Terms of Service

Last updated: 2026-04-20

These Terms of Service govern your use of Penpal-Gate at https://penpal-gate.net. By accessing or using the service, you agree to these terms.

Eligibility and Accounts

You must be at least 13 years old to use Penpal-Gate. You agree to provide accurate information, keep your account details up to date, and keep your login credentials confidential. You are responsible for activity that takes place through your account.

User Content

Penpal-Gate lets you create a profile and submit content such as posts, comments, and private messages. You remain responsible for the content you submit and must have the right to share it.

Some profile information, posts, and comments may be visible to other users. Private messages are intended to be visible only to the sender and the recipient.

You keep ownership of your content. However, by submitting content to the service, you grant us a non-exclusive license to host, store, reproduce, modify, publicly display, and distribute that content as needed to operate, secure, and improve Penpal-Gate, including showcasing user profiles.

You grant us the right to use profile information, posts, and other content you provide to showcase active community members on our homepage and other promotional areas of the service. This may include your profile picture, excerpts from your posts, and other information from your profile, which will be visible to all visitors. You may opt out of homepage showcasing through your account settings.

Acceptable Use

You may not use the service for unlawful activity, spam, harassment, threats, hate speech, impersonation, fraud, or to violate another person's rights or privacy. We may remove content or restrict accounts that violate these rules or that put the service or its users at risk.

Account Termination and Closure

We may terminate or suspend your account immediately, without prior notice or liability, including without limitation if you breach these Terms or if we determine such action is necessary to protect the service, its users, or our legal interests.

You may also request deletion of your account at any time through your account settings. Account deletion is completed within 48 hours.

Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

Penpal-Gate is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis without warranties of any kind.

The service may contain links to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for their content, terms, or privacy practices.

To the extent permitted by law, in no event shall Penpal-Gate be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages (including, without limitation, damages for loss of data, profits, goodwill, or other intangible losses) arising out of or relating to your use or inability to use the service, regardless of the theory of liability and even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Changes and Governing Law

We may update these terms from time to time. When we do, we will update the date at the top of this page. Continued use of the service after an update means you accept the revised terms.

These terms are governed by the laws of France, without regard to conflict of law rules.

If you have questions about these Terms of Service, please contact us through our contact form.

Privacy Policy

Last updated: April 20, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Penpal-Gate processes personal data when you use the service.

Who We Are

Penpal-Gate is a volunteer-run project based in France and operates the website https://penpal-gate.net.

Data We Process

We process the data needed to create, secure, and run your account, including your email address, date of birth, country of origin, and registration and login IP addresses.

We also process the content and information you choose to submit through the service, such as profile information, posts, comments, and private messages.

Some profile information, posts, and comments may be visible to other users. Private messages are intended to be visible only to the sender and the recipient.

If you choose to use optional features, we may also process related data. For example, if you sign in with Google or X, we receive the information made available by that provider for authentication and account setup. If you enable push notifications, we process the data required to deliver those notifications to your device.

How We Use Data

We use personal data to provide the service, authenticate users, maintain accounts, deliver messages and other user content, prevent abuse, comply with legal obligations, and respond to support or privacy requests.

We also use cookies or similar technologies for login, analytics, and ad personalization settings where applicable.

Cookies, Analytics, and Advertising

Essential cookies are used to keep you logged in and make core parts of the service work. We also use Google Analytics and Google AdSense. Non-essential cookies and scripts are only loaded after the required consent has been given through our consent tool. You can refuse or withdraw consent for non-essential cookies at any time through the available consent controls.

Legal Bases

Depending on the context, we process personal data because it is necessary to provide the service you request, because we must comply with legal obligations, because we have a legitimate interest in securing and operating the service, or because you have given consent, for example for non-essential cookies or optional features.

Sharing of Data

We do not sell your personal data. We share data only when necessary to operate the service or provide an optional feature you choose to use.

This may include Google Analytics and Google AdSense in your browser after consent, and Google or X when you choose social login. If you use a third-party payment provider for a donation, that provider will process the payment information required for that transaction under its own terms and privacy policy.

International Transfers

Penpal-Gate is hosted in the European Union. Some service providers may process data outside the European Union or European Economic Area. Where that happens, we rely on appropriate safeguards under applicable data protection law.

Data Retention

Registration and login IP data is kept for up to 1 year. Inactive conversations are deleted after 3 years, or after 10 years for users who made a donation. Other data is kept only for as long as needed to operate the service, comply with legal obligations, or resolve disputes.

If you request account deletion, the deletion process is completed within 48 hours. Any content you send through the service can also be deleted by you at any time.

Your Rights

Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to access your personal data, correct it or delete it.

You can update your account information directly through your settings. You can also use our contact form for privacy requests.

Security

We use automated systems to help protect the service and its users from fraud, spam, and scammers. These systems may automatically restrict or suspend accounts based on behavioral patterns and risk indicators.

We use reasonable security measures to protect personal data, including encrypted traffic and modern password hashing.

Children

Penpal-Gate is not intended for children under 13, and users must be at least 13 years old to use the service.