Terms of Use

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and John Polacek, who operates the Friendpalooza service (“Friendpalooza,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). They govern your access to and use of friendpalooza.com, the Friendpalooza progressive web application, and related software, features, communications, and services (collectively, the “Service”). Our Privacy Policy is incorporated into these Terms.

By creating an account, accessing, or using the Service, you represent that you have read, understood, and agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not access or use the Service. If you use the Service for an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind it, and “you” includes that organization.

You must be at least 18 years old and legally capable of entering a contract to use the Service. You may not use the Service if applicable law bars you from receiving it, including under U.S. trade sanctions. The Service is not offered to, and you may not create an account for, anyone under 18.

You must provide accurate, current information and keep it updated. You are responsible for all activity under your account and for keeping credentials, devices, sessions, and sign-in methods secure. You may not sell, transfer, lend, share, or allow another person to use your account, and you may not create an account using another person's identity without authorization.

Tell us promptly at johnpolacek@gmail.com if you suspect unauthorized access. We may require you to verify control of an account, change credentials, or take other steps before restoring access. We are not responsible for loss caused by your failure to secure your account or group invite links.

Friendpalooza limits group content to authenticated members of that group through the Service. That is an access control, not a guarantee of confidentiality. Members may see, hear, record, download, copy, screenshot, screen-record, or share content outside the Service. Do not post anything you would not trust every current member to receive.

• An invite link or code may allow its holder to request or obtain group access. You are responsible for sharing invites carefully. We may revoke, expire, rotate, or limit an invite at any time.
• Group administrators may change settings and member roles, regenerate invites, remove members, and remove content as the Service permits. Their decisions are their own; they are not our employees, agents, or representatives.
• Removing or leaving a group ends ordinary in-app access but does not automatically delete content previously shared, copies made by other members, or records reasonably needed to preserve conversations, safety, or legal rights.
• We may resolve ownership or administration disputes in our sole discretion, but have no obligation to intervene. We may rely on account, membership, and activity records available to us.

“Content” means anything submitted, uploaded, transmitted, created, stored, or shared through the Service, including profile information, group names and images, text, messages, replies, photos, videos, GIFs, voice recordings, captions, comments, reactions, and feedback. As between you and Friendpalooza, you retain any ownership rights you have in your Content.

You are solely responsible for your Content and the consequences of sharing it. You represent and warrant that you own your Content or have every permission, release, and right needed to submit it and grant the licenses in these Terms; that your Content and our permitted use of it will not violate law or another person's rights; and that you have obtained appropriate consent from people depicted, recorded, identified, or discussed in it.

The Service is not designed for confidential professional records, regulated health or financial data, government identifiers, trade secrets, evidence that must be preserved, or material requiring a guaranteed retention schedule. You assume the risk of choosing to post sensitive or confidential material.

By providing Content, you grant Friendpalooza a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid, transferable, and sublicensable license to host, store, cache, reproduce, process, adapt, transcode, create technical derivatives of, transmit, display, perform, distribute, and otherwise use that Content as reasonably necessary to:

• operate, provide, maintain, and improve the Service;
• make Content available to the group members and devices you direct or reasonably expect;
• process, format, compress, thumbnail, stream, back up, and deliver media across devices and service providers;
• protect the Service and its users, moderate or investigate conduct, enforce these Terms, and comply with law; and
• support or transfer the Service in a merger, financing, acquisition, reorganization, or sale.

This license begins when you provide the Content and continues for as long as the Content is retained in the Service or by our providers, including a reasonable period for backups, legal retention, and removal from caches. It survives account termination to the extent Content remains in shared conversations, archives, backups, or records. To the extent permitted by law, you waive and agree not to assert moral rights or similar rights that would prevent these licensed uses.

The license does not give us ownership of your Content. We will not use private-group Content in public advertising or marketing without additional permission. You separately authorize other group members to access, view, hear, respond to, and interact with Content through the Service for the purposes for which you shared it.

You may not use the Service to:

• break the law, facilitate unlawful conduct, violate sanctions, or infringe intellectual-property, privacy, publicity, contractual, or other rights;
• exploit or endanger a child; share child sexual abuse material; sexualize a minor; groom, solicit, or target a minor; or misrepresent your age to access the Service;
• post non-consensual intimate imagery, voyeuristic material, credible threats, stalking, doxxing, extortion, incitement, hate-based abuse, targeted harassment, or content that promotes suicide or serious self-harm;
• impersonate anyone, mislead others about affiliation or origin, collect another person's credentials, or expose private information without authorization;
• send spam, scams, malware, or deceptive links; interfere with another person's use; overload the Service; or upload corrupt, harmful, or unreasonably large files;
• probe, scan, or test vulnerabilities; bypass access controls, rate limits, membership checks, or media restrictions; gain unauthorized access; or disclose a nonpublic vulnerability before we have a reasonable opportunity to address it;
• scrape, crawl, index, harvest, monitor, or use bots or automated means to access the Service or Content without our prior written permission;
• reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, copy, frame, mirror, resell, sublicense, or create a competing service from the Service, except to the limited extent a restriction is prohibited by law; or
• help, encourage, or attempt any prohibited activity.

We may impose or change technical limits on file types, size, duration, storage, requests, groups, members, messages, or other usage at any time. You may not evade those limits.

We may—but are not required to—review, monitor, preserve, restrict, remove, or disclose Content or activity when we believe it violates these Terms, creates risk, is unlawful, is objectionable, or may harm the Service or anyone else. We do not endorse Content and are not responsible for member conduct, group-administrator decisions, or Content you encounter.

We may investigate suspected violations and take any action we consider appropriate, including warning users, limiting distribution, deleting Content, rotating invites, restricting features, preserving evidence, notifying group administrators, suspending or terminating accounts, blocking devices or identifiers, and referring matters to service providers or authorities. We may act without notice where we believe prompt action is warranted. We are not obligated to explain, reverse, or consistently apply a moderation decision except where law requires.

Report suspected illegal or seriously harmful Content to johnpolacek@gmail.com. Do not use email as an emergency service. If anyone faces immediate danger, contact local emergency services.

We respect intellectual-property rights and may remove allegedly infringing Content and terminate repeat infringers. A copyright notice should be sent to johnpolacek@gmail.com and include: your physical or electronic signature; identification of the copyrighted work; identification and location of the allegedly infringing material; your contact information; a good-faith statement that the use is not authorized; and a statement under penalty of perjury that the notice is accurate and you are authorized to act.

Knowingly making a material misrepresentation in a copyright notice may create liability. We may send the notice, including your contact information, to the person who posted the material. If you believe material was removed by mistake, contact us with a legally sufficient counter-notice. Notices about privacy, trademarks, impersonation, or other rights should identify the right, the specific Content, and the facts supporting the complaint.

Friendpalooza and its licensors own the Service, including its software, design, branding, text, graphics, interfaces, and other materials other than your Content. Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and non-sublicensable license to access and use the Service for its intended purpose. No other right is granted by implication or otherwise.

If you give us ideas, suggestions, or feedback, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, and sublicensable right to use, modify, commercialize, and otherwise exploit it for any purpose without restriction, notice, attribution, or compensation to you.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and retain personal information. By using the Service, you acknowledge the practices described there. You agree not to use information obtained through the Service in violation of another person's privacy, these Terms, or applicable law.

The Service relies on and may link to third-party services, including authentication, hosting, database, storage, media-processing, content- delivery, and push-notification providers. Their terms and privacy policies may apply directly to your use of their features. We do not control and are not responsible for third-party services, content, security, availability, actions, or policies. A link or integration does not imply endorsement.

We may add, remove, limit, suspend, discontinue, or change any feature, integration, storage limit, eligibility rule, or part of the Service at any time, temporarily or permanently, with or without notice. The Service may be unavailable, delayed, insecure, or affected by failures outside our control. We do not promise any uptime, support level, compatibility, delivery time, feature, or preservation period.

Friendpalooza is a social product, not a backup service. Content may be deleted, corrupted, become inaccessible, fail to upload or process, or disappear when an account, group, vendor, or feature changes. Keep your own copy of anything important. We have no obligation to recover, export, or preserve Content except as required by law.

The Service is currently offered without a user fee. We may introduce paid features, subscriptions, or usage charges in the future. We will disclose the price and material payment terms before charging you, and additional terms may apply. Unless applicable law or those additional terms require otherwise, fees are nonrefundable and exclusive of taxes, carrier charges, and data costs.

You may stop using the Service at any time. You may leave a group using available controls and may permanently delete your account from the Account page. Account deletion removes your active profile, memberships, authored Content, and associated media from active systems; transfers a group you created when another member remains; and deletes a group with no other member. Deletion may take time to propagate through provider systems, caches, and backups, and does not require us to delete narrowly retained security, contract, transaction, or legal records.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we may suspend, restrict, or terminate your access, account, groups, or Content at any time, for any reason or no stated reason, with or without notice or liability. Upon termination, your license to use the Service ends immediately. Sections that by their nature should survive—including ownership, Content licenses, disclaimers, liability limits, indemnity, dispute resolution, and general terms—will survive.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” at your sole risk. Friendpalooza and its suppliers disclaim all warranties, express, implied, statutory, or otherwise, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, quiet enjoyment, accuracy, availability, security, and that data will not be lost.

We do not warrant that the Service or Content is accurate, complete, safe, lawful, uninterrupted, error-free, compatible, or free of harmful components; that defects will be corrected; that notifications will arrive; that a group is private from its members; or that any person is who they claim to be. You assume all risk from interactions, Content, downloads, uploads, recordings, links, and reliance on the Service. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers, so some may not apply to you.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Friendpalooza and its suppliers, licensors, contractors, and representatives will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages; loss of profits, revenue, goodwill, use, or data; personal or reputational harm; service interruption; unauthorized access; or the conduct or Content of users or third parties, arising from or related to the Service, even if advised that such harm was possible.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the total aggregate liability of Friendpalooza and those parties for all claims arising from or related to the Service or these Terms will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid Friendpalooza for the Service during the six months before the event giving rise to liability or (b) fifty U.S. dollars ($50).

These exclusions and limits apply under every theory of liability and are fundamental to the bargain, even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose. They do not exclude liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Friendpalooza and its suppliers, licensors, contractors, and representatives from claims, demands, proceedings, losses, liabilities, damages, judgments, settlements, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: your Content; your access to or use of the Service; your violation of these Terms or law; your infringement or violation of another person's rights; or a dispute between you and another user.

We may control the defense and settlement of an indemnified matter, and you will cooperate. You may not settle a matter in a way that admits fault by or imposes obligations on Friendpalooza without our written consent. This section does not require a consumer to indemnify us for our own unlawful conduct where such indemnity is prohibited.

Please read this section carefully. It requires most U.S. disputes to be resolved by binding individual arbitration and waives jury trials and class, collective, coordinated, consolidated, and representative actions. You may opt out within 30 days as described below.

Informal resolution first

Before filing a claim, each party must give the other an individualized written notice and try in good faith to resolve the dispute for at least 45 days. Your notice must be emailed to johnpolacek@gmail.com and include your full name, account email, a detailed description of the dispute, the relief requested, and your personal signature. We will send our notice to the email associated with your account. Either party may request an individualized telephone or video conference. Any limitations period is tolled during this 45-day process.

Agreement to arbitrate

If the dispute is not resolved, you and Friendpalooza agree that any claim or dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms, the Privacy Policy, the Service, Content, or our relationship—including claims that arose before these Terms—will be resolved exclusively by final and binding individual arbitration, not in court. This agreement is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act and survives termination.

Arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules then in effect, as modified by these Terms. Those rules are available at adr.org/consumer. A single neutral arbitrator may award the same individualized remedies a court could award. The arbitrator will apply these Terms and applicable law and issue a reasoned written decision. Hearings may occur by video, telephone, or in the county where you live, unless the parties agree otherwise. Fees will be allocated under AAA's consumer rules and applicable law.

The arbitrator, not a court, will decide disputes about the formation, scope, validity, enforceability, or applicability of this arbitration agreement, except that a court will decide disputes about the class or representative-action waiver and any request for public injunctive relief that applicable law requires a court to decide.

Exceptions

Either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court if it qualifies and remains individual. Either party may seek temporary or preliminary injunctive relief in court to prevent actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation, unauthorized access, or violation of intellectual-property, privacy, or data-security rights while arbitration is pending. Nothing prevents you from reporting an issue to a government agency, and an agency may seek relief where authorized.

Class and jury waiver

You and Friendpalooza waive the right to a jury trial. Each party may bring claims only in an individual capacity and not as a plaintiff, class member, private attorney general, or representative in any class, collective, coordinated, consolidated, or representative proceeding. An arbitrator may award relief only to the individual party seeking it and only to the extent needed for that party's individual claim.

30-day right to opt out

You may opt out of this arbitration agreement—but not the rest of these Terms—by emailing johnpolacek@gmail.com within 30 days after you first accept these Terms. Your notice must include your full name, account email, and a clear statement that you opt out of arbitration. Opting out will not affect other Terms or result in adverse treatment. If you validly opt out, neither party may require arbitration of disputes between you under this section.

Severability

If part of this arbitration section is unenforceable, it will be severed and the remainder enforced, except that if the class-action waiver is unenforceable as to a particular claim, that claim must proceed in court and not arbitration. If applicable law bars arbitration of a particular request for relief, only that request will proceed in court after all arbitrable matters are resolved.

These Terms and any dispute are governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, applicable federal law, and the laws of Illinois, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. If a dispute is not subject to arbitration, you and Friendpalooza consent to exclusive personal jurisdiction and venue in the state or federal courts located in Cook County, Illinois, except that an eligible individual claim may be brought in small-claims court. Mandatory consumer protections in your home jurisdiction remain available to the extent they cannot lawfully be waived.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, any claim arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms must be filed within one year after the claim accrued, or it is permanently barred. This limit does not apply where law prohibits shortening the applicable limitations period.

These Terms and incorporated policies are the entire agreement about the Service and supersede prior or contemporaneous understandings about it. If a provision is invalid or unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted and the remainder will continue. A waiver must be in writing and is not a continuing waiver. Section headings are for convenience only.

You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any rights under them without our prior written consent. We may assign or transfer them in whole or part without restriction, including in connection with a corporate transaction. There are no third-party beneficiaries except as expressly stated. Neither party is liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond reasonable control.

We may update these Terms for legal, security, operational, or product reasons. We will post the updated Terms and revise the effective date; material changes may also be announced through the Service or another reasonable channel. Unless stated otherwise, changes take effect when posted. By continuing to use the Service after they take effect, you accept the updated Terms. If you do not agree, you must stop using the Service. Material changes to arbitration will apply prospectively, and we will provide any new opt-out right required by law.

Notices and questions may be sent to John Polacek, who operates the Friendpalooza service at johnpolacek@gmail.com. Electronic communications satisfy any legal requirement that a communication be in writing to the extent permitted by law.