Terms of Service

By accessing or using StumpWatch (the “Platform”), creating an account, contributing content, donating, or otherwise interacting with the Platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform. We may update these Terms from time to time (see §30); your continued use after the updated effective date constitutes acceptance. If you use the Platform on behalf of an organization, you represent that you are authorized to bind that organization, and “you” includes that organization. If you contribute content, the Contributor Terms also apply and are incorporated by reference.

“StumpWatch” or the “Platform” means the StumpWatch website, applications, data, APIs, and services. “AideaMaker LLC”, the “Company”, “we”, “us”, and “our” mean AideaMaker LLC, the operator of the Platform, together with its members, managers, officers, employees, volunteers, contractors, licensors, and agents. “You” or “User” means any person who accesses the Platform. “Content” means all information made available on the Platform. “UGC” means user-generated content (votes, comments, flags, disputes, proposed edits, corrections, debate arguments, submitted media links, and similar contributions). “Claimed Candidate” means a verified politician or campaign account. “Official Records” means facts imported from official government or other public sources. “Assessments” or “Ratings” means evaluations of whether, and to what degree, a promise was kept. “AI-Derived Content” means positions, agendas, summaries, or other output produced or inferred by automated or machine-learning systems. “Political Capital” means the in-platform reputation points described in §19.

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Platform, and at least 18 (and of legal age to form a binding contract) to donate or to hold a Claimed Candidate account. The Platform is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information; if you are under 13, do not use the Platform. You must not be barred from using the Platform under any applicable law. One account per person; accounts are personal to you and may not be shared, sold, transferred, or made available to any other person.

StumpWatch is an independent, nonpartisan, evidence-first accountability platform that publishes sourced records, assessments, and commentary about public figures acting in their public capacity. The Platform, and all Content on it, is provided for general informational and civic purposes only. Nothing on the Platform is, or should be relied on as, legal, electoral, voting, financial, tax, investment, or other professional advice, and nothing on the Platform is a directive or instruction on how to vote. Content is not a statement of fact by the Company, is not an endorsement of or opposition to any candidate, party, campaign, or ballot measure, and may contain errors, omissions, or out-of-date information. You are solely responsible for your own decisions and for independently verifying any information before relying on it. How we source and score information is described on our Methodology page.

The Platform is operated by AideaMaker LLC, a for-profit limited liability company. We intend to establish StumpWatch as a nonprofit organization, and StumpWatch plans to start the process of applying for nonprofit status soon. StumpWatch is not currently a nonprofit organization and does not hold tax-exempt status. Accordingly, donations to StumpWatch are not tax-deductible. Nothing on the Platform is tax advice; consult your own tax advisor regarding any contribution. See §21 for donation terms.

To contribute, you must register an account with accurate, current, and complete information and keep it accurate. You are solely responsible for safeguarding your credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account, whether or not authorized by you. You must notify us promptly of any unauthorized use or suspected breach of security. We require email verification before you may vote, comment, propose edits, or open disputes, and we may require you to reset your password or re-verify at any time. You may not impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your identity or affiliation. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to safeguard your credentials or from any unauthorized use of your account. Information you provide is handled as described in our Privacy Policy; your real name, if collected, is used for accountability and is not displayed publicly.

Verified politician and campaign accounts may add official responses and propose factual corrections through the Platform’s corrections process. They may not delete promises, alter assessment outcomes, or edit the original wording or audit history of any record. Candidate contributions are tagged as such and published as addenda alongside the original record. The Platform provides a right of reply and correction, not a right to erase. Verification of a Claimed Candidate account does not make the Company responsible for, or an endorser of, any statement made through that account.

StumpWatch applies the same published methodology to every public figure regardless of party, ideology, or office. Assessments are prepared in good faith from sourced, attributed, and (where available) archived public records, and they are open to correction through the Platform’s corrections and right-of-reply processes. We do not warrant that the methodology will produce any particular conclusion, that every record has been assessed, or that any assessment is free from error. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Company is not liable for good-faith analysis, commentary, or assessments that are sourced and applied even-handedly across parties, and the remedy for any subject who disputes an assessment is a right of reply and correction under §7, not erasure.

The Platform separates Content into four distinct layers so that opinion is never presented with the authority of a sourced fact: (1) verified facts (Official Records) imported from official or public sources; (2) structured claims (promises and stated positions); (3) assessments (auditable, disputable ratings); and (4) opinions (community votes and comments). All Content across every layer is provided “as is” for informational and civic purposes, is not a statement of fact by the Company, and may contain errors. Ratings, scores, and assessments are statements of opinion and analysis based on disclosed, cited facts; they are protected as such, are derived from public records, and are open to correction. No rating or assessment is a directive on how to vote, and reasonable people may reach different conclusions from the same underlying facts.

The Platform publishes records, commentary, and assessments concerning public figures’ public conduct. Ratings and assessments are expressions of opinion and fair comment on matters of public concern, based on disclosed and cited facts, and are not intended as, and should not be read as, assertions of undisclosed defamatory fact. The Company is not the author or publisher of UGC and, consistent with 47 U.S.C. §230, is not responsible for content created by users. Users who fabricate, misattribute, or knowingly misstate records, or who post content beyond what the cited factual record supports, bear sole legal responsibility for that content and will indemnify the Company under §27. We maintain a corrections pipeline and a right of reply (§7) and will review and correct verified errors; a subject’s remedy is correction and reply, not removal of accurate, sourced material.

Parts of the Platform use automated and machine-learning systems to infer, summarize, or derive Content — for example, inferring a candidate’s positions or agenda from their voting and action record. AI-Derived Content is generated analysis, is clearly labeled as such, and may be inaccurate, incomplete, or unsuitable for your purpose. It is provided for informational purposes only, does not constitute professional advice, and must be independently verified before you rely on it. Any internal review, confidence scoring, or adversarial-refutation step we apply is a risk-reduction measure, not a guarantee of correctness. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Company makes no warranty as to the accuracy, reliability, or fitness of AI-Derived Content and is not liable for decisions made in reliance on it.

The Platform compiles and displays information drawn from third-party and public sources, which may include, without limitation, Congress.gov, the Federal Election Commission (FEC and its APIs), OpenStates, Voteview, the U.S. Census Bureau, Ballotpedia, and news and other public sources. We do not control these sources and do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or availability of any data or result derived from them; such data reflects its sources and may contain errors, gaps, or delays. The Company is not responsible for third-party data, and you are solely responsible for how you use any data or result and for independently verifying it before acting on it. You must comply with the terms, licenses, and usage restrictions of any third-party source, and you are responsible for any business, journalistic, or other decision you make based on Platform Content.

The Platform also publishes public-record contact information for public officials and their offices — which may include an office email or web contact form, office phone, official mailing address, official website, and public or official-capacity social-media profiles — compiled from authoritative civic sources (for example, the @unitedstates/congress-legislators project and OpenStates) or from official government pages. This information concerns officials in their public/official capacity only (never a private residence or private contact detail), is provided for civic and informational purposes, and may be inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date. The Company is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or authorized to speak for any official, office, or agency, and does not guarantee that any message sent using such information will be received or answered; you are solely responsible for verifying it and for how you use it.

You agree not to:

• post unlawful, defamatory, harassing, threatening, abusive, infringing, obscene, or fraudulent content;
• use any official or office contact information published on the Platform to send spam, bulk, or automated messages, or to harass, threaten, intimidate, defraud, or impersonate, or for any unlawful purpose, or in violation of any applicable anti-spam, telemarketing, robocall, or communications law;
• submit fabricated, misattributed, forged, or knowingly inaccurate source citations or records;
• use the Platform to campaign for or against any candidate, party, or ballot measure, or to post partisan advocacy;
• manipulate, game, or misrepresent how content is categorized across the Platform’s factual, claim, assessment, and opinion layers, or manipulate ratings, votes, Political Capital, or the accountability record;
• tamper with, circumvent, forge, or attempt to alter the Platform’s append-only, hash-chained audit record;
• impersonate any person or entity, operate multiple or fake accounts, or misrepresent your identity or affiliation;
• upload malware, attempt to gain unauthorized access, probe, scan, overload, or disrupt the Platform or its security;
• reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code or non-public data except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by law;
• harass, threaten, dox, or incite harm against any person, including any public figure or contributor; or
• use the Platform in any way that violates applicable law or these Terms.

You may not scrape, crawl, harvest, or use automated means to access the Platform except as expressly permitted by our robots.txt or any official API we publish, and only within posted rate limits. Data we make available for export (for example, JSON or CSV) is provided as is, without warranty of accuracy or completeness, for personal, journalistic, academic, or research use; you must not misrepresent it, strip its context, present it as endorsed or verified by us, or use it to state or imply that the Company endorses any candidate, party, or position, and we may require reasonable attribution. We may impose, change, throttle, block, or revoke access, rate limits, and export availability at any time, including for abusive, excessive, competing, or automated traffic.

You retain ownership of your UGC. By submitting UGC you grant the Company a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully paid, sublicensable, and transferable license to host, store, reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, display, perform, aggregate, and distribute that UGC — including in exports, derived datasets, and promotional materials — in any media now known or later developed, in connection with operating, improving, and promoting the Platform, and you waive any moral rights to the extent permitted by law. You represent and warrant that you own or have all rights necessary to grant this license, that your source citations are accurate and not fabricated, and that your UGC is not defamatory and does not infringe or violate any third-party right or any law. You are solely responsible for your UGC. We do not endorse and are not responsible for any UGC, and we have no obligation to publish, retain, or continue to display any UGC.

Community corrections, proposed edits, submitted media links, and debate arguments are UGC and are subject to §15. Community corrections and proposed edits are contributor-submitted and may be inaccurate; new contributors’ submissions are held for review, but review, approval, or publication is not a warranty by the Company of accuracy, and we have no obligation to publish, and may edit, decline, reorder, aggregate, or remove, any submission at our sole discretion. If you submit a link to media, you represent that you have the right to submit it and that doing so does not infringe any third-party right; the Company does not host, control, or endorse third-party media and is not responsible for its content or availability. Layer separation (opinion vs. sourced evidence vs. assessment) is preserved for all such submissions.

We may remove, hide, lock, edit, or decline to publish any content that violates these Terms or that we judge harmful, at our sole discretion and without notice or liability. Because the Platform maintains an append-only, hash-chained audit record, content that is “removed” is hidden (soft-deleted) but is retained in the audit history and is not permanently erased. Do not submit anything you may later need to have permanently deleted. Moderation decisions are made in our discretion, and we are not obligated to monitor, and do not guarantee that we will detect or remove, any particular content. This retention is described further in our Privacy Policy.

The Platform — including its software, source code, design, text, graphics, logos, compilations, arrangement of data, and trademarks — is © AideaMaker LLC and is owned by AideaMaker LLC or its licensors and protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual-property laws. All rights reserved. Facts and public records drawn from public sources remain public; our protectable rights subsist in the Platform and in our original selection, arrangement, assessment, and compilation of information. Except for your own UGC and data we expressly make available for reuse, and except for a limited, revocable, non-exclusive license to view the Platform for its intended purpose, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, distribute, or create derivative works without our permission, and no other right, title, or interest is transferred to you. If you believe content on the Platform infringes your copyright, you may submit a notice through our contact form with the information required under the DMCA (17 U.S.C. §512); we honor valid counter-notices and terminate repeat infringers.

Political Capital, reputation tiers, badges, awards, and leaderboard rankings are in-platform recognition features only. They have no monetary or cash value, are not property, currency, tokens, or securities, are non-transferable, and cannot be redeemed, bought, or sold. We may award, adjust, withhold, reset, or revoke Political Capital and recognition, and may change how they are calculated, at our sole discretion, including to preserve the integrity of the accountability record. Awards, leaderboards, and derived rankings are informational, are computed from the data on file, and carry no warranty of accuracy or completeness. Participation in a public leaderboard is optional and opt-in.

Watchlists and similar personal preferences are transient interface conveniences. They are private to you, never public, never sold, and are not part of the accountability record or the audit chain; removing an item deletes it. These features are provided “as is” with no warranty of availability or retention, and we may change or discontinue them at any time.

Donations are processed by our third-party payment processor, Stripe, and Stripe’s terms and privacy policy also apply; the Company never receives or stores your full card details. Donations are voluntary, are made in exchange for no goods or services, and — as stated in §5 — are not tax-deductible. Except as expressly required by applicable law, all donations are final and non-refundable. If you choose a recurring (for example, monthly) donation, you authorize the Company and Stripe to charge your selected payment method on a recurring basis at the stated interval until you cancel, which you may do at any time; cancellation stops future charges but does not entitle you to a refund of amounts already charged. You are responsible for any applicable taxes and for keeping your payment information current. You agree not to initiate a chargeback or payment dispute without first contacting us through our contact form to resolve the matter; fraudulent or bad-faith chargebacks may result in suspension of your account.

By creating an account or providing your contact details, you consent to receive service-related and transactional messages (such as verification, security, and account notices) from the Company, and, if you opt in, optional promotional or update messages. You may opt out of non-essential communications at any time using the unsubscribe mechanism provided or your account settings; service and transactional messages may continue. Message and data rates from your carrier may apply.

Your use of the Platform is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which explains what we collect (including account information, any optional demographic or voting-preference data you choose to provide, UGC, donation records processed by Stripe, and limited technical and security data such as IP addresses). We use first-party, privacy- preserving analytics that do not rely on third-party advertising cookies or cross-site trackers. We do not sell personal data. Official-record data about public figures is public by law. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any loss, corruption, or unauthorized access to data despite our use of reasonable security measures; no method of transmission or storage is completely secure.

The Platform relies on and may link to third-party services — including Stripe (payments), government and public data sources, email/delivery providers, and hosting and infrastructure providers. We do not control and are not responsible for the content, availability, accuracy, security, or practices of any third party, and your use of their services is governed by their own terms and policies. Links to third-party sites or sources are provided for convenience and are not an endorsement.

THE PLATFORM AND ALL CONTENT, RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, AI-DERIVED CONTENT, EXPORTS, AND SOURCES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, ACCURACY, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT ANY RATING, ASSESSMENT, RECORD, OR SOURCE IS ACCURATE, COMPLETE, CURRENT, OR RELIABLE, OR THAT THE PLATFORM WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE. ANY RELIANCE ON THE PLATFORM OR ITS CONTENT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN WARRANTY EXCLUSIONS, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE COMPANY (AideaMaker LLC) AND ITS MEMBERS, MANAGERS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, VOLUNTEERS, CONTRACTORS, LICENSORS, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, GOODWILL, REPUTATION, OR PROFITS, ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE PLATFORM, ANY CONTENT, OR THESE TERMS, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR ANY OTHER THEORY, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID OR DONATED TO US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM OR (B) US $100. THESE LIMITATIONS ARE AN ESSENTIAL BASIS OF THE BARGAIN. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN LIMITATIONS, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU; IN THAT CASE OUR LIABILITY IS LIMITED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Company (AideaMaker LLC) and its members, managers, officers, employees, volunteers, contractors, licensors, and agents from and against any and all claims, demands, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from or relating to: (a) your UGC or any content you submit; (b) your use of the Platform; (c) your violation of these Terms or any law; (d) your violation of any third-party right, including any intellectual-property, privacy, publicity, or defamation claim; or (e) any misrepresentation, fabricated citation, or knowingly inaccurate record you submit. We may assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification, and you agree to cooperate with our defense.

You acknowledge that the Platform aggregates political information from many sources, that such information may be incomplete, disputed, or in error, and that you assume all risk arising from your use of, and any reliance on, the Platform, its Content, AI-Derived Content, exports, and UGC. To the maximum extent permitted by law, you release the Company and the parties listed in §26 from any claims, demands, and damages arising out of or connected with any dispute between you and any other user, any public figure or third party, any third-party data, or any content posted by others. If you are a California resident, you expressly waive California Civil Code §1542 and any similar law in any jurisdiction, which would otherwise preserve claims you do not know of or suspect at the time of release.

We may suspend, restrict, block, or terminate your account or access to the Platform at any time, with or without notice, for any reason, including any actual or suspected violation of these Terms or any conduct we reasonably believe is harmful to the Platform, other users, the integrity of the record, or us. You may stop using the Platform at any time. Upon termination, your right to use the Platform ceases; the UGC license you granted, and provisions that by their nature should survive — including definitions, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, release, intellectual-property terms, and dispute resolution — survive termination.

We may modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Platform, including any feature or data source, at any time without liability. We may also update these Terms from time to time. We will revise the “Effective” date above and, for material changes, provide reasonable notice on the Platform. Your continued use after the effective date of any update constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms; if you do not agree, you must stop using the Platform.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. Informal resolution first. Before filing any claim, you agree to attempt informal resolution by sending notice through our contact form and allowing 30 days to resolve the matter. Binding arbitration. Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Platform (including arbitrability) that is not resolved informally will be settled exclusively by binding, individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its applicable rules, seated in Bexar County, Texas. The arbitrator’s award is final and binding, and judgment may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. You and the Company waive any right to a jury trial and to participate in a class, collective, consolidated, or representative action; claims may be brought only in your individual capacity. Either party may bring a qualifying individual claim in small-claims court, and either party may seek injunctive or equitable relief in court to protect intellectual-property or confidential information. One-year limitation. Any claim must be brought within one (1) year after it arises, or it is permanently barred, to the extent permitted by law. Each party bears its own fees except as an arbitrator or law provides.

If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, that provision will be limited or severed to the minimum extent necessary and the remaining provisions remain in full effect. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and (for contributors) the Contributor Terms, are the entire agreement between you and the Company regarding the Platform and supersede all prior understandings. We may assign these Terms; you may not assign them without our consent, and any attempted assignment is void. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver. There are no third-party beneficiaries. Section headings are for convenience only. We are not liable for any failure or delay caused by events beyond our reasonable control.

The only way to reach the Company is the contact form. We do not publish a direct email address or telephone number, and we do not receive, monitor, or accept postal mail or physical deliveries — any mail addressed to the Company will not reach us and should not be sent. Send all communications, including any legal, privacy, or DMCA notice you wish or are permitted to give us, through the contact form; we reply to the address you provide.