• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Farnam Street Logo

Farnam Street

Mastering the best of what other people have already figured out

  • Articles
  • Newsletter
  • Podcast
  • Books
  • Courses
  • Log In
  • Become a Member
TweetEmailLinkedInPrint

Terms Of Service

The Gist:

We (the folks at Farnam Street Media Inc.) run this site and would love for you to use it. This site, blog, and related services are designed to educate and entertain, and we encourage you to express yourself freely. Farnam Street Media Inc. makes no claims. Farnam Street Media Inc. is not responsible for anything and if the company is found to be responsible for anything, the maximum payout, including legal fees, cannot exceed any monies that you’ve paid to Farnam Street Media Inc. over the previous 12 months.

Terms of Service:

The following terms and conditions govern all use of the http://www.fs.blog website and all content, services and products available at or through the website, including, but not limited to, associated blogs, forums, and websites (www.farnamstreet.org, among others), taken together, the Website.

The Website is owned and operated by Farnam Street Media Inc.. The Website is offered subject to your acceptance without modification of all of the terms and conditions contained herein and all other operating rules, policies (including, without limitation, Farnam Street Media Inc.’s Privacy Policy) and procedures that may be published from time to time on this Site by Farnam Street Media Inc. (collectively, the “Agreement”).

Please read this Agreement carefully before accessing or using the Website. By accessing or using any part of the web site, you agree to become bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement. If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this agreement, then you may not access the Website or use any services. If these terms and conditions are considered an offer by Farnam Street Media Inc., acceptance is expressly limited to these terms. The Website is available only to individuals who are at least 13 years old.

1. Responsibility of Contributors. If you operate a blog, comment on a blog, post material to the Website, post links on the Website, or otherwise make (or allow any third party to make) material available by means of the Website (any such material, “Content”), You are entirely responsible for the content of, and any harm resulting from, that Content. That is the case regardless of whether the Content in question constitutes text, graphics, an audio file, or computer software. By making Content available, you represent and warrant that:

* the downloading, copying and use of the Content will not infringe the proprietary rights, including but not limited to the copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret rights, of any third party;

* if your employer has rights to intellectual property you create, you have either (i) received permission from your employer to post or make available the Content, including but not limited to any software, or (ii) secured from your employer a waiver as to all rights in or to the Content;

* you have fully complied with any third-party licenses relating to the Content, and have done all things necessary to successfully pass through to end users any required terms;

* the Content does not contain or install any viruses, worms, malware, Trojan horses or other harmful or destructive content;

* the Content is not spam, is not machine- or randomly-generated, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing);

* the Content is not libellous or defamatory (more info on what that means), does not contain threats or incite violence towards individuals or entities, and does not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party;

* your Content is not getting advertised via unwanted electronic messages such as spam links on newsgroups, email lists, other blogs and web sites, and similar unsolicited promotional methods;

* your Content is not named in a manner that misleads your readers into thinking that you are another person or company. For example, your blog or comment’s URL or name is not the name of a person other than yourself or company other than your own; and

* you have, in the case of Content that includes computer code, accurately categorized and/or described the type, nature, uses and effects of the materials, whether requested to do so by Farnam Street Media Inc. or otherwise.

Without limiting any of those representations or warranties, Farnam Street Media Inc. has the right (though not the obligation) to, in Farnam Street Media Inc.’s sole discretion (i) refuse or remove any content that, in Farnam Street Media Inc.’s reasonable opinion, violates any Farnam Street Media Inc. policy or is in any way harmful or objectionable, or (ii) terminate or deny access to and use of the Website to any individual or entity for any reason, in Farnam Street Media Inc.’s sole discretion.

2. Responsibility of Website Visitors. Farnam Street Media Inc. has not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, including computer software, posted to the Website, and cannot therefore be responsible for that material’s content, use or effects. By operating the Website, Farnam Street Media Inc. does not represent or imply that it endorses the material there posted, or that it believes such material to be accurate, useful or non-harmful. You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content. The Website may contain content that is offensive, indecent, or otherwise objectionable, as well as content containing technical inaccuracies, typographical mistakes, and other errors. The Website may also contain material that violates the privacy or publicity rights, or infringes the intellectual property and other proprietary rights, of third parties, or the downloading, copying or use of which is subject to additional terms and conditions, stated or unstated. Farnam Street Media Inc. disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from the use by visitors of the Website, or from any downloading by those visitors of content there posted.

3. Content Posted on Other Websites. We have not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, including computer software, made available through the websites and webpages to which fs.blog links, and that link to fs.blog. Farnam Street Media Inc. does not have any control over those non-fs.blog websites and webpages, and is not responsible for their contents or their use. By linking to a non-fs.blog website or webpage, Farnam Street Media Inc. does not represent or imply that it endorses such website or webpage. You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content. Farnam Street Media Inc. disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from your use of non-fs.blog websites and webpages.

4. Copyright Infringement and DMCA Policy. As Farnam Street Media Inc. asks others to respect its intellectual property rights, it respects the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that material located on or linked to by fs.blog violates your copyright, you are encouraged to notify Farnam Street Media Inc. in accordance with standard Digital Millennium Copyright Act (”DMCA”) Policy. Farnam Street Media Inc. will respond to all such notices, including as required or appropriate by removing the infringing material or disabling all links to the infringing material. In the case of a visitor who may infringe or repeatedly infringes the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of Farnam Street Media Inc. or others, Farnam Street Media Inc. may, in its discretion, terminate or deny access to and use of the Website. In the case of such termination, Farnam Street Media Inc. will have no obligation to provide a refund of any amounts previously paid to Farnam Street Media Inc.

5. Corrections, Suggestions, and Complaints. We welcome comments and suggestions, as well as complaints about errors, on the Website that warrant correction. Comments and suggestions, as well as complaints about errors, can be submitted to us via email at farnamstreet [at] gmail (dot) com.  Readers dissatisfied with a response may reach us via email at farnamstreet [at] gmail (dot) com.

6. Intellectual Property. This Agreement does not transfer from Farnam Street Media Inc. to you any Farnam Street Media Inc. or third party intellectual property, and all right, title and interest in and to such property will remain (as between the parties) solely with Farnam Street Media Inc..Farnam Street Media Inc., fs.blog, the logo, and all other trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with fs.blog, or the Website are trademarks or registered trademarks of Farnam Street Media Inc.; or licensors of the aforementioned companies. Other trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with the Website may be the trademarks of other third parties. Your use of the Website grants you no right or license to reproduce or otherwise use any Farnam Street Media Inc. or third-party trademarks. You hereby grant Farnam Street Media Inc. an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any Content you post on or in connection with the Website or Farnam Street Media Inc. services or the promotion thereof and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with Farnam Street Media Inc. or the promotion thereof.

7. Changes. Farnam Street Media Inc. reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify or replace any part of this Agreement. It is your responsibility to check this Agreement periodically for changes. Your continued use of or access to the Website following the posting of any changes to this Agreement constitutes acceptance of those changes. Farnam Street Media Inc. may also, in the future, offer new services and/or features through the Website (including, the release of new tools and resources). Such new features and/or services shall be subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

8. Termination. Farnam Street Media Inc. may terminate your access to all or any part of the Website at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately. If you wish to terminate this Agreement, you may simply discontinue using the Website. All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.

9. Disclaimer of Warranties. The Website is provided “as is”. Farnam Street Media Inc. and its suppliers and licensors hereby disclaim all warranties of any kind, express or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Neither Farnam Street Media Inc. nor its suppliers and licensors, makes any warranty that the Website will be error free or that access thereto will be continuous or uninterrupted. If you’re actually reading this, here’s a treat. You understand that you download from, or otherwise obtain content or services through, the Website at your own discretion and risk.

10. Limitation of Liability. In no event will Farnam Street Media Inc., or its suppliers or licensors, be liable with respect to any subject matter of this agreement under any contract, negligence, strict liability or other legal or equitable theory for: (i) any special, incidental or consequential damages; (ii) the cost of procurement or substitute products or services; (iii) for interruption of use or loss or corruption of data; or (iv) for any amounts that exceed the fees paid by you to Farnam Street Media Inc. under this agreement during the twelve (12) month period prior to the cause of action. Farnam Street Media Inc. shall have no liability for any failure or delay due to matters beyond their reasonable control. The foregoing shall not apply to the extent prohibited by applicable law.

11. General Representation and Warranty. You represent and warrant that (i) your use of the Website will be in strict accordance with the Farnam Street Media Inc. Privacy Policy, with this Agreement and with all applicable laws and regulations (including without limitation any local laws or regulations in your country, state, city, or other governmental area, regarding online conduct and acceptable content, and including all applicable laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the United States or the country in which you reside) and (ii) your use of the Website will not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of any third party.

12. Indemnification. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Farnam Street Media Inc., its contractors, and its licensors, and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents from and against any and all claims and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of your use of the Website, including but not limited to out of your violation this Agreement.

13. Miscellaneous. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between Farnam Street Media Inc. and you concerning the subject matter hereof, and they may only be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorized executive of Farnam Street Media Inc. or by the posting by Farnam Street Media Inc. of a revised version. Except to the extent applicable law, if any, provides otherwise, this Agreement, any access to or use of the Website will be governed by the laws of the province of Ontario, Canada, excluding its conflict of law provisions, and the proper venue for any disputes arising out of or relating to any of the same will be the provincial and federal courts located in Ottawa, Canada. Except for claims for injunctive or equitable relief or claims regarding intellectual property rights (which may be brought in any competent court without the posting of a bond), any dispute arising under this Agreement shall be finally settled in accordance with the Comprehensive Arbitration Rules of the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service, Inc. (“JAMS”) by three arbitrators appointed in accordance with such Rules. The arbitration shall take place in Ottawa, Canada, in the English language and the arbitral decision may be enforced in any court. The prevailing party in any action or proceeding to enforce this Agreement shall be entitled to costs and attorneys’ fees. If you prevail over Farnam Street Media Inc., no fees paid to you, including attorney’s fees, may exceed what you have paid to Farnam Street Media Inc. in the prior 12 months. If any part of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that part will be construed to reflect the parties’ original intent, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. A waiver by either party of any term or condition of this Agreement or any breach thereof, in any one instance, will not waive such term or condition or any subsequent breach thereof. You may assign your rights under this Agreement to any party that consents to, and agrees to be bound by, its terms and conditions; Farnam Street Media Inc. may assign its rights under this Agreement without condition. This Agreement will be binding upon and will inure to the benefit of the parties, their successors and permitted assigns.

This TOS is derived from the Auttomatic TOS made available for reproduction as shared under the Creative Commons Sharealike license.

Discover What You’re Missing

Get the weekly email full of actionable ideas and insights you can use at work and home.


As seen on:

Forbes logo
New York Times logo
Wall Street Journal logo
The Economist logo
Financial Times logo
Farnam Street Logo

© 2023 Farnam Street Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Proudly powered by WordPress. Hosted by Pressable. See our Privacy Policy.

  • Speaking
  • Sponsorship
  • About
  • Support
  • Education

We’re Syrus Partners.
We buy amazing businesses.


Farnam Street participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising commissions by linking to Amazon.