Acceptable Use Policy

Purpose

Herd The Cats exists to help people organise events, coordinate availability, and spend time together.

This Acceptable Use Policy explains behaviour that is not permitted when using Herd The Cats.

By using Herd The Cats, you agree to follow this policy.

Be Reasonable

A good general rule is:

"Use Herd The Cats in the way it was intended to be used."

If your behaviour negatively affects other users, the service, or the people who operate it, it probably is not acceptable.

Prohibited Activities

You must not use Herd The Cats to engage in activities that are unlawful, harmful, abusive, deceptive, or disruptive.

This includes, but is not limited to, the activities described below.

Spam and Unwanted Activity

You must not:

• Send unsolicited invitations
• Use Herd The Cats for mass marketing
• Create excessive numbers of events for promotional purposes
• Use the service to distribute advertisements or spam
• Mislead people into participating in events they did not intend to join

Herd The Cats is designed for coordinating people, not for mass marketing.

Harassment and Abuse

You must not use Herd The Cats to:

• Harass individuals
• Threaten individuals
• Intimidate others
• Encourage violence
• Promote hatred
• Share abusive content
• Organise targeted harassment campaigns

Users should feel safe using the service.

Illegal Activity

You must not use Herd The Cats to:

• Break the law
• Facilitate unlawful activity
• Promote criminal activity
• Distribute illegal material
• Commit fraud
• Misrepresent yourself for unlawful purposes

Misleading or Fraudulent Behaviour

You must not:

• Pretend to be another person
• Pretend to represent an organisation without authority
• Use false identities to deceive users
• Mislead users about the purpose of an event
• Attempt to obtain personal information through deception

Parody, humour, and obvious jokes are generally acceptable provided they are not misleading or harmful.

Harmful Content

You must not use Herd The Cats to distribute or promote:

• Malware
• Viruses
• Malicious code
• Phishing attempts
• Fraudulent schemes
• Dangerous or harmful content

Security and Technical Abuse

You must not:

• Attempt to bypass security controls
• Probe, scan, or test vulnerabilities without permission
• Access systems you are not authorised to access
• Interfere with the operation of the service
• Attempt to disable or overload the service
• Circumvent rate limits
• Use the service in ways that may negatively affect other users

Automated Access

Reasonable automation may be permitted where it does not negatively affect the service.

However, you must not:

• Scrape large amounts of data
• Harvest user information
• Generate excessive automated traffic
• Create events at abusive volumes
• Operate bots that interfere with normal service operation

We may restrict or block automated activity where necessary.

Privacy of Others

You must respect the privacy of other users.

You must not:

• Attempt to identify anonymous users
• Collect personal information without permission
• Share private information about others
• Use Herd The Cats to track, monitor, or profile people without their knowledge

Event Links

Event links are intended to be shared by event organisers.

You should not:

• Deliberately distribute private event links without permission
• Use access to event links to interfere with events
• Attempt to access events using unauthorised methods

Catatars

You may customise Catatars using the tools provided by Herd The Cats.

You must not:

• Claim ownership of the underlying Catatar artwork
• Attempt to redistribute Herd The Cats artwork as your own
• Use Catatars in ways that infringe the rights of others

Reporting Problems

If you believe someone is violating this policy, you may report the issue through the contact details published on herdthecats.club.

Please provide enough information for us to investigate.

Enforcement

To protect users and the service, we may take action when this policy is violated.

Actions may include:

• Removing content
• Restricting access
• Disabling event links
• Suspending accounts
• Terminating accounts
• Blocking abusive traffic
• Reporting unlawful activity where required

We may act with or without prior notice depending on the circumstances.

Good Faith

We will generally try to apply this policy reasonably and proportionately.

Not every mistake will result in account removal.

However, serious abuse, repeated violations, fraud, harassment, or attempts to harm the service may result in immediate action.

Changes to This Policy

This Acceptable Use Policy may be updated from time to time as Herd The Cats evolves.

The latest version will always be available through Herd The Cats.

Continued use of the service after updates take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

Contact

Questions about this policy may be sent to the contact address published on herdthecats.club.