Who may use this platform
Thing.pub is available to verified members who have been approved through the human verification process. Access is granted individually. Sharing your account credentials or circumventing the verification process is not permitted and will result in permanent removal.
What you may do
- Share your own original manuscripts with readers you invite or approve
- Read manuscripts shared with you by authors on the platform
- Leave annotations, endorsements, and feedback within the platform
- Build a public literary profile and manage your reading identity
- Invite others through the invitation system
What you may not do
- Reproduce, distribute, or share manuscript content outside the platform in any form
- Attempt to circumvent device locking, watermarking, or any security feature
- Use the platform to harvest, scrape, or collect data about other members
- Upload AI-generated content and represent it as your own original work
- Harass, threaten, or act in bad faith toward any member of the community
- Share your access credentials or allow others to use your account
Intellectual property
All manuscripts shared on Thing.pub remain the intellectual property of their authors. Accessing a manuscript through the platform grants you a limited, personal, non-transferable right to read it. It does not grant any licence to reproduce, adapt, or distribute the work. Thing.pub makes no claim of ownership over any content you upload.
Trust and accountability
Thing.pub is built on verified trust. Members who violate the terms of this community (by leaking manuscripts, abusing the annotation system, misrepresenting their identity, or acting in bad faith) will be removed permanently. Because access is invitation-based, accountability may extend to the member who issued the invitation. We take this seriously and act on reports promptly.
Free and premium features
All core functionality of Thing.pub is free to use and will remain so. Premium subscriptions are available for cosmetic customization features only. No functional feature that protects your work or enables platform participation will ever be paywalled. Premium is voluntary support, not a requirement.
Availability and changes
Thing.pub is in active development. Features may change, be added, or be removed. We will communicate material changes directly. The platform may occasionally be unavailable for maintenance. We are not liable for losses arising from downtime or data loss, though we will make every reasonable effort to prevent both.
Governing terms
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas. Thing.pub is operated by Thing.pub Series of Althing LLC, a Texas Series LLC. Any disputes will be resolved in the courts of Texas.
Privacy & data
This section explains what personal data Thing.pub processes, why, and the rights you have over it. The data controller is Thing.pub Series of Althing LLC (a Texas Series LLC); contact the controller at contact@thing.pub.
What we collect
- Your email address, used as your sign-in (we send one-time magic links; no password).
- Your display name / handle and any social or web links you choose to provide for human verification.
- A device fingerprint for each device you sign in from, used to enforce the device limit and protect against shared or compromised accounts.
- Your activity within the platform: reading progress, annotations, endorsements, applications, and similar interactions.
- Manuscripts you author, which are stored end-to-end encrypted: they are encrypted in your browser, and Thing.pub cannot read their contents.
Why we process it (lawful bases)
- To provide the service you asked for (hosting your account, manuscripts, and reading) and to authenticate you (performance of a contract).
- To keep the community safe: human verification, abuse prevention, device limits, and per-reader watermarking that protects authors' work (legitimate interests).
- With your consent, where you opt in (for example, sharing your email address with an author whose ARC you apply to). You can withdraw consent at any time in Settings.
Who we share it with
We do not sell your personal data. Manuscripts are shared only with the readers an author invites or approves. If you apply to read a book, the author sees your name and your answers; your email address is shown to the author only if you opt in. We use a small number of processors to run the service: database and hosting (Supabase, Fly.io, in the United States) and email delivery (SMTP2GO). Because hosting is in the US, your data may be processed outside your country.
How long we keep it & deletion
We keep your data for as long as your account is active. You can delete your account at any time. When you do, we remove your profile and de-identify interactions that cannot be removed without erasing other members' records (these appear as "User deleted"), and we scrub the personal details from any applications you submitted. Some security and audit records are retained as required for the integrity of the platform.
Your rights
Subject to applicable law (including the GDPR for users in the EU/UK), you have the right to access, correct, export, restrict, or object to the processing of your personal data, and to erase it. To exercise any of these, email contact@thing.pub. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority.
Cookies & local storage
We use a strictly-necessary authentication cookie to keep you signed in, and your browser's local storage for non-tracking essentials such as your chosen theme and a device key. We do not use advertising or third-party tracking cookies.
Contact
Questions or concerns about these terms can be directed to Jules Mourne via email contact@thing.pub or through the Substack.
Thing.pub ยท Thing.pub Series of Althing LLC, a Texas Series LLC