These terms are written to be read. They describe how the service works — including what happens to your site and your data if you stop paying — in the same plain language we use everywhere else.
1. Who we are, and what this covers
The professional homepage service available at academic.page and its sister domains (such as biostatistician.page, developer.page, and author.page — together, "the platform") is operated by Pequod ("we," "us"). These terms are an agreement between you and us, and they apply whenever you create an account or use the platform.
2. Your account
- You must provide accurate information and keep your sign-in credentials (password or passkey) secure. You are responsible for activity on your account.
- An account is for one person. You may manage multiple sites under one account where your plan allows it.
- You must be at least 16 years old to use the platform.
3. Your content stays yours
You own everything you publish here — your writing, your files, your CV, your name. By publishing content on the platform you give us only the license we need to operate: to store, back up, process, and display your content so your site works. That license ends when the content is deleted, except for copies that persist temporarily in encrypted backups.
You are responsible for the content you publish. It must be yours to publish, and it must be lawful.
4. Acceptable use
Keep it professional and lawful. You may not use the platform to:
- publish content that is illegal, infringing, or deceptive, or that impersonates another person or institution;
- distribute malware, spam, or phishing content;
- use file storage as general-purpose cold storage unrelated to your site — storage exists to serve your published site, not to park archives;
- probe, disrupt, or place unreasonable load on the service.
We may remove content or suspend accounts that violate these rules. Where practical and lawful, we will tell you what happened and why.
5. Plans, billing, and cancellation
- Paid plans are billed through Stripe, monthly or annually, and renew automatically until you cancel. You can cancel at any time; your paid features run through the end of the period you paid for, plus a grace period of at least 30 days.
- We will give you advance notice by email before any price increase takes effect for you.
6. What happens if you stop paying
This is deliberately generous, and we put it in writing so you can rely on it:
- Your personal site stays online, free, indefinitely. Its public pages do not degrade; visitors will not be able to tell your plan changed.
- Additional sites (courses, labs, studies) go offline, but nothing about them is deleted. Reactivating your subscription brings them back exactly as they were.
- Everything is kept for at least 12 months after your subscription ends: every site, file, and setting. Resubscribing within that window restores everything.
- Your written content is never deleted automatically — ever. Posts, pages, and other text content are kept indefinitely regardless of plan.
- Uploaded files (media): after the 12-month window we reserve the right to remove media files, though our practice is to keep them. We will email you before removing anything, with the chance to export.
- Custom domains: your connected domain stops being served but stays reserved to your account for 12 months, so nobody else can connect it here. After 12 months the reservation is released.
- Storage: your account drops to the free storage limit. Files already uploaded keep working and serving; you just can't upload more while over the limit.
- You can export your content at any time, on any plan.
7. Custom domains
You may connect a domain you own on a paid plan. You are responsible for registering the domain, keeping it registered, and managing its DNS. We verify ownership before serving your site on it, and we never take control of your domain — you can point it elsewhere at any time.
8. The service itself
We work hard to keep the platform fast and available, and we maintain encrypted off-site backups, but we do not promise uninterrupted service and the platform is provided "as is." We may change features over time; if we ever discontinue the platform, we will give you at least 90 days' notice and a way to export everything.
9. Termination
You may delete your account at any time from your account settings, which removes your sites and content from our systems. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms. If we terminate your account without cause, we will refund any prepaid, unused portion of your plan.
10. Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim relating to the platform is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose. We are not liable for indirect or consequential damages. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.
11. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law rules.
12. Changes to these terms
If we make material changes to these terms — especially to section 6 — we will email account holders before the changes take effect. Continued use after that date means you accept the updated terms.
13. Contact
Questions about these terms: [email protected].
See also our Privacy Policy.