The terms that apply to this website

About these terms

These terms apply to your use of this website. By using the site you accept them; if you do not, the remedy is simply not to use it.

They may change as the site changes. The date at the top of this page is when they were last written, and the version on the site is the one that applies.

These are not the terms of an engagement

This is the point most worth being clear about. Nothing on this website is an offer, a quote, a commitment to deliver anything, or a description of what any particular engagement would include.

If we work together, the terms of that work — what is being delivered, on what basis, over what period, at what price, and who owns what at the end — are set out in a proposal and agreement written for that project and agreed by both of us. Those documents govern the work. This page does not, and nothing here overrides them.

Sending an enquiry starts a conversation. It does not create an agreement, and it does not oblige either of us to enter one.

• Start a conversation instead

What the content on this site is for

The pages here describe the kinds of work we do and how we approach it. They are written to help you decide whether a conversation is worth having.

They are general information, not advice for your situation. What is right for a business depends on facts a website cannot know, so please do not treat a page here as a recommendation about your own circumstances — ask us instead, and we will give you an answer about your case, including when that answer is that you do not need us.

We keep the site accurate and current, but we do not warrant that every page is complete or free of error at every moment.

Intellectual property

The content of this site — the text, design, layout, graphics and code — belongs to us or is used with permission, and is protected by the laws that ordinarily protect such material.

You are welcome to read it, print it and share links to it. Quoting a short passage with a link back is fine and needs no permission.

Republishing substantial parts of it, presenting it as your own, or using it to produce a competing service is not. Ask first, and the answer is often yes.

Acceptable use

A short list, and it exists mostly because the site has a public form on it.

• Do not use the enquiry form to send unsolicited advertising, chain messages or automated submissions.
• Do not attempt to disrupt the site, probe it for weaknesses without our agreement, or interfere with anyone else using it.
• Do not attempt to access data, systems or accounts that are not yours.
• Do not use the site to send anything unlawful, or anything you do not have the right to send us.
• Do not misrepresent who you are when you write to us.

Availability and changes

We aim to keep the site available and working, and we do not undertake that it will be available without interruption. Hosting, networks and maintenance all mean occasional downtime, and we do not promise otherwise.

We may change, add or remove pages, and we may change how the site works, without notice. Where a page moves we try to keep the old address working.

Links to other sites

Where this site links somewhere else, that site is not ours. We do not control its content, its practices or its handling of your information, and a link is not an endorsement of it.

When you follow one, the terms and privacy notice of that site apply rather than ours.

The limits of what this page can do

This is an informational website. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for loss arising from relying on general information published here rather than asking us about your own situation, or from the site being temporarily unavailable.

That limit is deliberately narrow. It is about the website. It does not attempt to limit anything to do with work we are actually engaged to do — those responsibilities belong in the agreement covering that work, where they can be written properly and agreed by both sides, and we would not want them decided by a page nobody negotiated.

Your privacy

How we handle the information you send through this site is set out separately, in plain terms, including what the enquiry form collects and how long we keep it.

• Read the privacy notice
• Cookies and browser storage

Questions about these terms

If something here is unclear, or you want permission for something the acceptable-use section rules out, ask through the enquiry form and say what you have in mind.

• Ask us about these terms