Terms of Service.
The rules for using Ceolumen.

• Applying is free. Recognition is decided by verification, an editorial review and an independent panel, at Ceolumen’s discretion. It cannot be bought.
• Membership is offered only to accepted founders, is billed monthly, and can be cancelled at any time.
• Reviews, reports and posts are editorial opinion and information, not professional advice.
• The service is provided as is, and our liability is capped.
• Disputes go to binding individual arbitration in Kentucky. There are no class actions or jury trials, and you have 30 days to opt out.

The agreement

Ceolumen is a Stacklumen LLC product. These terms are between you and Stacklumen LLC, a Kentucky limited liability company (“Stacklumen”, “we”). By creating an account, applying, or becoming a member, you accept them and our Privacy Policy.

Eligibility and accounts

• You must be 18 or older and able to enter a binding contract.
• New Ceolumen accounts are open to people who live in the United States.
• Keep your sign-in secure. You are responsible for what is done through your account.
• Give accurate information, and keep it accurate.

Applications

• You confirm that everything in an application is true and complete to the best of your knowledge, and that you are entitled to share it.
• You allow us to verify it: to ask you for documents, to speak to the references you name, and to search public records and the press. Tell your references that we may contact them.
• We keep what you tell us in confidence. Revenue, ownership, references and disclosures are read by Ceolumen’s staff only and are never published.
• You may withdraw an application at any time before a decision.

Recognition

• Recognition is decided against the published standard by Ceolumen’s editors and panel. Decisions are final, and we do not owe reasons beyond the message that comes with a decision.
• Applying gives no right to be recognised. Paying for anything gives no right to be recognised or to keep recognition.
• We may withdraw recognition if something material was not disclosed, if information proves false, or for conduct that would have failed the integrity criterion.
• Ceolumen writes the citation on a profile. You choose what else your profile shows, and you can hide it.
• You may describe your recognition accurately, linking to your profile. You may not describe it as a ranking, an award for being “the best”, or an endorsement of your products.

Membership and billing

• Membership is offered only to accepted founders. Its price is shown before you agree to it, and it is billed monthly in advance through our payment processor until you cancel.
• You can cancel at any time from your account. Cancelling stops the next charge; your membership, and your place in the directory, continue to the end of the month you have paid for. Payments already made are not refunded except where the law requires.
• During early access, memberships are provided free of charge. We will tell you before any charge begins, and nothing is charged without your agreement.
• Ending a membership removes your profile from the directory; recognition itself stays on our records.

Reviews, reports and the blog

Reviews are our editorial opinion, formed by the published method. Reports and posts are information for general purposes. None of it is legal, financial, tax or investment advice, and you should take your own advice before acting on it. Product names belong to their owners and are used to identify the products we review.

Acceptable use

Do not use Ceolumen to break the law; to deceive anybody, including by impersonating someone or submitting false information; to harass anyone; to scrape or copy the service at scale; to probe or break its security; or to interfere with its operation. Anything illegal ends in immediate removal and, where required, referral to law enforcement.

Our property

The service, its design, the standard, the reviews, reports and posts, and the Ceolumen name and marks belong to Stacklumen or its licensors. Members may use the recognition mark as the member library describes, while their membership lasts. Nothing else grants you a right to our marks.

Suspension and termination

• You may stop using the service and ask us to delete your account at any time.
• We may suspend or restrict any account immediately, without prior notice, where we believe it is breaking these terms or the law, where it poses a security or legal risk to the service, to us or to anybody else, or where the law or a valid legal request requires it.
• We may terminate your access for a breach of these terms or where the law requires it, without prior notice. We may also end the service, or your access to it, for any other reason on 30 days’ notice.
• Sections that by their nature should survive termination do, including disclaimers, limits of liability, indemnity and disputes.

Disclaimers

The service and everything made available through it are provided “as is” and “as available”, with all faults, and without warranty of any kind. To the fullest extent the law allows, Stacklumen disclaims all warranties, express, implied or statutory, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement and accuracy. We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted, secure or error-free, or that recognition will bring any commercial result.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, Stacklumen and its members, officers, employees, contractors and licensors will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, business, goodwill or data, however caused.

Stacklumen’s total liability for all claims arising out of or relating to these terms or the service, together, will not exceed the greater of the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim and one hundred US dollars (US$100).

Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.

Your indemnity

You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless Stacklumen and its members, officers, employees and contractors from and against every claim, loss, liability and expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of anything you submit to us, your breach of these terms or of the law, or your infringement of anybody’s rights.

Disputes and binding arbitration

Please read this section carefully. It requires disputes to be decided by an arbitrator rather than a court, one by one rather than as a class, and without a jury.

Informal resolution first. Before either side starts arbitration or a court claim, it must write to the other (to us at support@stacklumen.com; to you at the email on your account) describing the dispute and the resolution it wants, and both sides must try in good faith to settle it for 30 days.

Binding individual arbitration. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these terms or the service will be settled by final and binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, or its Commercial Arbitration Rules where those apply, before a single arbitrator, in Lexington, Kentucky, or by video or written submissions where the arbitrator allows. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this section.

What is not arbitrated. Either side may bring an individual claim in a small-claims court that has jurisdiction, and either side may ask a court for urgent relief to protect its intellectual property or the security of the service.

You and Stacklumen each agree that disputes will be brought and decided only on an individual basis, and not in any class, collective, consolidated or representative proceeding. You and Stacklumen each waive any right to a trial by jury.

Opting out. You may opt out of arbitration by writing to support@stacklumen.com, with the subject “Arbitration opt-out” and the email address of your account, within 30 days of first accepting these terms.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, USA, and applicable US federal law, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute that is not arbitrated goes exclusively to the state or federal courts in Fayette County, Kentucky.

Changes to these terms

We may change these terms. The date at the top says when they last changed, and material changes are announced on the site or by email before they take effect. A change to the price of a membership never applies to a month you have already paid for.

General

• Entire agreement. These terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between us about the service.
• Severability. If any part is found unenforceable, the rest stays in force.
• No waiver. Not enforcing a term is not a waiver of it.
• Assignment. You may not assign these terms without our written consent. We may assign them, including in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets.
• Notices. You agree to receive notices electronically, by email to your account address or on the site. Notices to us go to support@stacklumen.com.

Contact. Stacklumen LLC, Lexington, Kentucky, USA. support@stacklumen.com.