Terms of Service

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1. Who we are

Frogbook (frogbook.net) is a community archive and gathering place for everyone who loves Hampshire College. It includes The James Baldwin Library (JBL), our archive, and The Airport Lounge (APL), our members’ community.

Frogbook is a volunteer-run project that has not yet been incorporated or registered as a nonprofit. Until it is, Frogbook is operated by Mohammad Abdullah Kawish (“the Operator”) on behalf of the Frogbook community, under the governance structure described on our Governance page. In these Terms, “Frogbook,” “we” and “us” mean the Operator acting for the project, and later the nonprofit organization that succeeds them (see Section 12).

Frogbook is independent. It is not owned by, run by, endorsed by or officially affiliated with Hampshire College, its trustees, or any successor organization. We mention Hampshire College only to describe the community we serve.

These Terms are an agreement between you and Frogbook. By creating an account, contributing material, donating, or otherwise using Frogbook, you agree to them. If you don’t agree, please don’t use the platform.

2. What Frogbook includes

These Terms cover every part of Frogbook:

  • The James Baldwin Library (JBL): our public and members-only collection of Division III projects, photographs, syllabi, oral histories, ephemera and related records.
  • The Airport Lounge (APL): the members’ community space, including profiles, posts, groups, messages and events.
  • Giving: donations made to support Frogbook.
  • Financial records: the donation and spending records we publish for members.
  • Any related pages, newsletters, forms or tools we run under the Frogbook name.

Some parts have their own guidelines: the Community Guidelines, the JBL Submission Guidelines and the Privacy Policy. Those form part of these Terms. If one of them conflicts with these Terms, the more specific guideline wins for that feature.

3. Who can join

  • The APL is open to anyone who loves Hampshire College: alumni, students, faculty, staff, family, neighbors and friends of the place. You don’t need to prove a formal connection to join.
  • Donating makes you a member. Anyone who donates to Frogbook is welcomed into the APL.
  • You must be 18 or older to create an account.
  • Anyone can browse the public parts of the JBL without an account.
  • Each account is for one person. Don’t impersonate anyone, and don’t create accounts for other people without their permission.
  • You’re responsible for keeping your login secure and for activity on your account. If you think your account has been compromised, tell us at support@frogbook.net.

4. Your content stays yours

Anything you upload, post or submit (“your content”) remains yours. Frogbook doesn’t claim ownership of it.

To run the platform, you give us a licence to use your content. What that licence covers depends on where the content goes.

4.1 APL content (posts, comments, profiles, messages). You grant Frogbook a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, display and distribute it within the platform, only as needed to operate the APL. The licence ends when you delete the content or your account. Copies held in routine backups may persist for a limited period, and content other members have already quoted or replied to may remain in their posts.

4.2 JBL deposits (anything you submit to the archive). Preservation is the whole purpose of the JBL, so this licence is broader. You grant Frogbook a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual licence to:

  • store, copy, migrate and convert the material for preservation, for example by moving it to new file formats or storage systems;
  • describe it with metadata and make it discoverable, including through standard archival protocols and catalogues;
  • display it and make it available at the access level you choose when you submit it: public, members-only, or restricted (not publicly accessible);
  • transfer the material and this licence to a successor steward (see Section 12).

When you submit, you can choose a Creative Commons or other open licence for the public. If you don’t choose one, the public may view the material but not reuse it.

4.3 Withdrawing JBL material. You may ask us to withdraw your deposit at any time by writing to support@frogbook.net. We will remove it from public and member access within 30 days. A preservation copy is kept in a restricted, non-public archive only if you agree to that when you withdraw. Otherwise we delete it, except for residual backups that expire on their normal cycle.

4.4 What you promise about your content. By submitting content, you confirm that:

  • you created it, or you have the rights or permission needed to share it on these terms;
  • it doesn’t infringe anyone’s copyright, privacy or other rights;
  • for JBL material, you’ve followed the consent rules in Section 5.

5. Consent, privacy and other people

Hampshire’s history is made of people, and many of them never agreed to be in an archive. Please treat their images and words with care.

  • Photographs and recordings of identifiable people: submit these only if you appear in them, you took them, or you reasonably believe the people shown wouldn’t object. Mark an image as sensitive when you submit it if it includes minors, nudity, medical settings, protests or other sensitive situations. We may restrict or decline it.
  • Division III projects and other academic work: only the author, or someone with the author’s written permission, may submit it. Do not submit faculty evaluations, grades, transcripts or advising records. That includes your own evaluations, because they are written by and about other people, unless every named author has agreed.
  • Oral histories: these require a release signed by the narrator on our release form.
  • Private information: don’t post anyone’s home address, phone number, private messages, health details, immigration status or other private information without their clear permission.
  • Removal requests from people who appear in material: anyone who appears in, or is named in, JBL material can ask for it to be restricted, redacted or removed by writing to support@frogbook.net. We take these requests seriously. We will lean toward protecting the privacy of the person asking, even if the uploader objects.

How we handle your own personal data is covered in our Privacy Policy.

6. Community conduct

The APL works because people treat each other the way Hampshire tried to: with curiosity, respect and room to disagree. You agree not to:

  • harass, threaten, bully, dox or stalk anyone;
  • post hateful content targeting people for their race, ethnicity, religion, caste, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality or immigration status;
  • post sexual content involving minors, non-consensual intimate imagery, or graphic violence meant to shock;
  • spam, promote commercial offers, or keep promoting yourself in ways that aren’t relevant to the community;
  • share malware, attempt unauthorized access, or interfere with the platform’s security or performance;
  • scrape, bulk-download or harvest content or member data, including for training AI or machine-learning models, without written permission from Frogbook;
  • use member information to recruit, sell, fundraise for outside causes, or build mailing lists without each person’s consent;
  • misrepresent yourself as speaking for Hampshire College, Frogbook, or any of its governing bodies.

The Community Guidelines give more detail and examples.

7. Moderation and enforcement

Our volunteer moderators and the Community pillar may:

  • remove or hide content that breaks these Terms or the Guidelines;
  • issue a warning, suspend an account temporarily, or remove an account permanently;
  • restrict access to JBL material while a dispute or request is being reviewed.

Where it’s safe and practical, we’ll tell you what action we took and why. You can appeal a moderation decision by writing to support@frogbook.net within 30 days. Someone who wasn’t involved in the original decision will review it. For serious harm, such as threats, exploitation or illegal content, we may act immediately without notice, and we may report it to the authorities where the law requires.

Donating doesn’t exempt anyone from these rules. We will not refund a donation because an account was removed for breaking them.

We’re volunteers. We don’t pre-screen everything and we can’t promise to catch every problem, so please report anything that worries you.

8. Copyright complaints

If you believe material on Frogbook infringes your copyright, send a notice to support@frogbook.net. Include:

  1. your contact details;
  2. a description of the work you believe was infringed;
  3. the URL or location of the material on Frogbook;
  4. a statement that you believe in good faith the use is not authorized;
  5. a statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and that you are the owner or are authorized to act for the owner;
  6. your physical or electronic signature.

We will remove or disable access to the material and notify the person who posted it, who may send a counter-notice. Accounts that repeatedly infringe will be terminated.

9. Donations

9.1 Where your money goes. Frogbook doesn’t have its own bank account yet. As a temporary arrangement, donations are processed by Stripe and paid into a US personal bank account held by the Operator. Frogbook’s money is tracked separately in our records, line by line. It is held for the project, and is never treated as the Operator’s personal income or spent on personal costs. We are working toward a dedicated Frogbook bank account in the US, and will move the funds there as soon as it’s open.

9.2 Payments. Stripe’s terms also apply to your payment. Frogbook never sees or stores your full card details.

9.3 Not tax-deductible. Frogbook is not yet a registered charity in any country, so donations are not tax-deductible anywhere. We’ll announce it if that changes after we register.

9.4 Open books. We record every donation received and every expense paid, and publish those records for members. We update them as soon as practical, and at least monthly. Donors are named only if they choose to be; otherwise the entry reads “Anonymous.” We keep receipts for expenses, and members can ask to see them at support@frogbook.net.

9.5 What donating gives you. Donating welcomes you into the APL as a member (see Section 3). It doesn’t give you any extra say in governance or any special rights over JBL material, unless a specific campaign clearly says otherwise.

9.6 When a dedicated account or nonprofit exists. Once Frogbook has a dedicated bank account, or is registered as a nonprofit with its own account, we will transfer all remaining donated funds to it as soon as practical, and no later than 90 days after it opens. The transfer will be shown in the members’ financial records.

9.7 If the nonprofit is never formed. If Frogbook shuts down, or decides not to incorporate, before the funds are transferred, APL members will decide by community vote what happens to the remaining balance. The Stewardship Circle runs the vote, and the options will include refunding donors in proportion to what they gave or donating the balance to an organization with a mission like ours. The money will never be kept by the Operator or any volunteer.

9.8 Refunds and help. Donations are generally non-refundable. If you were charged in error, or need any help with a donation, write to support@frogbook.net within 30 days of the charge.

10. Frogbook’s own content and marks

The Operator holds the following on behalf of the Frogbook project and will transfer them to the nonprofit once it’s formed:

  • the Frogbook name and logo;
  • the names “The James Baldwin Library” and “The Airport Lounge” as used on this platform;
  • Frogbook’s visual design;
  • the descriptions, metadata and pages we write.

Don’t use any of these in a way that suggests an endorsement we haven’t given. Hampshire College’s names and marks belong to their respective owners.

11. The platform “as is”

Frogbook is a volunteer-run, donation-funded project. We work hard to keep it running and to keep the JBL safe, but:

  • the platform is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, including fitness for a particular purpose or uninterrupted availability;
  • don’t treat Frogbook as your only copy of anything important. Keep your own originals;
  • we may change, pause or retire features, and we’ll give reasonable notice where we can;
  • we rely on third-party services, including hosting, storage, payment and community software providers, and their outages or changes can affect Frogbook.

12. If Frogbook changes hands

Frogbook is meant to outlive any single volunteer, including the Operator. We plan to register Frogbook as a nonprofit, and we may later hand stewardship to another trusted organization under the Transfer & Stewardship Charter. You agree that:

  • the Operator will transfer the platform, your account, the JBL collection, Frogbook’s marks, its donated funds and the licences you’ve granted to the registered Frogbook nonprofit once it exists;
  • any later transfer to a successor steward requires that steward to commit to these Terms (or terms at least as protective of contributors) and to the Charter, and requires the Stewardship Circle’s approval;
  • we will notify members at least 30 days before any transfer and give you the chance to withdraw your content first;
  • JBL material will never be sold or transferred to a commercial entity for profit;
  • if the Operator can no longer run Frogbook before a nonprofit exists, the Stewardship Circle will appoint a replacement operator, and these Terms will continue to apply.

If Frogbook shuts down without a successor, we’ll give at least 60 days’ notice and offer contributors a way to download their deposits.

13. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, Frogbook, the Operator, its volunteers, governing bodies and successors are not liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, content or goodwill, arising from your use of the platform. Our total liability for any claim relating to Frogbook is limited to the greater of US$50 or the amount you donated in the 12 months before the claim.

Some places don’t allow these limits. Where that’s the case, they apply only as far as local law permits.

14. Indemnity

If someone brings a claim against Frogbook because of content you submitted or because you broke these Terms, you agree to cover the reasonable costs, including legal fees, that Frogbook incurs as a result.

15. Ending your membership

  • You can close your account at any time from your settings or by writing to support@frogbook.net. APL content is handled as described in Section 4.1. JBL deposits stay in the library unless you request withdrawal under Section 4.3.
  • We may close accounts as described in Section 7.
  • Sections 4.2, 4.4, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16 and 17 continue to apply after your account is closed.

16. Governing law and disputes

Until Frogbook is registered as a nonprofit, these Terms are governed by the laws of New York, United States. Once Frogbook is registered, they will be governed by the laws of the place where it is registered, and we will notify members of that change under Section 17. Before taking formal action, we both agree to try to resolve any dispute informally: write to the other side (to us at support@frogbook.net) and allow 30 days for a response. These Terms don’t take away any right your local consumer law gives you to bring a claim where you live.

17. General

  • Changes: we may update these Terms. For material changes we’ll give at least 30 days’ notice on the site and by email. If you keep using Frogbook after the changes take effect, you accept them.
  • Whole agreement: these Terms, together with the guidelines and policies linked above, are the full agreement between you and Frogbook about the platform.
  • Severability: if any part of these Terms is unenforceable, the rest still applies.
  • No waiver: if we don’t enforce a provision right away, we haven’t given up the right to enforce it later.
  • Language: the English version controls if a translation differs.

18. Contact

For questions, takedown requests, appeals, donation help or anything else: support@frogbook.net