from time to time.

For material changes, ULS intends to provide notice through an in-app notification and email and identify the effective date of the revised terms.

Unless applicable law or a platform requires affirmative re-acceptance, continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

Minor or non-material updates may be posted with a revised effective date without requiring a new acceptance action.

32. GOVERNING LAW

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without limiting consumer protections or other rights that cannot lawfully be waived or displaced.

No mandatory arbitration or class-action waiver is imposed by the Terms of Service & User Agreement.

33. CONTACT

General support:
help@urbanlegendssociety.com

Privacy matters:
privacy@urbanlegendssociety.com

Operator:
Urban Legends Society, a DBA of Death By Media LLC