Effective date: May 29, 2026
The plain-language version: be cool, post like a real person, reading is free, posting costs five bucks a month once we open paid memberships (free forever if you got in early). The full terms are below — they’re the rules that keep this place running and keep us out of trouble.
These Terms govern your use of Board Rats at boardrats.com, operated by WP Hatch, Inc. (“Board Rats”, “we”, “us”). By creating an account or using the site, you agree to these Terms. If you don’t agree, don’t use the site.
1. Accounts
You must be at least 18 years old to create an account. You’re responsible for activity under your account and for keeping your login secure. Provide accurate information and keep it current. One person, one account, unless we agree otherwise. We may suspend or close accounts that provide false information, are shared, or are operated by bots.
2. Membership and billing
- Founding period (now through June 30, 2026). Accounts created during this period are free Founding Members with full posting access and ad-free viewing at no charge, for as long as the community operates in substantially its current form. No payment is required. Founding status is tied to your account; it does not transfer to other people and can be suspended or revoked if you violate these Terms or our Community Guidelines.
- Paid membership (launching on or around July 1, 2026). After the founding period, posting requires a paid membership of $5.00/month USD (or the then-current price). Reading remains free. Founding Members keep their free posting and ad-free access and are not charged, subject to the conditions above.
- Recurring billing. Paid memberships renew automatically each month until cancelled. By subscribing you authorize us (via our payment processor, Stripe) to charge your payment method on each renewal until you cancel.
- Failed payments. If a renewal payment fails, we may pause your posting access until payment succeeds. If payment remains unsuccessful after a reasonable retry period (generally up to 14 days), the paid membership may be cancelled. Reading access is unaffected.
- Cancellation. You can cancel anytime from your account page. Cancellation stops future renewals; your posting access continues until the end of the paid period already paid for.
- Refunds. Membership fees are non-refundable except where required by law. Cancelling stops future charges but does not refund the current period.
- Price changes. We may change pricing with reasonable advance notice; changes apply to renewals after the notice period.
3. Advertising
Reading Board Rats is free. To support the free tier, we may display advertising to non-paying users, including ads served by third-party advertising networks (such as Google AdSense). These networks may use cookies and similar technologies to serve and measure ads; see our Privacy Policy for details and your choices. Founding Members and paid members receive ad-free viewing. We do not control the content of third-party ads and are not responsible for products or services advertised.
4. Your content
You keep ownership of what you post. By posting, you grant Board Rats a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, display, reproduce, and distribute your content on and in connection with the service (including in search results, feeds, and quoted or screenshotted within the service by other members). You’re responsible for your content and confirm you have the rights to post it.
If you delete your account, public posts may remain to preserve the integrity of conversations; on request we will anonymize them by removing your username where reasonably possible. We may remove content or restrict accounts that violate these Terms or our Community Guidelines.
5. Acceptable use
You agree to follow our Community Guidelines and not to: break the law; harass, threaten, or doxx others; post spam, malware, or scams; infringe others’ intellectual property; scrape, overburden, or attack the service; use automated tools to access or collect data from the service without our written permission; or misuse the classifieds. We may suspend or terminate accounts that do.
6. Classifieds and transactions
Board Rats may let members list items (e.g. boards and gear). We are not a party to any transaction between members, provide no escrow, payment, shipping, dispute-resolution, or verification services, don’t vet listings, and aren’t responsible for goods, payments, or disputes between buyers and sellers. Deal carefully — meet safe, pay safe, trust your gut.
Prohibited from the classifieds: anything illegal under applicable law; weapons and firearms; drugs and controlled substances; stolen or counterfeit goods; recalled items; and anything else we determine is unsafe or inappropriate. We may remove any listing at our discretion.
7. Third-party services
The forum, payments, email, hosting, and advertising rely on third-party providers (see the Privacy Policy). Their terms also apply to those functions.
8. Disclaimers
The service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind to the fullest extent permitted by law. We don’t guarantee the service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that content posted by members is accurate. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above may not apply to you.
9. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Board Rats and WP Hatch, Inc. will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits or data. Our total liability for any claim relating to the service will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim or (b) USD $50. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations of liability, so some of the above may not apply to you; nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law (such as for gross negligence or willful misconduct).
10. Termination
You can stop using the service anytime. We may suspend or terminate your access for violation of these Terms or to protect the service or others. Sections that by their nature should survive (content license for already-posted content, disclaimers, liability limits, dispute resolution, governing law) survive termination.
11. Dispute resolution and arbitration
Most disputes can be resolved informally — please contact us first at [email protected] and we’ll try to work it out. If we can’t, you and Board Rats agree to resolve any dispute relating to these Terms or the service through binding individual arbitration administered under the rules of a recognized arbitration provider, rather than in court, and each party waives the right to participate in a class action. Either party may still bring an individual claim in small-claims court.
Your right to opt out: You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing [email protected] within 30 days of creating your account, stating your username and that you opt out of arbitration. Opting out does not affect any other part of these Terms.
12. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, USA, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. To the extent any dispute proceeds in court rather than arbitration, it will be brought in the state or federal courts located in California.
13. Notices
We give legal notice to you by email to the address on your account or by posting on the site. You give legal notice to us by email to [email protected] or by mail to WP Hatch, Inc., PO Box 910083, San Diego, CA 92191.
14. Changes
We may update these Terms. We’ll revise the effective date and announce material changes on the site. Continued use after changes means you accept them.
Contact
Questions: [email protected].