Terms of Service (TOS)
For Hoop.la, UBB Forum, and QuestionShark

Effective July 19, 2015
Hoop.la, UBB Forum, and QuestionShark are hosted online community services (the "Service") provided by Social Strata, Inc. ("Social Strata", "we", "us"). All content created in a Service site is owned by and controlled by the site owner ("you"). By agreeing to this TOS, you also agree to the separate FeePod Premium Memberships Terms of Service For Participating Sites in its entirety.

Our Commitment
We'll provide you with a hosted Service site, as defined by the plan you selected, and the right to use our software for as long as your account is active and in good standing.

We'll provide support through our portal at mailto:[email protected]. Most support is free through that site, but more complex troubleshooting may be subject to a fee, which we will determine in advance. If such "advanced support" is required, you will be given a quote for service. Advanced support will only be provided if you authorize us to perform such work at the quoted rate.

We'll maintain and upgrade the service as needed, and we'll do our best to notify you 24 hours in advance of any impact to the service, unless emergency maintenance is necessary. We'll notify you either by email or by an announcement on our support page, at mailto:[email protected].

We will provide service and features according to the plan that you have purchased, however plan features and details may change from time to time and you agree that your sole recourse at such times is to cancel your service, subject to the terms of this agreement.

We respect your privacy and the information that you provide to us is subject to our Privacy Policy.

We will only disclose your personal information and/or content if we are required to do so by law (usually though not necessarily through a subpoena), in order to respond to copyright infringement claims, per your request, or if necessary in order to protect other people.

If you ever want to export your content, we will assist as best we can, subject to a price quote. (Our goal is to make the export process as automated as possible in the future.)
Your Commitment
You are solely responsible for all activity in your Service site, including all content posted to your community, as well as the behavior of all members in your community. (Social Strata has no role in managing your community.) You agree to comply with our Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP").

You agree not to do anything that is illegal in your local jurisdiction or in the United States of America, and to remove content that is illegal. You won't post any copyrighted material, and, when notified of such, you will remove copyrighted material posted by your users.

You won't remove or tamper with our branding, both Social Strata and Hoop.la.

You are at least 13 years old.

You agree that we may list and/or market your site on marketing materials, including site name, screenshot or sample image/logo, and URL (if your site is public).

You agree to pay the fees associated with the plan you select, if applicable. You understand that your plan will automatically renew until you cancel. All payments are non-refundable, even if you cancel before the paid-through date. If your account is not in good standing, you may not be able to access your site.

You agree to keep your contact information current, so that we may contact you successfully when the need arises.
Notes and Other Disclosures
Your Right To Cancel:You may cancel service at any time, for any reason, so long as you provide at least 30 day's notice. This notice should be provided on our support site at http://socialstrata.com/support. Such requests are only valid if requested from a verified email address from a Super Admin of record on the site. Refunds will not be given, however, even if you have prepaid for a period beyond your requested cancellation date. Your site and all of its contents may be deleted by Social Strata anytime after the cancellation effective date or anytime after service has been terminated by Social Strata.

Transfer of Ownership: You may transfer ownership of your community, as long as the account is in good standing.

Page View Limits: If your site exceeds "page view" limits for its plan in a given month, you may be subject to page view overage fees at rate of $1.50 per thousand page views, rounded up to the nearest thousand. Usage overage fees are due within 15 days of receipt of invoice.

A "page view" is defined as a Service servlet request and is intended to reflect overall usage of the service. There are many kinds of servlet requests and Hoop.la weighs the various request types differently. Some requests count as a full "page view", others count as partial "page views" and still others counts as multiple "page view" requests. The multiples for these "page view" requests are determined by Social Strata and may change at any time. You can track your site's billable "page views", as well as view a breakdown of "page views" by request type, in your Service control panel.

Disk Space, Member, and Chat Participant Limits: Your plan has limits on the number of registered members, the maximum number of participants in a single chat room or event, and the total disk space used by attachments and clips uploaded to your site. There are no overage fees associated with these limits. You will simply be prevented from exceeding them.

Requests to Amend Plan: You may add or remove add-ons for your account at any time. Requests to remove add-ons require at least 30 days' notice, however.

Copyright Infringement Notification: Social Strata has filed a designation as an agent with the United States Copyright Office to receive notifications of copyright infringement. Valid notifications provided to Social Strata of copyright infringement must include the following:
  • Information that identifies the content that has been infringed, and information that helps Social Strata to locate the infringing content.
  • A statement that you have a good faith belief that the content is infringing.
  • A statement that the information provided is accurate, and that you are the copyright holder or his/her representative.
  • Name, address, phone number and email address of the reporting party.
Please send all infringement claims to the following address: Social Strata, Inc., Attn: Copyright Violation Agent, 1985 Riviera Drive, Suite 103-114, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464, USA

Limitation of Liability: IN NO EVENT SHALL SOCIAL STRATA BE LIABLE TO CUSTOMER OR TO ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFIT DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE (OR YOUR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE), EVEN IF SOCIAL STRATA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY CONTAINED HEREIN, SOCIAL STRATA'S LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER, AND REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF THE ACTION, WILL AT ALL TIMES BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT PAID, IF ANY, BY CUSTOMER TO SOCIAL STRATA UNDER THIS AGREEMENT DURING THE TWO (2) MONTHS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE DATE ON WHICH SUCH CLAIM AROSE.

Indemnity: You agree to indemnify and hold Social Strata and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, employees, partners, and licensors harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your or your users' content, use of the service, violation of the Terms of Service or the AUP, or violation of any rights of another person or entity.

Service Provided As-Is: You understand that the service is provided "as-is" and on an "as available" basis, and that no performance guarantees are available. You agree that Social Strata is not liable for any damages that may occur through your or your users' use of the service because of service unavailability or feature loss, or because of data loss that may occur. In addition, although best efforts will be made to maintain a secure data environment, Social Strata is not liable for damage caused due to security breaches by outside parties.

Our Right To Terminate: We may suspend, terminate, and/or delete your account if you violate this TOS, if you request such action, at the request of legal authorities, or for other reasons at our discretion. If we terminate your account prior to its paid-through date, we will provide a pro rata refund. If you are on a plan for which you are currently paying nothing for service and for which there are no active premium memberships, then we may also terminate your site without notice if there have been no new posts or new members for the past 180 days.

Venue: This TOS is governed by the laws of the State of South Carolina. You and Social Strata agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within Charleston County, South Carolina.

This TOS is available for review online at https://assets.socialstrata.com/docs/hoopla_tos.php and may be modified by Social Strata at any time. We'll notify you if there are substantive changes, however.