Terms of Service

1. Who can use Roots

You must be at least 18 years old to create a Roots account. Roots is intended for people who live in or have real ties to Weston, Connecticut. If you're not part of this community, please don't sign up.

2. Your account

You're responsible for what happens on your account. Use your real first name, or a real nickname a Weston neighbor would recognize. Fake identities defeat the point of Roots. If someone signs into your account, they can see and send messages as you, so don't share your login.

3. What you can post

Roots is for community-oriented posts: things you can offer, help you're looking for, rides, skills you want to teach or learn, and neighborly asks. That's the whole product.

Not welcome on Roots:

• Commercial ads, business promotion, or contractor-style listings
• Political campaigning or fundraising
• Hate speech, harassment, threats, or targeted attacks on individuals or groups
• Sexually explicit content, or anything you wouldn't say to a neighbor across the fence
• Illegal activity, including anything that would put minors at risk
• Impersonating another Weston resident, a Roots administrator, or a public figure
• Anything that misuses the platform to collect data, contact info, or leads at scale

You keep ownership of what you post. By posting on Roots, you give us permission to display it to other Roots members and to hold onto it while your account exists.

4. Messaging

Direct messages are private between you and the neighbor you're writing to. We don't read them. However, if someone reports you and shares screenshots or forwards the message, we may review that context to decide whether to act.

Don't use messages to spam, sell, phish, or send anything you wouldn't want your kids to see.

5. The writing assistant

Roots offers optional AI-assisted writing help in Messages ("Help me reply," "Ice-breaker," and so on). When you tap those buttons, the visible conversation is sent to Anthropic to generate a suggestion. If you don't use those buttons, your messages are never sent to any AI service. Suggestions are drafts — read them, edit them, and only send what you actually mean.

6. Community moderation

We may remove content, suspend accounts, or permanently ban members if they break these terms or the community guidelines. We try to be fair and transparent, but we reserve the right to make the final call on what stays and what goes. This is a community, not a public utility.

If your account is suspended or removed, we'll do our best to tell you why. If you think we got it wrong, email hello@westonroots.org — we'll actually read it.

7. Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time from Settings. This removes your profile, posts, and messages from view for other members. See our Privacy Policy for details on how long we hold onto backups.

8. Availability and changes

Roots is a small, community-run project. We do our best to keep it running smoothly, but we make no guarantee that it will always be available or bug-free. We may add or remove features over time.

If we make a meaningful change to these terms, we'll email members and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of Roots after a change means you accept the new terms.

9. Liability

Roots helps neighbors meet each other. What you and another neighbor decide to do offline — swap a ride, teach a class, watch each other's kids — is between the two of you. We're not a party to those arrangements, and we're not responsible for them. Use good judgment, meet in public first when it makes sense, and trust your gut.

To the fullest extent allowed by Connecticut law, Roots and its operator are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the service.

10. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Connecticut. Any dispute arising from these terms will be handled in a Connecticut court.

11. Contact

Questions? Something feel off? Email hello@westonroots.org.