Terms of Service

Scope

These Terms apply only to the reference instance hosted at bulletinmail.org, operated by Left Join Studio, Inc. If you run your own fork of the BulletinMail software, these Terms do not apply to your instance — you are the operator and must publish your own. See Self-host §15.

Effective: May 26, 2026 Service: BulletinMail at bulletinmail.org Provider: Left Join Studio, Inc. (“LJS”), an Illinois corporation Mailing address: 2501 Chatham Rd, Springfield, IL 62704

What BulletinMail is

BulletinMail is a hosted mailing-list service produced by Left Join Studio, Inc. to give non-profits and small organizations a low-cost way to keep in touch with their members. LJS donates engineering effort to make production-grade infrastructure available to organizations that otherwise wouldn’t have access to it — for reasons of money, knowledge, or time.

The hosted instance at bulletinmail.org is the reference deployment. The full source is open and well-documented; you are welcome and encouraged to run your own copy. See Self-host.

Best-effort service, no warranty

LJS keeps bulletinmail.org running on a best-effort basis. There are no service-level commitments, uptime guarantees, or warranties — express or implied. The service is provided AS IS and AT YOUR OWN RISK. To the maximum extent permitted by law, LJS disclaims all warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

If continuity matters for your organization, self-host. The architecture, configuration, and operational guides are in the documentation.

Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, LJS, its officers, directors, employees, and contributors are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of data, revenue, profits, or goodwill arising from your use of the service. LJS’s total liability for any claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or the service is limited to the greater of (a) the amounts you paid LJS for the service in the twelve months preceding the claim, or (b) USD $100.

Acceptable use

You may use BulletinMail to communicate with members of your organization. You may not use it to:

• Send unsolicited bulk email (spam) or any message that would violate CAN-SPAM, GDPR, CASL, or comparable law in your jurisdiction.
• Distribute malware, phishing attempts, or fraudulent content.
• Harass, threaten, or harm any person or group.
• Distribute content that is illegal where you or your recipients are located.
• Interfere with the operation of the service or attempt to circumvent its limits or security controls.

LJS may suspend or terminate accounts that violate this section, with or without notice, to protect the service and its other users.

Your responsibilities

You are responsible for:

• The content of messages your organization sends.
• The accuracy of subscriber consent for the people you add to your lists.
• Honoring unsubscribe requests promptly.
• Keeping your administrative credentials secure.

Your data

Your member data belongs to you. See the Privacy Notice for how we handle it.

Open source and trademark

BulletinMail’s source code is published under AGPL-3.0-only. You are free to fork and self-host. If you run a modified version as a service for third parties, the AGPL requires you to publish your modifications.

The names BulletinMail and Left Join Studio, and the apex bulletinmail.org, are trademarks of Left Join Studio, Inc. Forks redistributing the software as a service must rename.

Third-party deployments

These Terms govern only the LJS-operated instance at bulletinmail.org. Anyone else who deploys the BulletinMail software — whether for an organization’s internal use, as a free community service, or as a commercial for-profit offering — is the sole operator of that deployment. That operator:

• Assumes full responsibility and liability for their instance, including all data handling, deliverability, compliance, and end-user relationships.
• Must publish their own Terms of Service and Privacy Notice under their own legal name. The pages on bulletinmail.org/legal/ may not be reproduced verbatim by a third-party operator.
• Receives no warranty, indemnity, support, or service commitment from LJS or any other contributor by virtue of having forked or deployed the software.

LJS is not a party to, and bears no liability arising from, any third-party deployment of the BulletinMail software — for-profit or otherwise.

Changes to these Terms

LJS may update these Terms when the service changes or when law requires. Material changes will be announced on bulletinmail.org at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any action arising out of these Terms shall be brought in the state or federal courts located in Illinois.

Contact

Terms and legal questions: legal@bulletinmail.org