Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing and using BookTribes ("the Service"), you accept and agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use the Service.

2. Description of Service

BookTribes is a book recommendation platform that matches readers with similar tastes ("reading tribes") to provide personalized book recommendations. The Service uses collaborative filtering based on user ratings to identify similar readers and suggest books.

3. User Accounts

To use certain features of the Service, you must create an account. You agree to:

• Provide accurate and complete information when registering
• Maintain the security of your account credentials
• Notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account
• Be responsible for all activities that occur under your account

4. User Content and Conduct

You may submit book ratings, reviews, and other content ("User Content"). You agree that:

• You own or have the right to submit your User Content
• Your User Content does not violate any laws or third-party rights
• You will not submit harmful, abusive, or inappropriate content
• You will not engage in harassment, brigading, or coordinated negative campaigns
• BookTribes may use your ratings for recommendation algorithms but will not share them publicly without your consent

5. Prohibited Activities

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any illegal purpose
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the Service
• Scrape, harvest, or collect user data without permission
• Create fake accounts or manipulate ratings
• Harass, bully, or threaten other users or authors
• Submit spam, advertisements, or promotional content
• Reverse engineer or decompile any part of the Service

6. Content Moderation

BookTribes reserves the right to:

• Remove any User Content that violates these Terms
• Suspend or terminate accounts that violate our policies
• Investigate reports of abuse or misconduct
• Implement rate limits and anti-abuse measures

7. Intellectual Property

The Service and its original content (excluding User Content) are owned by BookTribes and protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. Book metadata is sourced from the Google Books API and remains subject to their terms.

8. No Sponsorship or Paid Placement

BookTribes does not accept payment from publishers, authors, or third parties to influence recommendations. All recommendations are generated algorithmically based on user similarity. Affiliate links may be present but do not influence recommendation algorithms.

9. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. BookTribes does not guarantee the accuracy, quality, or suitability of recommendations.

10. Limitation of Liability

BookTribes shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from your use of the Service.

11. Changes to Terms

We may modify these Terms at any time. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the modified Terms.

12. Contact

For questions about these Terms, please contact us at legal@booktribes.app