Terms of Service

Updated and effective: September 7, 2026 · 中文

1. Website and scope

straw-dog provides technology content on open source, deployment, AI, and automation, together with related services. These terms cover browsing, account features, and services ordered through this website. Personal information is addressed separately in our Privacy Policy.

For purchases, read these terms alongside the product description, checkout information, and agreed scope. Specific order agreements govern the details of that order, without excluding mandatory statutory rights. External merchants, software, and platforms operate under their own terms.

2. Accounts and acceptable use

Provide usable contact details and protect your password, email, and social sign-in accounts. Do not impersonate others or use their accounts to obtain benefits. Contact us promptly about compromised accounts, irregular payments, or unauthorized profile changes.

Do not use the website for unlawful activity, fraud, malicious scanning, attacks, unauthorized data extraction, or distribution of infringing material, malware, or active secrets. Quotation, search indexing, and other lawful use should respect access rules and content rights without disrupting service through excessive requests.

We may restrict features or accounts in response to security risks, abuse, or breaches, explaining the reason and a route for review where appropriate and permitted. Restrictions do not automatically remove legitimate refund, support, or data rights.

3. Technical content and operational risk

Articles, comparisons, and tutorials are informational and educational. Results depend on versions, configuration, hardware, networks, location, and upstream policies. Outside an expressly stated test scope, a tutorial should not be treated as acceptance testing or a security audit of your environment.

Before running commands, upgrading, migrating databases, or exposing services publicly, check official documentation and licenses, test in a nonproduction environment, maintain recoverable backups, and consider downtime and data-loss risks. Example configurations may need adaptation; defaults are not necessarily production-ready.

Server recommendations, cost examples, and AI workflow analysis are not legal, medical, tax, financial, or investment advice. They do not guarantee earnings, absolute security, continued compatibility, or fixed performance.

4. Copyright, open-source licenses, and trademarks

Rights in original articles, images, and compiled materials remain with their respective holders. Quote within applicable legal allowances and provide attribution. Full republication, commercial redistribution, bulk copying, or resale requires appropriate permission unless an explicit license already allows it.

Upstream software, code samples, fonts, images, and trademarks have their own licenses and rights. “Open source” does not eliminate attribution, redistribution, source-disclosure, or trademark conditions. Charging for deployment or preparation does not change upstream licenses or imply an official agency relationship with a project, cloud provider, or identity platform.

5. Deployment services

Before work starts, the engagement should specify the application, version or environment, server access, domain and HTTPS work, migration scope, backup responsibilities, deliverables, acceptance criteria, timing, and follow-up support.

Unless expressly included, a one-time installation or configuration does not include hosting fees, domains, third-party APIs, commercial licenses, ongoing operations, round-the-clock incident response, security audits, or unlimited revisions. You must be authorized to use the systems, data, and software involved and provide the agreed prerequisites.

Work that could cause downtime, overwrite data, or migrate it should follow agreement on the effects and recovery preparations. New requirements, incompatible environments, or upstream changes may require reconfirming scope, price, and timing. Unagreed work is not automatically part of a purchase.

6. Digital deployment kits and delivery

Kits may include configuration examples, scripts, instructions, and agreed supporting material. The product description defines contents, supported versions, delivery, and update support. Purchase does not provide permanent support for every version or environment.

Check delivered files for completeness and suitability before use. Do not publicly upload customized copies containing real credentials. Resale, shared downloads, and commercial redistribution of our original paid material follow the license stated at purchase. Upstream open-source components remain governed by their own licenses.

7. Membership, project watches, and email

Membership entitlements, duration, covered projects, notification channels, and available functions depend on what was actually displayed and agreed at purchase. Watching a project stores its association and alert preferences; it does not mean every upstream change has been reviewed or will be delivered immediately.

The current monthly membership flow through our integrated EPay checkout is a one-time payment extending access for the purchased period. That flow does not automatically charge on a recurring basis. Any different renewal arrangement through another checkout platform must be separately disclosed and appropriately authorized before payment.

Update and security alerts do not replace backups, version testing, security monitoring, or upstream advisories. Delivery may be delayed by mail restrictions or incorrect addresses. The newsletter currently records interest. Planned features must not be represented as paid entitlements already delivered.

8. Prices and payment

Before paying, check the item, amount, currency, billing period, third-party costs, and delivery method. Alternative currency displays and cost estimates are not a live exchange-rate offer; the selected checkout determines the actual payment.

The relevant payment service processes the transaction, and we update orders from its result. A successful return page does not necessarily mean all order updates have synchronized. If you were charged but the status is wrong, keep the order number and contact us before paying again. Never disclose payment passwords or banking codes.

9. Cancellation, refunds, and delivery problems

Use our Contact page to request cancellation or a refund, giving the order number, reason, and preferred resolution. We consider actual delivery, explainable costs already incurred, the order, and applicable law. We do not apply a blanket “all payments are nonrefundable” exclusion.

• Work not started: You may request cancellation. Any previously disclosed third-party costs actually incurred require separate verification and explanation.
• Work in progress: Completed work, undelivered parts, and the cause of the issue inform an appropriate remedy such as correction, completion, a partial refund, or another agreed resolution.
• Missing, damaged, or materially misdescribed digital content: Provide details so we can investigate and arrange replacement, repair, or an appropriate refund. Downloading alone does not remove statutory remedies.
• Duplicate charges, incorrect amounts, or failure to provide a sold service: Confirmed issues will be corrected or refunded as appropriate.
• Membership problems: We can check activation and expiry and address undelivered entitlements in light of the order.

Applicable cooling-off periods, withdrawal rights, quality guarantees, and other mandatory consumer rights remain available. Exceptions for digital content or services already begun apply only when their legal conditions are met. Refunds are normally arranged through the original payment route; settlement depends on the provider, and immediate receipt cannot be promised before verification.

10. Referrals and sponsorship

Promotions, sponsored placements, and commission links may appear on the website and should disclose the relevant relationship. External providers control their prices, availability, service regions, and terms. A recommendation does not guarantee their performance. Sponsors may not require invented experiences or concealment of material limitations. See our Editorial Policy.

11. Availability, responsibility, and service changes

Maintenance, network faults, upstream changes, and other events can interrupt the website. We address incidents according to the circumstances but do not promise uninterrupted access, a fixed recovery time, or round-the-clock support unless specifically agreed.

Responsibility depends on actual fault, order obligations, and applicable law. These terms do not exclude liability that cannot lawfully be restricted or remove our delivery, refund, privacy, or other legal duties. Problems resulting from independent user actions, third-party changes, or use beyond an agreed scope require assessment of their actual cause.

If a service ends or materially changes, outstanding paid orders and legally required data retention or deletion must be addressed separately. Those obligations do not automatically disappear when a website closes.

12. Disputes, changes, and language

Send the facts, order details, and requested resolution to [email protected] so we can first seek an agreed solution. Unresolved disputes may be taken to a competent body under applicable law. Applicable law and jurisdiction depend on the transaction and parties' circumstances. These terms do not restrict statutory complaint or court rights.

We may update these terms and their date. Material transaction changes require additional notice where applicable, and unilateral updates do not retrospectively reduce confirmed order entitlements. Chinese and English versions are intended to express the same rules; contact us about translation discrepancies.