Terms of Use

1. If you do not agree with any of these Terms of Use please do not use this site, because by using this site you will be deemed to have agreed to these terms. Please be advised that the Terms of Use may be revised and reissued without notice at any time simply by updating the page. You should visit this page regularly to review the current Terms of Use, since your continued use of the site will be deemed as acceptance of any its revisions.

Winding Steps provides membership as a privilege. We reserves the right to deny membership to anyone who abuses that privilege. Abuse includes, but is not limited to, disobeying the Terms of Use, using the contact form to harass authors, and spamming the review or comment areas (leaving multiple and unnecessary reviews and/or comments).

In accordance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Winding Steps does NOT condone the dissemination of adult literature to minors, nor does it collect personal information from minors. In addition, stories which contain mature thematic elements are restricted to members who have provided Winding Steps with a statement declaring they are above the age of consent in their state, province, or country. Ratings have been clearly defined and appropriate warnings are in place.

DO NOT USE OR REGISTER FOR THIS SITE IF YOU ARE NOT AT LEAST THIRTEEN YEARS OF AGE. BY USING OR REGISTERING FOR THIS SITE, YOU ARE IRREVOCABLY STATING THAT YOU ARE AT LEAST THIRTEEN YEARS OF AGE.

2. We cannot always foresee or anticipate technical or other difficulties. These difficulties may result in loss of data, personalized settings or other types of unforeseeable interruptions. Winding Steps cannot assume responsibility for the timeliness, deletion, or failure to store any user data, material or personalized settings.

3. All stories, images, and links contained within the stories are the sole responsibility of the posting author(s). Winding Steps is not responsible for the work an author may post. The content, including beliefs, philosophical points of view, or mature thematic elements, of the fictional stories hosted on Winding Steps does not necessarily express the views of that site.

You understand that by using Winding Steps, you may be exposed to material which may or may not be offensive, indecent, or objectionable to your sensibilities. If a story lacks the proper warning, please notify the site admin.

Additionally, Winding Steps is not responsible for content found on other sites which may or may not be linked in a story found on the archive and which is the property of the author.

4. Winding Steps reserves the right to change or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, its forums or story archive at any time, with or without notice, for any cause, intended or as a result of force majeur. You agree that Winding Steps will not be liable to you or any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuance of the site. Authors are recommended to retain copies of their work elsewhere as a security measure.

5. Winding Steps respects your privacy. The site uses technology and agreements in an attempt to protect any personally identifiable information that you provide (like your name, age and email address). You should not receive any unauthorized email or postal mail from third parties as a result of giving information to Winding Steps.

Winding Steps reserves the right to contact members through any means available (PM System, or e-mails used for registration) if the admins believe they have a reasonable need to do so. Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information in Winding Steps’ public areas, such as forums, that information can be collected and used by others. It is solely the user’s responsibility to ensure they have properly activated controls to block access to their e-mail addresses used for registration, or other information. Winding Steps cannot be held responsible for the revelation or dissemination of such information, either thru the user’s negligence to activate such controls, or for technical difficulties, security holes, or bugs in 3rd party software components that allow such information to be revealed.

6. By choosing to post a review or participate on the forums you have agreed to be subject to the Terms of Use. Acceptance of the Terms of Use indicates your agreement not to use Winding Steps’ archive and/or its forums to post material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, threatening, or otherwise in violation of applicable law. Winding Steps will not tolerate harassment in any form, on either its story archive or its forums. While adult language may, on occasion, be used in a discussion, abusive terms will not be tolerated. Winding Steps reserves the right to delete a member in violation of standard forms of civil behavior.

7. Under no circumstances will Winding Steps be liable in any way for loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any material that has been uploaded, posted, transmitted or otherwise made available on its sites.