terms of service

1. acceptance of these terms

by accessing or using aetheron (the "service") you agree to be bound by these terms of service. if you do not agree, do not access the service. aetheron is a private, invite-only forum operated by its sole creator and owner (the "operator").

2. eligibility and invite codes

aetheron is not open to the public. registration requires a single-use invite code issued by an existing member or staff account. you must be at least 16 years old to register. by entering an invite code you confirm it was given to you directly; using a code obtained through resale, scraping, or any other unauthorized channel is a breach of these terms.

3. your account

• accounts are personal and non-transferable. you may not share, sell, lease, trade, or otherwise hand over access to your account.
• you are responsible for keeping your passphrase confidential and for every action taken on the service from your account.
• one account per person. alternate or backup accounts are not permitted without explicit staff approval.
• handles cannot be changed without staff intervention and are retained even after an account is closed.

4. acceptable use

you agree not to:

• access, attempt to access, or encourage others to access the service without a valid account.
• harass, threaten, dox, or impersonate any other member or third party.
• post content that is illegal, infringing, or that the operator determines is incompatible with the spirit of the community.
• use automated systems (bots, scrapers, crawlers) to read, copy, or redistribute any part of the service.
• reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, tamper with, or attempt to derive the source code of the aetheron software.
• circumvent, disable, or otherwise interfere with security, rate-limiting, or moderation features.

5. content you post

you retain ownership of content you post to aetheron. by posting, you grant the operator a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, display, and transmit your content for the purpose of operating the service. you are solely responsible for ensuring you have the right to post what you post.

6. moderation and termination

the operator and designated staff may remove any content and suspend or terminate any account at their sole discretion, with or without notice. grounds for immediate termination include, without limitation: sharing an account, operating more than one account, tampering with the software, or any conduct the operator considers a serious breach of these terms.

7. disclaimers and liability

the service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranty of any kind. to the maximum extent permitted by law, the operator is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of, or inability to use, the service.

8. changes to these terms

these terms may change from time to time. material changes will be announced in the announcements category. continued use of the service after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

9. contact

questions about these terms should be directed to the operator via the in-forum contact form.

copyright 2026 aetheron. all rights reserved.

end-user license agreement

1. license grant

subject to your continuous compliance with this agreement and the terms of service, aetheron grants you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to access and use the aetheron software (the "software") for personal, non-commercial use, solely via an account issued to you.

2. ownership

the software and all associated intellectual property - including source code, object code, interface design, assets, wordmark, and documentation - were created in 2026 by the sole creator and owner of aetheron, and remain their exclusive property. nothing in this agreement transfers any ownership or proprietary right to you.

3. restrictions

you will not, and will not permit any third party to:

• copy, modify, adapt, translate, or create derivative works of the software.
• reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise attempt to derive the source code, internal structure, or algorithms of the software.
• tamper with, patch, hook into, inject code into, or otherwise alter the software's runtime behaviour.
• remove, obscure, or alter any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices.
• use the software to build, train, or evaluate any competing product or service.
• use automated means to access, scrape, or index the software or the content within it.
• rent, lease, sell, sublicense, assign, or otherwise transfer your access or this license.

4. no distribution

you will not distribute, publish, host, or make the software (or any part of it) available to any person outside your own personal use. sharing your account, inviting anyone other than the person named on the invite, or allowing multiple people to use a single account is a material breach of this agreement.

5. termination

this license terminates automatically, without notice, upon any breach of this agreement or the terms of service. upon termination you must cease all use of the software and delete any local copies of software assets in your possession. sections 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8 survive termination.

6. warranty disclaimer

the software is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

7. limitation of liability

in no event shall the operator be liable for any damages whatsoever - including lost profits, lost data, or business interruption - arising from your use of, inability to use, or reliance on the software, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

8. governing law

this agreement is governed by the laws of the operator's jurisdiction, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. any dispute shall be resolved in the courts of that jurisdiction.

copyright 2026 aetheron. all rights reserved.

privacy policy

1. scope

this privacy policy describes how aetheron (the "service") handles personal information of its members. it applies to the forum, shoutbox, subscription systems, and all associated pages under the aetheron domain.

2. information we collect

• account information - username, email, password hash, invite code used.
• profile content - anything you post, upload, send via dm, or submit through the shoutbox.
• usage data - ip address, user agent, timestamps, and basic request metadata retained for abuse prevention.
• billing metadata - subscription tier and status. we do not receive or store payment card data; that sits with our payment processor.

3. how we use it

we use your information to run the service, authenticate you, enforce the terms of service, prevent abuse, and communicate with you about your account. we do not sell, trade, or rent your information, and we do not run advertising of any kind.

bot & ddos protection (cloudflare turnstile). aetheron uses cloudflare turnstile - including an invisible challenge on first load and on the login/register forms - to confirm visitors are human and to protect the service from automated abuse. turnstile may collect device and browser signals to perform this assessment. your use of these pages is subject to cloudflare's turnstile privacy addendum, available at cloudflare.com/turnstile-privacy-policy.

4. sharing

we share personal information only in the following circumstances: with our infrastructure and payment processors under contract, when required by law, or to protect the rights and safety of the operator, members, or the public. staff members access member data only as needed for moderation and support.

5. retention

account records are kept for as long as your account exists. content posted to the forum remains after your account is closed, but is disassociated from your handle on request. usage logs are rotated after 90 days. payment metadata is retained as required by tax law.

6. your rights

you may request a copy of your personal information, correction of inaccurate records, deletion of your account, or objection to certain processing. contact legal@aetheron.invalid and we will respond within 30 days.

7. cookies

we use a single session cookie to keep you logged in and a preference cookie for your theme and timezone. we do not use third-party analytics or tracking cookies.

8. security

passwords are stored as salted hashes. traffic is encrypted in transit. access to the production environment is limited to the operator. we will notify affected members within 72 hours of confirming a data incident that affects them.

9. changes

material changes to this policy will be announced in the announcements category. the "last updated" date at the top will reflect the latest revision.

10. contact

for privacy questions or data requests, email legal@aetheron.invalid.

copyright 2026 aetheron. all rights reserved.