Publisher Terms

Effective 5 October 2026 · Version 2026-10-05

These Publisher Terms govern your use of Ding Publishing at publish.ding.social and its publishing API. Ding is a project by vāyumaṇḍala. In these Terms, “Ding,” “we” and “us” mean the operator of this service. Contact us at email@ding.social.

1. Agreement and eligibility

By accepting these Terms when registering an app, you agree to follow them. If you act for an organisation, you must have authority to bind it. You must be at least 18 and legally able to enter this agreement. If you do not agree, do not register or publish. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle information.

2. Registration and review

Provide accurate app details, a website you control, and a contact email you monitor. Verify your email and website. Publishing requires manual approval; registration or verification alone does not grant it. We may request more information, decline an application, or require another review after changes. Approval is permission to use Ding, not an endorsement, security certification, or guarantee of your app.

3. Recipient permission

Send personal alerts only for a relevant relationship or activity involving the addressed recipient. Send announcements only to people who chose to receive announcements from your app. Ding’s connection controls are an additional safeguard; they do not replace your obligation to obtain any consent required for the message or its purpose. Do not guess DIDs, send unrelated promotions, or bypass opt-outs. Explain your notification practices to users and honour their choices.

4. Acceptable use

Do not send spam, phishing, deceptive messages, harassment, malware, unlawful content, or content that violates another person’s privacy or intellectual property rights. Do not impersonate another service, misrepresent your app, collect sensitive information through misleading notifications, evade restrictions, or interfere with Ding. You must follow applicable laws and your users’ agreements. Notification links must use your registered website’s permitted HTTPS origin.

5. Credentials and responsibility

Keep publishing keys on your server, limit access, and replace compromised keys promptly. Never embed a key in a browser or mobile app. You are responsible for messages sent using your credentials and for your app, website, and handling of recipient information. Notify us of suspected abuse or unauthorised access. We never need a recipient’s Ding session or device token from you.

6. Your content and information

You retain your rights in app details and messages. You give Ding permission to store, process, display and transmit them as necessary to operate the service, enforce these Terms and address abuse. Register only information you may lawfully provide. Do not place confidential information, passwords or highly sensitive personal data in notification content; delivery providers and recipients’ device interfaces may process or display it.

7. Availability and limits

Ding currently provides publishing without a service-level commitment. Requests are subject to limits and validation. Acceptance does not guarantee delivery, visibility or that a recipient read the message. Services may be interrupted, delayed or changed. Do not rely on Ding for emergency, medical, safety-critical or other time-critical communications. We may introduce charges or materially change access conditions only after giving notice; these Terms do not authorise billing.

8. Suspension, disabling and appeals

We may restrict, decline or disable publishing to investigate abuse, protect users, comply with law, or address violations. When appropriate, we will notify your verified contact email with the reason. Immediate action may be necessary for safety or legal reasons. Disabling an app invalidates its key and cancels queued deliveries; it does not recall already sent messages. You may disable publishing in your dashboard. Contact email@ding.social to ask questions, request review of a decision, or request deletion of publisher information.

9. Third parties

Your identity provider, AT Protocol network services, hosting, email and push providers operate under their own terms. We do not control your app, linked websites, identity provider or recipient devices. You remain responsible for complying with relevant third-party requirements.

10. Disclaimers and liability

To the extent permitted by law, the service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without implied warranties of fitness, uninterrupted operation or error-free delivery. To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect or consequential losses arising from use of the service. Nothing in these Terms excludes rights or liability that cannot legally be excluded, including applicable mandatory consumer protections.

11. Changes and contact

We will publish changes here with an effective date and version. For material changes affecting registered publishers, we will give notice through the verified contact email or dashboard before the changes take effect, unless urgent legal or safety needs require earlier action. We may require renewed acceptance. Questions, complaints, security reports and appeals can be sent to email@ding.social.