Terms of Service

1. Agreement

Thames Coast is a community hub for New London, Groton, and Mystic, Connecticut, operated by Elevare Studio LLC (“we,” “us,” “Thames Coast”). By using the site, creating an account, posting to the community board, submitting an event, subscribing to our email, claiming a business listing, or taking out a membership, you agree to these Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy. If you don’t agree, please don’t use the site. Where these Terms refer to “you,” they mean anyone who uses the site or submits content to it.

2. What Thames Coast is

Thames Coast has an events calendar, a community board, a weekly email, a business directory, and a paid membership. Reading any of it is free and needs no account. Anyone can submit an event without an account. Posting to the community board needs a free account. Membership is optional and paid.

We are a listings and noticeboard platform, not the organizer of the events shown and not a party to anything arranged between residents. We don’t run, endorse, ticket, verify, or guarantee any event, venue, business, job, item for sale, or recommendation posted here. There is no payment system on the community board: if you buy or sell something through a listing, that is entirely between you and the other person.

3. Your account

• You must be 18 or older to create an account or post to the community board. You confirm that when you sign up. If we learn an account holder is under 18 we will close the account.
• One person, one account. We sign you in with a code emailed to your address, so keep access to that inbox and don’t let anyone else use your account. Everything posted from your account is treated as posted by you.
• Your display name is public and has to be unique. Don’t pick one that impersonates someone else, a business, or an official body.
• We may suspend or close an account that breaks these Terms, and we may do it without notice where the content is serious. Closing an account does not automatically remove what was posted from it; ask us if you want that too.
• You can ask us to close your account at any time. See the Privacy Policy for what happens to your posts when we do.

4. What you may not post

When you use the site or submit content, you agree not to post:

• False, misleading, fraudulent, or spam content, scams, chain posts, or the same post blasted across a dozen other towns.
• Anything unlawful, hateful, harassing, defamatory, obscene, sexually explicit, or that promotes violence or illegal activity.
• Anyone’s private information without their consent, including a home address, phone number, workplace, or other details that identify them. On a board this local that is the single most damaging thing anyone posts.
• Threats of violence against a person, or anything targeting an identifiable person for harassment.
• Sexual content involving a minor, anything that puts a child at risk, or intimate images of anyone shared without their consent. Content of the first kind is reported to the authorities and the account is closed.
• Prohibited items: firearms, ammunition and weapons, drugs, prescription medication, alcohol, tobacco and vapes, counterfeit goods, stolen property, live animals, or anything else whose sale or transfer is restricted by law.
• Job posts that state or imply a preference based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic. The same rule applies to any housing post.
• Content that impersonates any person, business, venue, or organization, or misrepresents your affiliation with one.
• Content that infringes anyone’s copyright, trademark, privacy, or other rights. Only upload photos you took yourself or clearly have permission to use.
• Business promotion outside the places we allow it. Businesses may post jobs and events, and may reply in a recommendation thread about their own trade with a badge showing who they are. Everything else is a paid placement, and paid placements are labelled.

You also agree not to upload malware, attempt to breach or overload the site, scrape it beyond normal use, bypass our spam controls, misuse our forms or APIs, or harvest other people’s information from the site for unsolicited contact.

The community board rules say the same things in plainer words. If the two ever read differently, this section is the binding one.

5. Your content, and the licence you give us

What you post is yours. You keep ownership of the posts, replies, photos, event details, and other content you submit, and you are solely responsible for it. We do not claim it and we do not sell it.

By submitting content you grant Elevare Studio LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to host, store, display, reformat for layout, and distribute that content in connection with operating and promoting Thames Coast, including on the website, in the weekly email, and on our Facebook page. If we feature a community post in the weekly email, we reproduce it as written and credit it to your display name; we may trim it for length, but we don’t rewrite it. The licence ends for future uses when you delete the content, except for copies already sent out in an email and for the records described in the Privacy Policy.

You represent that:

• The content is yours to post, including any image and any names, logos, or artwork in it.
• The information is accurate as far as you know.
• You have permission to share any contact details you provide.
• Your content doesn’t break Section 4 or anyone’s rights.

Posts are public. Everything on the community board can be read by anyone, with no account, and may be indexed by search engines. Don’t post anything you would not want published under your display name.

You can take it down. You can edit or delete your own posts at any time, from the post itself. An edit is screened the same way a new post is; if a change does not pass that check, the post stays exactly as it was and we tell you why. A reply cannot yet be edited or removed by the person who wrote it — ask us and we will take it down. Deleting hides the post from everyone immediately. We keep a record that the post existed, so that an accidental delete can be undone and so we can respond to a complaint or a legal request; the Privacy Policy explains this and how to ask for a full erasure instead.

6. Moderation, reports, and blocking

Here is exactly how content is checked, so nothing about it is a surprise:

• Every board post and reply, and every event submitted by an unverified organizer, goes through an automated check first. Events from organizers we have already verified publish directly.
• Most posts publish straight away. If the check is merely unsure, the post is held, stays visible to you at its own address with a band saying so, and publishes itself within about a day if nothing else comes up. If the check flags something serious it is held until a person looks at it, and it does not release on its own.
• Photos are screened separately before they are ever shown. A photo that does not pass simply does not display; the post itself is unaffected.
• We tell you the real outcome of what you submitted, published, held, or not published. We don’t fake a success message.
• Every post and reply has a Report button, and you do not need an account to use it. We will not tell you what we decided, and we will never tell the person you reported who reported them.
• You can block another account, which keeps their posts and replies out of your view.
• There are no private messages, on purpose. Replies happen in the open, where they can be moderated.
• Reports are reviewed by the operator. Because that is one person, review can take longer at some times than others.

Screening is automated and best-effort, and we do not promise a result. We do not review every post before it appears, we have no obligation to monitor the site, and we cannot guarantee that everything here is accurate, lawful, or safe. We may refuse, hold, hide, unpublish, or remove any content, and restrict access, at our discretion, with or without notice, and we are not liable for doing so or for not doing so. We may also correct obvious formatting errors. We are under no obligation to keep or restore content we have removed, except where the law requires us to preserve it.

7. Copyright complaints

If you believe something on Thames Coast infringes your copyright, email nyriian@thamescoastevents.com with: your contact details; enough detail to identify the work you say was copied; the URL of the post or photo you want removed; a statement that you believe in good faith the use is not authorized by you, your agent, or the law; a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorized to act for the owner; and your signature, electronic or physical.

We will act on a complete notice promptly, and we will tell the person who posted the content that we removed it and why. If you are that person and you believe the removal was a mistake or a misidentification, you may send us a counter-notice with your contact details, identification of the removed material and where it was, and a statement under penalty of perjury that you believe in good faith it was removed by mistake, together with your consent to the jurisdiction of the federal court for your district. We will pass a counter-notice on to the complainant, and unless they tell us they have filed a court action, we may restore the material between 10 and 14 business days later.

We close the accounts of people who repeatedly infringe. Three upheld complaints against one account is the usual point at which we do.

8. Newsletter and email

The weekly email is double opt-in: you confirm your address before we ever send. You can unsubscribe with one click in any message. We also send transactional email you can’t opt out of while you have an account or a membership, such as sign-in codes, billing receipts, renewal notices, and anything we are legally required to send you. See the Privacy Policy for how we handle your email address.

The weekly email is free to everyone, and stays free. This is a commitment, not a courtesy, and Section 15 says what it takes for it to end.

9. Membership

Membership is an optional paid subscription. It does not put the site or the weekly email behind a wall; it buys early access to the email, the full searchable archive, a member badge, and saving and following. If a perk is not switched on yet, we say so where we describe it rather than charging for it quietly.

• It renews automatically until you cancel it, at the price and interval shown to you at the point of purchase. Before you pay, we show you every term of the renewal in a block next to the payment form, and you tick a box to confirm you understand it. That box is never pre-ticked, and we keep a record of what you were shown and when you agreed.
• Cancelling takes about twenty seconds and happens entirely online. Use the cancel button in your account or go straight to thamescoast.com/cancel. There is no survey, no retention offer, no phone call, and nothing to talk anyone out of. Your membership then runs to the end of the period you have already paid for and stops: you keep the access you paid for, and nothing renews after it. If you would rather have the money back than the remaining access, ask us for the prorated refund described next.
• Refunds are prorated on request. Ask us for the unused part of the period you have already paid for and we will refund it.
• If a card payment fails we email you and keep your access on for about seven days while we retry, then the membership lapses. We will not send you a cheerful “your membership is active” email while that is happening.
• We send renewal reminders by email: one to every member each year, and, for a yearly plan, a separate notice about a month before each renewal telling you how to cancel.
• No free trial and no introductory price. The first charge is the full price shown.
• A founding rate lock, once claimed, holds for as long as that membership stays open. If you cancel and rejoin later, you rejoin at the standard price. We may change standard prices going forward, and we will email you before a new price applies to you so you can cancel first.
• Payments are processed by Stripe; your purchase is also subject to Stripe’s terms.

10. Business listings and paid features

Claiming a listing is free. Some features (featured listings, directory tiers, newsletter sponsorships) are or will be paid. Where a paid feature is not switched on yet, no card is charged. If and when you buy one:

• Prices, billing terms, and any “founder rate” are shown at the point of purchase and govern that transaction.
• Payments are processed by Stripe; your purchase is also subject to Stripe’s terms.
• A “founder rate,” once locked, applies as described on the featured page at the time you claim it. We may change standard (non-founder) prices going forward.
• Anything recurring is cancellable the same way membership is, and carries the same disclosures before you pay.

11. Third-party links, events, and dealings between users

Listings link to organizers’, venues’, and ticket sellers’ own sites, and the site may link to Facebook and other third parties. We don’t control and aren’t responsible for third-party sites, events, tickets, or content. Your dealings with any organizer, venue, ticket seller, advertiser, employer, buyer, or seller are between you and them. Confirm event details (date, time, price, cancellation) with the organizer before you rely on them, and use ordinary sense when you meet someone from a listing.

12. Intellectual property

The Thames Coast name, logo, category illustrations, site design, and original text are owned by Elevare Studio LLC and protected by law. You may not copy, republish, or reuse them without permission, except for normal personal use of the site (for example, sharing a link). Content submitted by residents, organizers, and businesses belongs to them.

13. Disclaimers, no warranty

The site and everything on it are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and any warranty about the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, safety, or availability of anything posted here. Events change, get cancelled, sell out, or are posted with errors. Recommendations are opinions of the people who wrote them. Items for sale, jobs, and the people offering them are not vetted by us. We don’t warrant that the site will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure. Verify anything that matters before you rely on it.

14. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Elevare Studio LLC and its owners, members, and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or any loss arising from: your use of (or inability to use) the site; any event, venue, business, ticket seller, organizer, employer, buyer, or seller listed; any content submitted by others; any dealing you enter into with another user; or any error, delay, removal, or restoration of content.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim relating to the site will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim, or (b) US $100. Some jurisdictions don’t allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you. Nothing in these Terms limits any right you have under Connecticut consumer protection law, including your rights about automatic renewals.

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Elevare Studio LLC from claims, damages, and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from content you submit, your use of the site, or your violation of these Terms or of anyone’s rights.

16. Changes and availability

We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the site at any time, and we may update these Terms. Material changes will be noted on the site with an updated date. Continued use after a change means you accept the updated Terms.

One carve-out, and it is deliberate. Nothing in this section, and no future change to these Terms, lets us start charging for the weekly email or for reading the site. That commitment ends only if you unsubscribe or ask to be removed, your address stops accepting mail, or we discontinue the weekly email for everyone. Converting it to paid-only does not count as discontinuing it. If Thames Coast is ever sold or transferred, this commitment transfers with it.

17. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Connecticut, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. You agree that the state and federal courts located in Connecticut have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute, and you consent to venue there.

18. Miscellaneous

If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision isn’t a waiver. These Terms are the entire agreement between you and us about the site.

19. Contact

Questions about these Terms: use our contact form or email nyriian@thamescoastevents.com.

Published by Elevare Studio LLC, Connecticut. See also our Privacy Policy.