Effective Date and Last Updated: October 31, 2023

Welcome to Geyser

This page explains our terms of use. When you use Geyser, you’re agreeing to all the rules below. By using this website (the “Site”) and services (together with the Site, the “Services”) offered by Geyser Inc., you’re agreeing to these legally binding rules (the “Terms”). You’re also agreeing to our Privacy Policy. We may change these terms from time to time. If we do, we’ll let you know about any material changes, either by notifying you on the Site or by sending you an email.

1. About Creating an Account

   You can browse Geyser without registering for an account. But to use some of Geyser’s functions, you’ll need to create an account. When you do that, the information you give us has to be accurate and complete. Don’t impersonate anyone else or choose names that are offensive or that violate anyone’s rights. If you don’t follow these rules, we may cancel your account. You’re responsible for all the activity on your account, and for keeping your sign in confidential. If you find out that someone’s used your account without your permission, you should report it to [email protected].

   To sign up for an account, you need to be at least 18 years old, or old enough to form a binding contract where you live. If necessary, we may ask you for proof of age.

2. Things You Definitely Shouldn’t Do

   Thousands of people use Geyser. We expect all of them to behave responsibly and help keep this a nice place. Don’t do any of these things on the Site:

   • Don’t break the law. Don’t take any action that infringes or violates other people’s rights, violates the law, or breaches any contract or legal duty you have toward anyone.
   • Don’t victimize anyone. Don’t do anything threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, tortious, obscene, profane, or invasive of another person’s privacy.
   • Don’t spam. Don’t distribute unsolicited or unauthorized advertising or promotional material, or any junk mail, spam, or chain letters.
   • Don’t lie to people. Don’t post information you know is false, misleading, or inaccurate. Don’t do anything deceptive or fraudulent.
   • Don’t offer prohibited items. Don’t offer any rewards that are illegal, violate any of Geyser policies, rules, or guidelines, or violate any applicable law, statute, ordinance, or regulation.
   • Don’t scam. Use of the Services to facilitate scams or deception is strictly prohibited, including, but not limited to, the promotion of altcoins or non-bitcoin crypto tokens. Geyser is a Bitcoin-only platform, and this will be enforced.
   • Don’t harm anyone’s computer. Don’t distribute software viruses, or anything else (code, films, programs) designed to interfere with the proper function of any software, hardware, or equipment on the Site (whether it belongs to Geyser or another party).
   • Don’t abuse other users’ personal information. When you use Geyser — and especially if you create a successful project — you may receive information about other users, including things like their names, email addresses, and postal addresses. This information is provided for the purpose of participating in a Geyser project: don’t use it for other purposes, and don’t abuse it.

   We also need to make sure that the Site is secure and our systems function properly. So don’t do any of these things—most of which boil down to “don’t mess with our system.”

   • Don’t try to interfere with the proper workings of the Services.
   • Don’t bypass any measures we’ve put in place to secure the Services.
   • Don’t try to damage or get unauthorized access to any system, data, password, or other information, whether it belongs to Geyser or another party.
   • Don’t take any action that imposes an unreasonable load on our infrastructure, or on our third-party providers. (We reserve the right to determine what’s reasonable.)
   • Don’t use any kind of software or device (whether it’s manual or automated) to “crawl” or “spider” any part of the Site.
   • Don’t take apart or reverse engineer any aspect of Geyser in an effort to access things like source code, underlying ideas, or algorithms.

Geyser reserves the right to delist any project from the Site and from Geyser’s platform that does not conform to these Terms.

1. How Project Donations and Rewards Work

   Geyser provides a funding platform for creative projects. When a creator posts a project on Geyser, they’re inviting other people to participate. A contributor who makes a donation to the project is doing so voluntarily with no expectations of financial or returns.

   A contributor who funds with a reward based on the creator’s offer forms a contract with the creator. Geyser is not party to this contract. The contract is an agreement between creators and their backers. Here are the terms that govern that agreement:

   When a creator purchases an item with a reward, the creator must fulfill each reward. Once a creator has done so, they’ve satisfied their obligation to their contributors. Throughout the process, creators owe their contributors a high standard of effort, honest communication, and a dedication to bringing the project to life. Geyser take no responsibility for the failure of creators to live up to their contracts with contributors, and by using the Services, creators and contributors both hereby waive any claims against and hold harmless Geyser, its employees, officers, directors, agents, successors, and assigns relating to a breach of contract between creators and contributors.

   At the same time, contributors must understand that when they purchase a reward they may not be buying something when they contribute towards a project—they’re helping to create something that may be new, that does not yet already exists. There may be changes or delays, and there’s a chance something could happen that prevents the creator from being able to finish the project as promised.

   If a creator is unable to fulfill rewards, they’ve failed to live up to the basic obligations of this agreement. To right this, they must make every reasonable effort to find another way of bringing the project to the best possible conclusion for contributors. A creator in this position has only remedied the situation and met their obligations to backers if:

   • They post an update that explains what work has been done, how funds were used, and what prevents them from finishing the project as planned
   • They work diligently and in good faith to bring the project to the best possible conclusion in a timeframe that’s communicated to contributors
   • They’re able to demonstrate that they’ve used funds appropriately and made every reasonable effort to complete the project as promised
   • They’ve been honest, and have made no material misrepresentations in their communication to contributors; and
   • They offer to return any remaining funds to contributors who have not received their reward (in proportion to the amounts pledged), or else explain how those funds will be used to complete the project in some alternate form.

   The creator is solely responsible for fulfilling the promises made in their project. If they’re unable to satisfy the terms of this agreement, they may be subject to legal action by contributors who selected a reward.

2. How Funding Works

   • Geyser does not custody any funds. When you contribute to a project the funds go straight to the creator. Geyser does not custody the funds at any time.
   • The creator may need to reach out with questions about your reward. To deliver rewards, the creator might need information from you, like your mailing address or t-shirt size. They’ll request that information after the campaign has succeeded by using email. To receive the reward, you’ll need to provide the information in a reasonable amount of time. Creators should not ask for personal information that is not necessary to provide your reward, and should never request sensitive personal information such as your Social Security number or payment information. Contact us at [email protected] if you receive a request for information that seems inappropriate or excessive.
   • Geyser doesn’t offer refunds. Responsibility for finishing a project lies entirely with the project creator. Geyser doesn’t hold funds on creators’ behalf, cannot guarantee creators’ work, and does not offer refunds.
   • Geyser relies on the Bitcoin/Lightning network to process all payments. This means that payments are cash final, there can be no reimbursement. Geyser does not have control over the Bitcoin network, and by using the Services, creators and contributors hereby acknowledge that they alone, and not Geyser, will be responsible for lost funds due to incorrect addresses, missing liquidity, failed payments, nodes going offline, network downtime, malicious or faulty software, hard-forks, hashrate attacks, or any other foreseen or unforeseen risks inherent to the Bitcoin network.

3. Stuff We Don’t Do and Aren’t Responsible For

   Geyser isn’t liable for any damages or losses related to your use of the Services. We don’t become involved in disputes between users, or between users and any third party relating to the use of the Services. We don’t oversee the performance or punctuality of projects, and we don’t endorse any content users submit to the Site. When you use the Services, you release Geyser from claims, damages, and demands of every kind—known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, disclosed or undisclosed—arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and the Services. All content you access through the Services is at your own risk. You’re solely responsible for any resulting damage or loss to any party.

4. Our Fees

   • We will not collect any fees without giving you a chance to review and accept them. If our fees ever change, we’ll announce that on our Site.
   • We will take a 2% fee from any contribution taking place if a project uses a lightning address.
   • Geyser will be taking fees from processing on-chain transactions to projects using lightning addresses. We will be doing that in the process of transfering on-chain funds to lightning funds using a third party service provider.
   • You’re responsible for paying any additional fees or taxes associated with your bitcoin activity, such as on-chain fees or lightning routing fees.

8. Other Websites

The Site may contain links to other websites. (For instance, project pages, user profiles, and comments may link to other sites.) When you access third-party websites, you do so at your own risk. We don’t control or endorse those sites.

1. Your Intellectual Property

   Geyser doesn’t own content you submit to us (your “Content”). But we do need certain licenses from you in order to perform our Services. When you submit a project for review, or launch a project, you agree to these terms:

   • Geyser has no obligation to review your the content. Geyser may, but will not have any obligation to, review, monitor, display, post, store, maintain, accept, or otherwise make use of, any of your Content
   • We can use the Content you’ve submitted. You grant to us, and others acting on our behalf, the worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable right to use, exercise, commercialize, and exploit the copyright, publicity, trademark, and database rights with respect to your Content. In general, we use this Content to promote projects and showcase our community on the website.
   • Geyser may reject and remove content. Geyser may, in its sole discretion, reject, delete, move, re-format, remove, or refuse to post or otherwise make use of UGC without notice or any liability to you or any third-party in connection with our operation of Content venues in an appropriate manner.
   • When we use the Content, we can make changes, like editing or translating it. You grant us the right to edit, modify, reformat, excerpt, delete, or translate any of your Content.
   • You won’t submit stuff you don’t hold the copyright for (unless you have permission). Your Content will not contain third-party copyrighted material, or material that is subject to other third-party proprietary rights, unless you have permission from the rightful owner of the material, or you are otherwise legally entitled to post the material (and to grant Geyser all the license rights outlined here).
   • Any royalties or licensing on your Content are your responsibility. You will pay all royalties and other amounts owed to any person or entity based on your Content, or on Geyser hosting of that Content.
   • You promise that if we use your Content, we’re not violating anyone’s rights or copyrights. If Geyser or its users exploit or make use of your submission in the ways contemplated in this agreement, you promise that this will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including (without limitation) any privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights, or any other intellectual property or proprietary rights.
   • You’re responsible for the stuff you post. All information submitted to the Site, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, is the sole responsibility of the person from whom that Content originated.
   • We’re not responsible for mistakes in your Content. Geyser will not be liable for any errors or omissions in any Content.

2. Geyser’s Intellectual Property

   Geyser’s Services are legally protected in various ways, including copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, trade secrets, and other rights and laws. You agree to respect all copyright and other legal notices, information, and restrictions contained in any content accessed through the Site. You also agree not to change, translate, or otherwise create derivative works of the Service.

   Geyser grants you a license to reproduce content from the Services for personal use only. This license covers both Geyser’s own protected content and user-generated content on the Site. (This license is worldwide, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, and non-transferable.) If you want to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, or store any of this content for a commercial purpose, you need prior written permission from Geyser or the relevant copyright holder. A “commercial purpose” means you intend to use, sell, license, rent, or otherwise exploit content for commercial use, in any way.

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3. How We Deal with Copyright Issues

   The Digital Millennium Copyright Act lays out a system of legal requirements for dealing with allegations of copyright infringement. Geyser complies with the DMCA, and we respond to notices of alleged infringement if they comply with the law and the requirements set forth in our Copyright Policy. We reserve the right to delete or disable content alleged to be infringing, and to terminate accounts for repeat infringers. (We do this when appropriate and at our sole discretion.)

   If you’d like to submit a claim of copyright infringement, please email us at [email protected].

4. Deleting Your Account

   You may Deactivate your project at any time, which will not allow anyone to fund your initiative. But you may not be able to delete your project at any time in order for Geyser to ensure that no scam is being carried out.

   You can delete your profile or project directly in the project or profile settings. If you have any issues you can reach out to the team at [email protected]. Once we delete it, we may retain certain information as required by law or as necessary for our legitimate business purposes. All provisions of this agreement survive termination of an account, including our rights regarding any content you’ve already submitted to the Site. (For instance, if you’ve launched a project, deleting your account will not automatically remove the project from the Site.) You can contact us at [email protected] for additional information or to request project page deletion (this is not available in all circumstances).

   Additionally, since Geyser is built on Nostr, any data that is deleted on Geyser may still exist on other Nostr Relays. More on this in the next section

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5. Propagation of information over relays

   Geyser stores project and user data on a Nostr Relay and propagates information to other Nostr Relays in order for data to be accessible across Nostr clients.

   This means that your project and profile information will be broadcast to other Nostr Relays. You can check which Relays data is being broadcast to by checking your project settings.