Terms of Contribution

Here's how licensing works when you contribute content to Poly Convergence — whether through a pull request or the web editor. No scary clauses — just a plain explanation of what happens to your work when you share it here.

You Keep What You Create​

Contributing here doesn't transfer ownership of anything. You keep full copyright over everything you write. This page is about how we can use your work to run the site — not about taking it from you.

What You Grant Us​

When you submit content, you're giving Poly Convergence a perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, display, and distribute your contribution on this site and through related channels (RSS feeds, social previews, etc.). That's the minimum we need to actually publish your work. It doesn't stop you from publishing the same piece elsewhere or doing anything else you want with it.

Blog Post License Options​

When you submit a story or blog post, you pick how other people can use your work beyond this site. There are two options:

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Default) Others can share and adapt your writing, as long as they credit you, don't use it commercially, and share any adaptations under the same terms. The "NonCommercial" clause restricts what they can do — not what you can do. You're the copyright holder, so you can still publish the same piece elsewhere, monetize it, or license it however you like. Good fit for educational content you want to help spread — guides, essays, reflections on navigating polyamory.

All Rights Reserved Think of it like renting out a room in your house — you set the rules for guests, but those rules don't apply to you. You still own the house. With All Rights Reserved, others can link to your piece and quote short excerpts under fair use, but they can't repost or redistribute the full text without your permission. You can still do whatever you want with your own work — publish it on Substack, rework it into a book chapter, sell it, license it to a magazine. The restrictions only apply to everyone else, never to you. Good fit if you're a professional writer, plan to publish elsewhere, or just want tighter control over how your work circulates.

If you don't pick a license when submitting, your post defaults to CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Wiki Content​

Wiki contributions are always CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — no option to change this. Wiki pages are community resources, not personal essays. They're meant to be shared, translated, quoted, and built upon. A permissive license is what makes that work.

If you want to write something personal with tighter control over redistribution, submit it as a blog post instead.

Images and Uploads​

When you upload an image or other media, you're representing that you have the right to use it. That means one of the following:

• You created it — and you retain full rights to it
• It's from the public domain or under a permissive license — and you've checked the terms and confirmed they allow this use
• You have explicit permission from the rights holder — and can back that up if asked

Screenshots of other people's posts, social media content, and similar material may qualify as fair use depending on context — but fair use is a legal gray area. When in doubt, don't upload it.

Your Responsibility​

When you submit content, you're representing that:

• You have the right to submit it
• It doesn't infringe on anyone else's copyright, trademark, or other rights (beyond what's covered by fair use)
• It doesn't contain anything you're under a legal obligation to keep private

If something you submit causes a rights problem, that's on you — not on Poly Convergence or its maintainers. We'll remove any content that's found to violate the rights of others.

A note on privacy: We automatically strip EXIF metadata (location, device info, timestamps) from uploaded images as a safety net — but that only covers what's embedded in the file. If an image contains visually identifying information (faces, landmarks, street signs, etc.), no amount of metadata stripping will help. You're ultimately responsible for what your uploads reveal.

Site Artwork and Branding​

The site's logos, illustrations, and visual branding are all rights reserved and not available for reuse, adaptation, or commercial distribution without permission. To request permission, open an issue on GitHub.

Moderation​

We reserve the right to edit, reject, or remove contributions that violate community guidelines or don't fit the site's purpose. For substantive edits, we'll work with you first. For things that clearly cross the line — hate speech, harassment, deliberate misinformation — we'll remove without negotiation.

If you have a concern about how your content was handled, reach out through the site.

For the full license breakdown (MIT for code, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 for content, all rights reserved for artwork), see the LICENSE file on GitHub.