Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using DogChat (the "Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, do not use the Service. These terms apply to all visitors, users, and others who access the Service.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years of age to use DogChat. By using the Service you represent that you meet this requirement. Users under 18 should have parental or guardian consent.

3. Data We Collect

When you register or use DogChat, we collect and store the following:

• IP address: recorded at registration and updated each time you connect to chat. Used for moderation enforcement — ban and suspension checks, abuse prevention, and rate limiting. Not shared with any third party.
• Country: your country is inferred from your IP address at registration time via Cloudflare's geo-IP service. We do not store anything more precise than country level.
• Device type: whether you are on a mobile or desktop device, determined from your browser's User-Agent string at registration. Stored in aggregate (e.g. "X% of signups are mobile") and on your account record.
• Account data: your username, 4-digit tag, hashed password (PBKDF2 — we never store your password in plain text), bio, pronouns, status, profile avatar, profile banner, and any badges granted by moderators.
• Chat messages: messages sent in Global Chat are stored server-side to provide chat history. Direct Messages are stored server-side for the lifetime of the conversation.
• DM images: images you send in Direct Messages are stored for up to 90 days and then automatically deleted. Profile avatars and banners are stored indefinitely until you replace or remove them.
• Moderation records: warnings, timeouts, suspensions, and bans are recorded and associated with your account and IP address for enforcement purposes.
• Activity data: a daily-active-user record (username + date only, no content) is kept for 8 days to power aggregate usage statistics. No detailed activity log is retained beyond this.
• Session token: a signed, tamper-proof authentication cookie is set on login. See Section 5 for details.

We do not run any third-party analytics, advertising trackers, or fingerprinting scripts.

4. How We Use Your Data

We use the data we collect to:

• Operate, maintain, and improve the Service.
• Authenticate your identity and maintain your session.
• Enforce our community rules and ban policy in accordance with our moderation practices.
• Investigate abuse, spam, or violations of these Terms.
• Send you notifications you have opted into (e.g. browser push notifications).

We do not sell your data to third parties or use it for advertising.

5. Cookies & Local Storage

DogChat uses the following browser storage mechanisms:

• Session cookie: a secure HTTP-only cookie set upon login, used to authenticate your requests. It expires when your session ends or after a period of inactivity.
• localStorage: stores lightweight preferences (e.g. whether you have completed the tutorial, notification permission state). No personal data is stored here.

By continuing to use the Service after dismissing the cookie notice, you consent to this use of cookies and local storage.

6. User Content

You are responsible for all content you post on DogChat. You agree not to post content that is illegal, threatening, harassing, abusive, spam, phishing, or in violation of another person's privacy or intellectual property rights.

Specific content rules (what is and is not permitted in chat) are detailed in our Community Rules. Violations may result in content removal, a temporary suspension, or a permanent ban at our discretion.

We reserve the right to remove any content and take action against any account without prior notice.

7. Account Security

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials. Notify us immediately if you suspect unauthorized access to your account. We store passwords using industry-standard hashing and never in plain text.

8. Service Availability

DogChat is currently in beta. The Service is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue the Service at any time without notice. We are not liable for any loss of data or interruption of service.

9. Termination

We reserve the right to terminate or suspend your account at any time for violations of these Terms, without prior notice. Upon termination, your right to use the Service ceases immediately. Your stored messages and data may be deleted.

10. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms at any time. Continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the new Terms. We will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page when changes are made.

11. Contact

If you have questions about these Terms or how your data is handled, you can reach the DogChat team via the community chat or through the platform's support channels.