Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of Podium (the "Service"), operated by Felix Kaechele. By accessing or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.

What the Service is

The Service lets constituents ask election candidates public questions, lets candidates answer them, and lets constituents vote, comment on, follow, and share that public record. It is a neutral question-and-answer platform, not a candidate, a party, or an election authority.

Affiliations

This Service is not affiliated with any candidate, party, or election authority. It is operated by Felix Kaechele, an individual and Ontario resident. The Service is not a government website, and it is not endorsed by any election authority or candidate. The Service is not a news organization, and it does not provide news coverage or analysis. It is a neutral platform for public questions and answers.

We don't endorse anyone or fact-check answers

We don't endorse, support, or vouch for any candidate, party, or position, and we don't verify or fact-check the accuracy of anything a candidate says in an answer, bio, or platform statement. Candidates are responsible for their own answers. An unclaimed profile may be partially filled in by an election administrator from public information before the candidate takes it over — it is clearly labeled as unclaimed, and its content shouldn't be read as anything the candidate personally wrote or endorsed until they claim it.

Eligibility and accounts

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account.
You're responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide and for all activity under your account, including keeping your login credentials confidential.
You agree not to create an account for the purpose of impersonating someone else, or to create multiple accounts to evade a restriction or moderation decision.

Anyone can ask a question without an account, subject to a one-time email confirmation to deter spam and impersonation.

Candidate profiles and claiming

A profile is claimed via a personalized invitation link sent to the candidate's own contact address. By claiming a profile, you represent that you are that candidate or someone duly authorized to manage their campaign presence on their behalf.
You're responsible for the accuracy of everything you add to your profile and for every answer you publish. Answers you publish are public and attributed to you; retracting an answer replaces it with a visible retraction notice rather than deleting it silently.
We may withdraw or relabel a profile (for example, on a candidate's withdrawal from the race) while keeping it visible as part of the public record.

Acceptable use

You agree not to use the Service to:

Post content that is illegal, defamatory, harassing, threatening, or hateful.
Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with one.
Post spam, or content unrelated to the election(s) the Service covers.
Manipulate votes, follows, or question/answer counts — including through multiple accounts, automated tools, or coordinated "brigading."
Attempt to circumvent a moderation decision, an account restriction, or a rate limit.
Scrape, harvest, or misuse other users' personal information (including email addresses collected for anonymous-question verification) for any purpose beyond viewing the Service normally.
Interfere with the Service's normal operation, including probing, disrupting, or overloading it.

Your content

You retain ownership of the questions, answers, comments, and profile content you submit. By submitting content, you grant Felix Kaechele a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, and distribute it as part of operating and archiving the Service — including after the election, as a public historical record. You're solely responsible for content you submit, and you confirm you have the right to post it.

Moderation

Every question goes through moderation before it's shown publicly. We may also remove, restrict, or label content — including an already-published question, answer, comment, or link — that violates these Terms, along with a visible note that it was moderated where the Service's design shows one. We may restrict or suspend an account's ability to vote, flag content, or use the Service at all, including for abusive voting behavior or repeated violations. Moderation decisions are made at our discretion and are not a promise that every instance of any category of content will be caught or removed.

Reporting content

If you see content that violates these Terms, you can report it through the Service's built-in reporting tool. Reports are reviewed by moderators and aren't shared publicly. Filing deliberately false or bad-faith reports is itself a violation of these Terms.

Third-party sign-in and links

If you sign in via Google or Facebook, your use of that provider is also governed by its own terms. Candidate profiles may link to external websites and social media accounts we don't control; we're not responsible for that external content.

Intellectual property

The Service's design, branding, and underlying software belong to Felix Kaechele or its licensors, except for content submitted by users as described above. You may not copy or reuse the Service's design or software except as permitted by its open-source license, if any is published for this deployment.

Disclaimer of warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DON'T WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR THAT ANY CANDIDATE'S ANSWER OR PROFILE INFORMATION IS ACCURATE OR COMPLETE.

Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, FELIX KAECHELE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE OR RELIANCE ON ANY CONTENT ON IT, INCLUDING A CANDIDATE'S ANSWERS.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold Felix Kaechele harmless from any claim arising from content you submit, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any law or third-party right.

Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account at any time for a violation of these Terms. You may stop using the Service, or ask us to delete your account, at any time (see the Privacy Policy for what happens to already-published content).

Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make a material change, we'll update the "Last updated" date above; continued use of the Service after a change means you accept the updated Terms.

Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada, without regard to its conflict-of-law principles.

Contact us

Questions about these Terms? Contact Felix Kaechele at [email protected].