Terms of Service

Last updated: March 1, 2026 · Effective: March 1, 2026

1. What This Is

Roast My Compost (roastmycompost.com) is a community platform where users upload photos of their compost and rate each other's compost. It is operated by John Bongaarts ("we," "us," "our"). By using this site, you agree to these terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the site.

2. Accounts

You must be at least 13 years old (16 in the EEA/UK) to create an account.
You're responsible for keeping your login credentials secure.
One account per person. Don't create multiple accounts to manipulate ratings or game the system.
We can suspend or ban accounts that violate these terms.

3. What You Can Do

Without an account

Browse compost photos
Rate compost photos (anonymously)
View the leaderboard

With an account

Upload compost photos
Post comments
React to posts with emoji
Edit your profile
Delete your own uploads

4. Content You Upload

Your Content, Your Responsibility

When you upload a photo or post a comment, you are responsible for that content. Don't upload anything that:

You don't have the right to share (e.g., someone else's copyrighted photo)
Contains illegal content
Is abusive, harassing, threatening, or hateful
Is spam or commercial advertising
Is sexually explicit or pornographic
Is clearly not compost (we moderate uploads -- off-topic content will be rejected)
Contains personally identifiable information about someone else

License You Grant Us

When you upload a photo or post content on Roast My Compost, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable license to:

Display your content on the site
Include your content in social media previews (Open Graph images, link previews)
Include your photos and associated ratings, metadata, and community assessments in anonymized, aggregated datasets that we may license to third parties for purposes including but not limited to agricultural research, machine learning, computer vision, artificial intelligence model training, and commercial data products
This license includes the right to create derivative works (e.g., AI models trained on the dataset)

What "anonymized" means specifically

Your email, account identity, display name, and precise geolocation coordinates are removed from any dataset. What is retained: your photos, and non-identifying metadata (composting method, approximate age, ingredients, climate zone, turned frequency, community ratings, and green/brown balance scores).

What this means in plain English

Your compost photos and the ratings they receive may become part of a dataset used to train AI models, support composting research, or power commercial data products. Companies that license the dataset may use it to build their own tools and models. The dataset will not include your email, name, or any information that personally identifies you. The photos themselves are included.

What you keep

You retain ownership of your content. You can delete your uploads at any time, which removes them from the site. We generate dataset snapshots periodically -- if you delete your content before the next snapshot, it will be excluded. However, if your content was included in a dataset snapshot before deletion, the anonymized copy may persist in that dataset and in any derivative works already created from it.

Consent at upload

In addition to these terms, you will see a brief notice on the upload screen confirming that your photo may be included in anonymized datasets. By completing the upload, you are affirming your consent to this use. If you're not comfortable with this license, please don't upload content.

5. Ratings and Community Features

Rate honestly. The value of this platform depends on genuine assessments.
Don't manipulate ratings (e.g., using bots, multiple accounts, or coordinated rating schemes).
Comments should be constructive or at least fun. Don't be a jerk.
We limit emoji reactions to prevent spam (the specific limits are posted on the site).
We reserve the right to remove any content or suspend any account that degrades the community experience.

6. Moderation

All uploads are reviewed before appearing on the site (either manually or through automated screening).
We may reject uploads that are off-topic, low-quality, duplicate, or in violation of these terms.
We may ban users who repeatedly violate these terms or who engage in abusive behavior.
Moderation decisions are at our discretion. We try to be fair but we're a small operation and don't offer a formal appeals process at this time.

7. Engagement System and Purchases

XP and Levels

We operate a user engagement system that awards experience points (XP) for actions like rating, uploading, and commenting.
XP and levels are for fun and community recognition. They have no monetary value and cannot be exchanged, transferred, or cashed out.
We may adjust XP values, level thresholds, or rewards at any time.

Compost Patron (Ad Removal)

We offer a one-time purchase to remove advertisements from the site.
This is a one-time payment, not a subscription.
Payment is processed by Stripe. We do not store your payment information.
Refund policy: Given the low price and digital nature of this purchase, we do not offer refunds except where required by law. If you have an issue, contact us and we'll work it out.
We reserve the right to discontinue this offering, in which case existing Patrons will retain their ad-free status.

8. Affiliate Links and Advertising

The site may include affiliate links to third-party products (e.g., composting equipment on Amazon, gardening retailers).
If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
We will clearly label or disclose affiliate relationships where required.
The site may display advertisements (e.g., Google AdSense). Ad content is controlled by the ad network, not by us.
We are not responsible for third-party products, services, or websites linked from this site.

9. Intellectual Property

The Roast My Compost name, logo, and original site design are our intellectual property.
User-generated content (photos, comments) is owned by the respective users, subject to the license in Section 4.
Don't scrape the site, its content, or its data without our written permission. The aggregated dataset we may offer is available through our licensing program, not through unauthorized scraping.

10. Disclaimers

Not professional advice. Ratings on this site are community opinions, not professional composting assessments. Don't make agricultural decisions based solely on a score from strangers on the internet.
"As is" service. The site is provided as-is. We don't guarantee uptime, accuracy, or that your compost will ever reach Black Gold status.
No warranty. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied.

11. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the site. Our total liability for any claim related to the site is limited to the amount you've paid us (likely $0 or $4.99).

12. Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms from time to time. We'll post the updated version on this page. If we make material changes, we'll notify registered users by email or a prominent notice on the site. Continued use of the site after changes constitutes acceptance of the new terms.

13. Governing Law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any disputes will be resolved in the courts located in Travis County, Texas.

14. Contact

Questions about these terms? Contact us at privacy@roastmycompost.com.

These terms were drafted for a small community project and are not a substitute for legal advice. If this thing actually blows up, get a real lawyer to review them.