Terms of use

These Terms of Use (the "Terms") govern your use of Flinchd, available at https://flinchd.com (the "Site"), published by Augeas Technologies ("we", "us", "our"). By using the Site you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site.

1. What the Site is

Flinchd is a free online anthology of original short fiction, illustrations and related material (the "Content"). The Site is provided for personal, non-commercial reading and enjoyment.

2. Who may use the Site

The Site is intended for readers aged 13 and over. You must not use the Site if you are under 13. Individual stories carry an age rating, 13+ or 16+; stories rated 16+ contain themes intended for older readers and sit behind an age advisory, and if you are under 16 you must not read them. Parents and guardians are responsible for supervising the use of the Site by teenagers in their care.

We do not knowingly collect any personal information from anyone, and we collect none at all from children. See our Privacy Policy.

3. Ownership of the Content

All Content on the Site, including every story, title, illustration, cover, logo, design element and the compilation of the Site as a whole, is owned by Augeas Technologies or its licensors and is protected by copyright, trade mark and other intellectual property laws worldwide. All rights are reserved.

Every story on the Site is an original work created for the Site. No story is adapted from, based on, or intended to reproduce any existing book, film, television programme, game, song or other work. See our Originality and Content Statement.

4. What you may do

You may read the Content on the Site, listen to its audio narrations for personal use, share links to pages on the Site, and quote short extracts (up to 150 words) of a story for the purposes of review, commentary, criticism or education, provided you name Flinchd as the source and link to the story.

5. What you may not do

Unless we have given you written permission you may not:

• copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, distribute, sell or otherwise exploit any Content, in whole or in part, in any medium;
• adapt, translate, dramatise, record, film, animate, or create derivative works from any Content;
• use any Content, or the Site as a whole, to train, fine-tune, evaluate or otherwise develop any machine-learning or artificial-intelligence model or dataset;
• scrape, crawl, mirror or systematically download the Site or its Content by automated means, other than search engines indexing publicly available pages in accordance with our robots.txt;
• remove or alter any copyright notice, rating or attribution;
• use the Site in any way that is unlawful, harmful, or that interferes with its operation or with other people's enjoyment of it;
• frame or embed the Site on another website in a way that suggests it is your own;
• use automated means to vote or otherwise manipulate community features.

6. Ratings and content advisories

We rate each story in good faith and list notable content themes on the story page. Ratings are guidance, not a guarantee, and different readers are sensitive to different things. If you think a rating is wrong, tell us and we will review it within two working days.

7. Advertising

The Site may display a small, brief advertisement when a story page opens.

Reader accounts are optional and free. To create one you provide an email address you control. You are responsible for keeping access to that address secure; anyone who can read a code sent to it can sign in as you. We may suspend or delete an account that is used to abuse the Site. You can delete your account at any time from the account page. Advertisements are provided by third parties; we do not endorse the products advertised and are not responsible for them. See Cookies and Advertising.

8. Links to other websites

The Site may link to websites we do not control. We are not responsible for their content or privacy practices.

9. Disclaimer of warranties

The Site and the Content are provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent permitted by law we make no warranties, express or implied, about the Site or the Content, including that they will be accurate, uninterrupted, error-free, or suitable for any particular reader or purpose. The Content is fiction. It does not contain, and must not be relied on as, professional advice of any kind.

10. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Augeas Technologies and its directors, employees, contractors and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or any loss of data, profit, goodwill or opportunity, arising out of or relating to your use of or inability to use the Site or the Content, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Where liability cannot be excluded, our total liability to you for all claims relating to the Site shall not exceed one hundred Indian rupees (INR 100) or the equivalent in your local currency. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded by law, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

11. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Augeas Technologies from any claim, loss or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your breach of these Terms or your misuse of the Site or the Content.

12. Complaints and takedown

If you believe any Content infringes your rights, please follow the process on our Takedown and Complaints page. We take such notices seriously and act promptly.

13. Changes to the Site and these Terms

We may change, suspend or discontinue any part of the Site at any time without notice. We may update these Terms from time to time; the date at the top of this page shows when they last changed. Your continued use of the Site after a change means you accept the updated Terms.

14. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of India, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. The courts at the registered location of Augeas Technologies shall have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to any mandatory consumer-protection rights you may have where you live.

15. General

If any part of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. Our failure to enforce any right is not a waiver of it. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, the Cookies and Advertising notice and the Originality and Content Statement, are the whole agreement between you and us about the Site.

16. Contact

Augeas Technologies, by email at info@augeastechnologies.com.