EchoedLives

TERMS OF USE

Last updated: 4 September 2026

1. Who we are

EchoedLives is operated by Caraidiz Inc., a New York corporation (“we”, “us”). By creating an account or using echoedlives.com, you agree to these Terms.

If you do not agree, do not use EchoedLives.

2. Who can use EchoedLives

You must be at least 18 years old. By creating an account you confirm that you are.

We may close any account we believe belongs to someone under 18.

3. Your account

You choose a pseudonym. You do not have to use your real name, and we recommend that you do not.

You are responsible for what happens under your account and for keeping your password private. Tell us at hello@echoedlives.com if you think someone else has access to it.

You may delete your account at any time. See section 10.

4. What an Echo is

An Echo is one story told in five chapters, each up to 2,500 characters. An Echo stays private until all five chapters contain text, and it is published only when you choose to publish it.

Once published, an Echo is visible to anyone, including people without an account, and may be indexed by search engines.

You can unpublish or delete an Echo at any time. Deleting an Echo also deletes the comments other people left on it.

5. Your writing stays yours

You own what you write. We do not acquire your copyright.

By publishing an Echo, you give us a non-exclusive, worldwide licence to store it, display it on EchoedLives, and show extracts of it in the product itself — for example on the home page, in a category listing, or in a link preview when someone shares it.

This licence exists so that we can run the service. It ends for future uses when you unpublish or delete the Echo.

6. Printed editions

You may ask us to print your own Echo as a physical book or download it as a PDF. That is a service you buy; nothing changes about who owns the text.

Separately, when you publish an Echo you may tick:

Allow readers to order a printed edition of this Echo.

This box is never ticked by default. If you tick it:

  • readers may order a printed copy of that Echo for themselves;
  • we print and ship it, and we keep the proceeds;
  • you are not paid in money. You receive print credits and may be featured on EchoedLives;
  • you may untick the box at any time. Orders stop from that moment. Copies already printed and delivered stay with the people who bought them.

If you leave the box unticked, nobody but you can order a printed edition of your Echo.

Comments left by other people are never included in a book bought by anyone other than the author of the Echo.

7. What you may not publish

Some things are never allowed, whatever the story and however it is written:

  • content that is not yours to publish;
  • another person’s contact details — a home address, a phone number, an email address;
  • threats, harassment, or incitement to violence;
  • sexual content involving anyone under 18, in any form, real or described;
  • instructions for self-harm, or content that encourages it;
  • content that impersonates someone else, living or dead;
  • advertising, spam, or links whose purpose is commercial.

Everything else about other people is covered by section 8.

8. Writing about other people

Your story will almost always involve other people — your mother, the person you loved, the friend who disappeared. That is what a life is, and we are not asking you to write around them.

What we ask is that you do not make them identifiable to strangers.

Write what someone did, said, or meant to you. Change what would let a stranger find them: their real name, where they live, where they work, the name of the school, the photograph. The more sensitive the detail — someone’s illness, their sexuality, their immigration status, their criminal record — the more carefully it has to be blurred or left out.

The test is one question: could someone who does not know you work out who this person is? If yes, change something. If the only people who could recognise them already know the story, you are within these Terms.

If a person recognises themselves in your Echo and asks us to remove it, we will contact you and may unpublish it while we look at it.

9. Reporting, and what we do about it

You can report an Echo or a comment, from the app or from the website. You need to be signed in.

You do not have to wait for us. You can delete your own comments at any time, and you can delete any comment left on an Echo you wrote. The replies to a deleted comment are deleted with it.

We read every report and act as quickly as we can. Reports about someone’s safety come first.

We may unpublish content, suspend an account, or close it, without notice, when we believe these Terms have been broken. We will tell you why, unless telling you would put someone at risk.

Reports concerning the safety of a child are kept even after an account is deleted, and are passed to the authorities where the law requires it.

10. Deleting your account

You can delete your account from the app or from the website. When you do:

  • your Echoes, chapters, comments and reactions are deleted;
  • replies other people wrote to your comments are deleted with them;
  • your pseudonym is retired, and nobody else can take it for 30 days;
  • if your email address is on our waiting list, it is removed too;
  • copies of a book already printed are not recalled;
  • reports concerning the safety of a child are kept, as set out in section 9.

Deletion is permanent. We cannot restore what you delete.

11. What we do not promise

EchoedLives is provided as it is. We do not promise that it will always be available, that nothing will ever be lost, or that every published Echo is true.

Stories on EchoedLives are written by their authors. We do not verify them.

12. Limitation of liability

To the extent the law allows, Caraidiz Inc. is not liable for indirect or consequential loss, and our total liability to you is limited to the amount you have paid us in the twelve months before the claim.

Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

13. Changes

We may change these Terms. If we change something that matters, we will say so on the site and, where we can, by email, at least 14 days before it takes effect. Continuing to use EchoedLives after that means you accept the change.

14. Law and courts

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York. Any dispute goes to the state or federal courts sitting in New York County, New York.

15. Contact

hello@echoedlives.com Caraidiz Inc., 447 Broadway, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10013, United States.