Terms of Use

Welcome to Longtable. These terms explain what you can expect from us and what we ask of you. We have written them in plain language on purpose. Please read them. If anything is unclear, write to us.

These terms are an agreement between you and Front Porch OS LLC, a Washington limited liability company ("we", "us", "our"), which operates Longtable ("Longtable" or "the service").

Three documents work together, and by using Longtable you agree to all three:

• these Terms of Use, which set out the agreement between you and us;
• our Privacy Policy, which explains what information we hold about you and what we do with it; and
• our Member Guidelines, which describe how we expect members to treat each other, online and in person.

Using Longtable means you accept all three. If you do not agree, please do not use Longtable.

1. Words we use

• Member means anyone with a Longtable account. You means you, the person agreeing to these terms.
• Circle means a small group of members who meet around a shared interest.
• Lead Navigator means the member who looks after a Circle. Circles may also have other helper roles, such as a Resource Coordinator or a Connection Coordinator, and members may volunteer as Champions or Sherpas to help other members. We may add, rename or remove these roles at any time. In these terms, volunteer means any member holding one of them.
• Community means an organization, such as a senior center or retirement community, through which some members join Longtable.
• Content means anything a member puts on Longtable, including but not limited to a profile, a photograph, a description, a message, a listing, an event, or anything else a member writes, uploads or shares.

These descriptions are given to help you read these terms. They are examples and general descriptions, not complete or technical definitions.

2. What Longtable is

Longtable helps neighbors find each other and meet in small groups around things they enjoy. It also supports groups, local events, exchanges of skills and help between members, and other features we may add, change or withdraw over time.

We provide the place, and the tools that help people find each other. Members do the rest. The features we offer, and how they work, change over time.

Almost everything on Longtable is created and run by members, including Circles, meetings, events and exchanges. We do not organize, supervise, lead or attend them, and what happens at them is between the people who are there.

Some sessions exist to welcome new members or to train volunteers. Most are run by volunteers, usually Champions, and everything these terms say about volunteers applies to them. Where a session is run by one of our own employees, we are responsible for that session in the ordinary way. Volunteering for a role on Longtable does not make anyone our employee, and nobody becomes one by saying so. Everything else is run by members, not by us.

Longtable is operated from the United States and is currently offered to people in the United States. We do not promise that it is appropriate or available anywhere else. Anyone using it from elsewhere does so on their own initiative and is responsible for their own local laws.

3. What Longtable is not

This matters, so we say it plainly. These are examples of what Longtable is not, and not a complete list:

• We are not a healthcare, mental health or counseling service. Nothing on Longtable is medical advice. If you are in crisis or need urgent help, call 911 or your local emergency number.
• We are not an emergency or safety service. We do not attend or supervise meetings, and we cannot respond to emergencies.
• We are not a background-check service. We do not check criminal, financial or credit records (see Section 7).
• We are not a dating service. Friendships sometimes grow into more, and that is fine. But Longtable is not for seeking romance, and unwanted advances break our Member Guidelines.
• We are not a wellness or check-in service. Some Circles have a member who reaches out to people who miss a meeting. That is a neighborly gesture, not a welfare check. We do not monitor anyone's health, safety or wellbeing, and nobody should rely on Longtable to notice that they are unwell or in trouble.
• We are not a care, transport or home-help service. We do not provide, arrange or check any care, help at home, or rides. If members help each other with these, that is between them.
• We are not a financial, legal or insurance adviser, and nothing on Longtable is advice of that kind.
• We are not a party to anything members arrange. Meetings, rides, shared costs, lent items and taught skills are private arrangements between members.

4. Who may join

To hold an account you must, among other things:

• be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding agreement;
• join as yourself, with your real name, and hold only one account;
• not be barred from using the service by law, or by an earlier decision of ours to remove you;
• use Longtable for what it is for: taking part in Circles and community life in the second half of life, or supporting a member who is doing so.

Longtable is built for adults in the second half of life, and everything about it — how it looks, how it works, the Circles people form — is designed with them in mind. We do not disallow younger adults when they are here for a purpose such as supporting a member, for example a family member or a volunteer. Longtable is not intended as a general social network for younger adults.

5. Your account and signing in

Your account is yours to look after. Among other things:

• Tell us the truth about yourself and keep it up to date. Other members rely on your name, your photo and the area you live in when they decide to meet you.
• Your account is yours alone. Do not share it, and do not let anyone else use it. If someone helps you use Longtable, such as a family member, you remain responsible for what is done on your account.
• We sign you in using the contact details you give us, for example by sending you a code or a link. Anyone who can reach those details may be able to sign in as you, so please keep them safe.
• Tell us straight away if you think someone else has used your account.

6. Meeting in person: your choice, your judgment

Longtable exists to help people meet in person. Meeting people you do not yet know always carries some risk. By using Longtable you accept, among other things, that:

• You decide whom to meet, where and when. You never have to attend anything, and you may leave at any time without explanation.
• Please look after yourself. For example: meet somewhere public the first few times, tell someone you trust where you are going, arrange your own transport, and leave if you are uncomfortable. These are suggestions, not a complete list, and following them is not a guarantee of safety. How you keep yourself safe is your decision and your responsibility.
• Other members are not our employees, agents or representatives. We do not supervise, vet, endorse or control any member, Circle, meeting or event.
• Many activities carry physical risk. Walking, gardening, cooking, dancing, travel and similar activities are only examples: any activity can involve effort, and can lead to illness, injury or worse. You alone judge your own health, fitness and abilities, and whether to take part. Please seek medical advice before starting anything new if you have any doubt about your health.
• Meeting places are not ours. Parks, homes, cafés and other venues are chosen by members, and any permission, booking, fee or permit a venue requires is a matter for the members using it. We do not check that a venue is safe, suitable, accessible or even available. We are not responsible for its condition, for anything that happens there, for how you travel to and from it, or for any damage, loss or cost arising from its use. If you invite people to your own home, that is your decision and your responsibility.

7. Verification: what it means and what it does not

Some members carry a "verified" mark. It means one thing only: at the time we looked, a real person appeared to be behind the account. We may check this in different ways, and we may change how we do it.

We do not require the name on your profile to be your full legal name, and verification is not a check of your name, age, address, health, occupation, background, criminal record, finances or intentions. It is not a safety rating or a character reference, and it is not a promise about anyone's future behavior. We are never obliged to verify anyone, to verify to any particular standard, or to keep a verification up to date.

We may refuse, suspend or remove an account where we learn of anything that leads us to believe a person may pose a risk to members — including a conviction, a charge, or a credible allegation involving a sexual offense, violence, fraud, dishonesty, or the abuse or exploitation of a vulnerable adult. Because we do not check records, we may never learn of such things, and nothing here is a promise that we have.

8. How you agree to behave

You agree to follow our Member Guidelines at all times, online and in person. They are part of these terms. In addition, you agree that you will not:

• break any law while using Longtable;
• pretend to be someone else, or misrepresent your identity, your age or your intentions;
• harass, threaten, deceive or exploit any member. Taking financial advantage of another member may be a crime, and we may report conduct of this kind to law enforcement, adult protective services or any other authority we consider appropriate, at our discretion and without notice to you;
• use another member's details for anything other than taking part in Longtable with them;
• advertise, sell, recruit or ask for donations, unless we have agreed to it in writing;
• post anything that is not yours to post. Do not post photographs, writing, music or other material belonging to someone else without their permission. If you believe something on Longtable infringes your copyright, write to us and we will remove it where appropriate;
• copy, collect or "scrape" information about members, or use automated tools, scripts or bots to access Longtable;
• try to break into, probe, overload or interfere with Longtable or any member's device;
• do anything else that we reasonably consider harmful, dishonest, exploitative, unlawful or seriously disruptive to members, to Longtable or to our reputation.

These are examples of what is not allowed, not a complete list.

9. Your content

What you post stays yours. You give us permission to store it, show it to the members it is meant for, and make the copies we need to run and back up the service. This permission lasts as long as we hold the content, which may be after you remove it or close your account. Our Privacy Policy describes how we handle content and accounts over time; we set those practices and may change them.

We may also describe our work using combined, anonymous information about how Longtable is used — for example how many Circles, groups and events exist, what kinds of activities they involve, how often they meet, how many members take part, how skills and help are shared, and how these things change over time. We may use this to describe Longtable to funders, partners, researchers and the public. It never identifies you.

We will not use your name, photograph or words in marketing, funding applications or press material without asking you first. If you give us permission, you may withdraw it at any time for future use.

You are responsible for what you post. Please make sure it is true, that it is yours to share, and that it follows our Member Guidelines.

10. Content and reports

We do not read members' messages as a matter of routine, and we do not use automated tools to scan them. We may look at content in situations such as these, among others:

• a member reports it, or reports the person who posted it;
• a member asks us for help and shows it to us;
• we need to look into a problem in a Circle or group (see Section 11); or
• the law requires it, or someone's safety is at risk.

We may remove, hide or suspend any content, listing, event or account at any time, including but not limited to as soon as it is reported to us and before we have looked into it, and we may restore it afterwards. We are not obliged to remove anything, to investigate, or to act within any particular time.

When we do look into a report, a person reviews it. Depending on what happened, we may do nothing, remind someone of the Member Guidelines, remove content, give a warning, suspend an account, or close it.

If you join through a Community, that Community's appointed administrators help run its part of Longtable, and may see the reports and support requests that concern their Community.

11. Our role inside Circles and groups

Circles belong to the people in them. We stay out of the way, and most Circles never hear from us at all. But a Circle can get stuck. The Lead Navigator might stop turning up, leave without warning, or behave in a way that harms the people who trusted them. Only the Lead Navigator can hand the role on, so the members of a Circle usually cannot fix this themselves. That is why we keep the ability to step in.

When there is good reason, we may do any of the following, or anything else we reasonably consider necessary to look after a Circle or its members:

• post a notice on a Circle's or group's message board, clearly marked as coming from us rather than from a neighbor;
• join a Circle as a member, to help settle it or to look into a concern;
• remove the Lead Navigator role from the member holding it. They stay a member of the Circle; only the role changes;
• ask another member to become Lead Navigator. This is always an invitation. You may say no, and nothing happens if you do;
• change a Circle's size limit, or retire a Circle that has stopped meeting.

Being a Lead Navigator is a responsibility, not a possession. It is a volunteer role, given so that a Circle has someone to keep it going. If we take it back, that is not a judgment about you as a person, and it does not affect your membership, your other Circles or your account.

Where it is practical, we will let the member concerned know, and let the Circle know that its leadership has changed. If you think we have got something wrong, you may write to us.

We are not obliged to step in, to investigate, or to explain a decision. Stepping in once does not oblige us to step in again. If we do not step in, that does not mean we agree with what happened, and it does not make us responsible for it.

12. Volunteers

Volunteers — Lead Navigators, Resource Coordinators, Connection Coordinators, Champions, Sherpas and anyone in a similar role — are usually members who give their time for free. Most take on their role by starting a Circle or by stepping forward, not by being chosen by us. We do not screen, supervise or control volunteers, and they are not our agents or representatives. What a volunteer says is their own, not ours.

We may offer training, guidance or materials to volunteers, and we may invite a member into a role or take a role back. Doing any of that does not make a volunteer our employee or agent, does not mean we supervise what they do, and does not make us responsible for it.

Volunteers must follow these terms and our Member Guidelines like any other member, and we may take a volunteer role back at any time. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we are not responsible for anything a volunteer does or fails to do.

Holding a role on Longtable does not make anyone our employee, agent or representative, and does not give anyone the right to speak for Longtable or act on our behalf. No one may suggest to anyone that they act for Longtable. If someone tells you they do, please check with us.

13. What members post, and what members arrange

We do not check what members post. Everything on Longtable that did not come from us — including Circles, groups, events, listings, messages, profiles and photographs — is created by members. We do not review, approve, endorse or guarantee any of them. We make no promise that a description is accurate, that an event will happen, that a host is qualified, that an activity is suitable for you, or that anything offered is safe, lawful or of any particular quality. Deciding what to join, what to believe and what to rely on is your decision.

Sharing skills, help and items. Some features let members offer and ask for skills, help or items. These are private arrangements between members. We are not a party to them and we are not responsible for how they turn out.

Money between members. Longtable is not a marketplace. Members may share real costs — splitting the price of a lunch, a ticket, or materials for an activity — but no member may charge another member for taking part, add a fee, take a commission, or make a profit through Longtable.

Outings where someone else charges. Members often arrange outings where a third party charges admission: a concert, a museum, a film, a meal. That is fine. Each member pays the venue or provider directly, or shares the real cost. We are not part of these arrangements, we do not handle the money, and we are not responsible for tickets, bookings, refunds, or anything the venue or provider does.

If a member charges you. We do not control what members do, we do not see money that changes hands between them, and we cannot recover it. If a member charges you for taking part, or asks you for money, please report it: we may act on it under these terms, but we are not responsible for the payment or for getting it back.

Whatever members arrange between themselves is theirs, not ours. The cases above are only examples. Any arrangement between members — sharing a ride, lending something, teaching, helping at home, traveling together, buying something jointly, or anything else — is private between the people involved. We are not a party to it, we do not supervise or guarantee it, and we are not responsible for how it turns out or for anything that follows from it, including any tax, licence, permit or insurance that may apply.

14. Joining through a Community

Some members join Longtable through a Community, such as a senior center or a retirement community. If you do, then among other things:

• the Community's appointed administrators can see that you belong to it, and help run its Circles, events and support requests;
• a Community may pay for your membership. If it stops doing so, the paid parts of Longtable may stop working for you, and we will try to let you know;
• you may leave a Community at any time and keep your Longtable account. When you leave, you lose access to what that Community provides — including its Circles, events and anything that is only for its members. If the Community was paying for your membership, that ends too, and you would need to pay for any paid features yourself to keep them.

A Community, and the people it appoints, are responsible for their own conduct, their own programs, and how they use Longtable. They are not our employees, agents or partners, and to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law we are not responsible for what they do or fail to do, on Longtable or elsewhere. Any arrangement between you and a Community is between you and them.

15. Membership, offers and payment

• Some parts of Longtable are free. Others need a paid membership. What each membership includes, and its price, is shown in the app before you pay. Prices are in US dollars.
• Payment is handled by our payment provider. We never see or store your full card number. The provider's own terms also apply to the payment.
• Paid memberships renew automatically at the end of each period until you cancel. You may cancel at any time in the app. Cancelling stops the next payment, and you keep your membership until the end of the period you have paid for.
• If you bought a membership by mistake, tell us within 7 days of the payment and we will refund it. The 7 days is your deadline to tell us; we will make the refund within a reasonable period after that. Other refunds are at our discretion, except where the law where you live gives you a right to one.
• If we change a price, we will tell you before it takes effect, and you will have the chance to cancel first.
• Free trials and offers. We sometimes offer a free trial, a discount, or a membership as a gift or thank-you. Each comes with its own conditions, shown to you before you accept, and we will honor them in good faith. We may change, suspend or withdraw any offer, trial or discount at any time — including one already running — where we need to for legal, financial, operational or other reasons, or if we stop offering part or all of Longtable. Where we do, we will tell you as early as we reasonably can. We do not promise to refund or replace anything given free of charge, and we may withdraw an offer obtained by misuse, such as by opening more than one account.
• If a payment fails, we may end or downgrade your paid membership, and we may let you know first. We do not normally close an account solely because a payment failed, although the parts of Longtable that need a paid membership will stop working.
• If you dispute a charge with your bank rather than with us, we may suspend your paid membership while the dispute is open, and if it is resolved in our favor you are responsible for any fees our payment provider charges us as a result. Please raise it with us before you contact your bank.

Other terms may apply to a particular price, offer or feature, and we will show them to you at the time.

16. Suspension, leaving and closing

You may leave Longtable at any time, from your account settings. We do not promise to keep your account, your history or anything in it once you have left, or that a closed account can be restored. Our Privacy Policy describes how we handle an account you have closed.

We may suspend or close an account at any time, at our discretion, including but not limited to where we believe these terms or our Member Guidelines have been broken, where we believe members may be at risk, or where the law requires it. We may limit an account in different ways, and we may change how we do that. We may give a reason, but we are not obliged to give one or to explain a decision, and you may always write to us about it.

If we close your account through no fault of yours, we will refund the part of any paid membership you have not used. If we close it because you broke these terms or our Member Guidelines, we do not have to refund you.

Sections 3, 6, 9, 13 and 17 to 27 continue to apply after your account is closed.

17. If we stop offering Longtable

We may change, suspend or stop offering Longtable, or any part of it, at any time, for any reason or for no reason, with or without notice. We may also transfer it to someone else to operate.

We will try to give members reasonable notice before closing the service, and to refund the unused part of any paid membership, but we may not be able to — for example if we must stop suddenly, or if the business cannot continue. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we are not liable to you or to anyone else for any loss arising from our changing, suspending or ending Longtable, including but not limited to the loss of Circles, groups, events, messages, photographs, connections or anything else you have created or relied on.

Please keep your own copy of anything that matters to you. We do not promise to store your content, to return it, or to provide it in any particular form once Longtable ends, and after a reasonable period we will delete it as our Privacy Policy describes.

We have no obligation to continue Longtable, to maintain any feature, or to keep any Circle, group or event running.

18. Our name and our work

"Longtable", our logo and the design of the service belong to us or to the people who license them to us. Using Longtable does not give you any right to use them. Please do not copy, adapt, reproduce or otherwise make use of the service or its content, try to discover its source code, or use it to build a similar service, without our written permission.

19. The service is provided as it is

We aim to keep Longtable available and easy to use, but we cannot promise that it will always work. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Longtable is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, including but not limited to any warranty that it is fit for a particular purpose or will be uninterrupted or error-free. Features may change or be withdrawn. Content posted by members is theirs, not ours, and we do not check that it is true. We do not promise that Longtable will work with every device, browser, connection or assistive technology.

We cannot promise that Longtable will suit you. We do not promise that there will be Circles, events or members near you, that any Circle will form, meet or continue, that anyone will accept an introduction, or that you will make friends. Paying for a membership gives you access to features. It does not guarantee any of these things.

We are not responsible for the services of other companies you use alongside Longtable, such as your email provider, your bank, or our payment provider.

We do not check links or files that members share. A link may lead anywhere, and a link or file may be spam, an attempt to defraud you, or something that tries to install itself on your device. Anything you open, download or use is at your own risk, and we are not responsible for it or for anything it leads to.

We are not responsible for information once it is on your own device or in your own accounts, including but not limited to copies your browser or your email keeps, or for anything you share with another member or store somewhere else.

20. Risks you accept, and claims you release

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law:

• you take on the risks of meeting and dealing with other members, and of taking part in anything arranged through Longtable, including but not limited to Circles, groups, events, activities and exchanges. These risks include, but are not limited to, illness, injury, disability or death, emotional distress, harassment, loss of or damage to property, theft, and financial loss; and
• you release Front Porch OS LLC, its owners, officers, employees, contractors, volunteers and successors from all claims, known or unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with your use of Longtable, your dealings with other members wherever and whenever those dealings take place, including but not limited to outside Longtable and after either of you has left, or any Circle, group, event, activity, exchange or anything else arranged through Longtable.

Some claims and liabilities cannot be given up or limited under the law. Nothing in this release affects those.

If you live in California, you waive California Civil Code Section 1542, which says: "A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party." You also waive any similar law elsewhere.

21. Limits on our liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we are not liable for any loss arising out of or connected with Longtable. In particular, and without limiting that, we are not liable for:

• interruptions, delays, errors or unavailability of Longtable, or anything that stops you using it;
• loss of, or damage to, content or data, including but not limited to anything you posted, and anything deleted, lost or corrupted;
• unauthorized access to your account or your information, including but not limited to anything that follows if someone else gains access to your email or your device;
• what other people do, including but not limited to members, volunteers, Communities, venues, and anyone you meet or deal with through Longtable, online or in person;
• anything a member shares that takes you somewhere else — a link, a file, a website or a service — including but not limited to what it contains, what it does to your device, and what that website does with information you give it;
• anything that happens away from Longtable between people who met or connected through it, including but not limited to contact by phone, email, message, social media or in person, whether that contact happens while they are members or after either of them has left Longtable;
• the services of other companies that Longtable relies on, or that you use to reach it, such as our hosting, email and notification providers, our payment provider, your own bank, or your email or internet service; and
• in every case, indirect or consequential losses, such as lost profits, lost opportunity, wasted time or harm to reputation.

Our total liability to you for all claims about Longtable is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose, or $100.

Some places do not allow some of these limits. Where that is so, these limits apply as far as the law allows, and nothing here excludes any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded. If any limit in these terms is found to go too far, it will be narrowed to the greatest protection the law allows rather than removed.

22. If a claim is made against us because of you

If someone makes a claim against us because of something you did — including but not limited to your content, your conduct, your arrangements with other members, anything you do at or around a Circle, group, event or activity, or your breach of these terms, our Member Guidelines or the law — you agree to cover our losses, damages, settlements and reasonable legal costs arising from it.

We will let you know about a claim of this kind. A delay in telling you does not reduce what you owe, except so far as the delay has genuinely harmed your position.

This applies to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, and continues to apply after your account is closed.

23. Disagreements and the law that applies

Talk to us first. If you have a complaint, write to us. Neither of us should take a dispute further until 30 days have passed since you raised it.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, and by the federal laws of the United States that apply there, without regard to rules about conflicts of law. Any dispute will be heard in the state courts located in Snohomish County, Washington, or in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Either of us may instead bring a claim in small claims court where the claim qualifies.

Any claim relating to Longtable must be brought within one year after it arises, to the extent the law allows.

If the law where you live gives you the right to bring a claim in your own local courts, or gives you protections that cannot be waived, nothing here takes that away.

24. Events outside our control

We are not responsible for any delay or failure to do something we have promised where the cause is outside our reasonable control. Causes of that kind include, but are not limited to: natural disasters, fire, flood, storm or earthquake; epidemic or pandemic; war, terrorism or civil unrest; strikes or other labor disputes; action by a government, court or regulator, or a change in the law; failure of power, telecommunications or the internet; attacks on our systems or those of our providers, including but not limited to hacking, denial-of-service attacks and ransomware; and the failure, suspension or withdrawal of any service we rely on.

While such an event continues, our obligations are paused, and if it continues for a long time we may suspend or stop offering Longtable as Section 17 describes.

25. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as Longtable changes. We will let you know when we do, and we may ask you to accept the new version before you continue. Continuing to use Longtable after we have told you means you accept the change. We keep a record of each version and of when you accepted it.

The date at the top of this page tells you which version you are reading.

26. General

• If a court decides that part of these terms cannot be applied, that part is treated as narrowed as far as necessary, or removed if it cannot be narrowed, and everything else still applies.
• If two parts of these terms appear to conflict, the part that gives us the greater protection applies, to the extent the law allows.
• If we do not enforce part of these terms today, we may still enforce it later.
• You may not transfer your account or these terms to anyone else. We may transfer them to a business that takes over Longtable, and we will tell you if we do.
• These terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Member Guidelines and any additional terms we show you for a particular offer or feature, are the whole agreement between you and us about Longtable.
• "Including" means "including but not limited to" wherever it appears in these terms, and examples are never a complete list.
• Notices. We may contact you using the email address or other details on your account, and a message sent that way counts as reaching you. You agree to receive notices from us electronically, including notices about these terms.
• No one else gains rights. These terms are between you and us. No other person may enforce them, and nothing here gives anyone else a right or a claim.
• Nothing here creates a partnership, joint venture or employment between you and us.

27. California residents

Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, California residents may contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (916) 445-1254 or (800) 952-5210.

28. Getting in touch

Questions about these terms go to hello@longtablecircles.com, or through the support section of the app.

Front Porch OS LLC, Washington, United States