Draft version 0.1 – September 20, 2026
For staging and legal review; not yet approved for publication
These Terms govern advertisements and replies submitted to Berkshire Heat, a personals service published by The Greylock Guardian and operated by Puddingstone Media, LLC (the “Guardian,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). They supplement any general terms governing use of the Guardian website. If the two conflict concerning Berkshire Heat, these Terms control.
1. Adults only
You must be at least 18 years old to submit an advertisement, reply to an advertisement, or use Berkshire Heat to contact another person. By submitting an advertisement or reply, you certify that you are at least 18.
You may submit only for yourself. Ads or replies submitted for, about, or while impersonating another person are prohibited.
2. What an advertisement purchase includes
A standard Berkshire Heat purchase includes:
- one advertisement of no more than 60 body words;
- a headline of no more than eight words;
- publication in one print issue of The Greylock Guardian; and
- web publication from editorial approval until the following issue appears.
The headline, category, location line, identifying code, and Guardian-supplied descriptors do not count toward the body-word limit.
At launch, Berkshire Heat does not offer web-only or multiple-issue packages. Submission and payment authorization do not guarantee acceptance or publication.
3. Price and payment authorization
The price is $10 for up to 40 body words, plus 25 cents for each additional body word, to a maximum of 60 body words and $15.
When you complete a submission, Stripe will be asked to authorize the displayed amount on your payment method. An authorization is not a completed charge. If the Guardian approves the advertisement, the Guardian will capture the authorized amount. If the advertisement is rejected or withdrawn before approval, the Guardian will cancel the authorization.
Your bank or card issuer may temporarily reduce your available balance while an authorization is open. The timing of release after cancellation is controlled by the issuer, not the Guardian.
If an authorization expires before editorial review is completed, the Guardian may ask you to authorize the payment again. We will not increase the authorized amount without your affirmative action.
4. Email verification and private management link
You must verify your email address before an advertisement enters editorial review. We will send an accountless management link to that address. Anyone possessing that link may be able to view or manage the submission, so do not forward it or post it publicly.
Notify us promptly if you believe a management link has been exposed or used without permission.
5. Revisions and editorial treatment
You may revise or withdraw an advertisement through its management link before editorial approval. Approval freezes the advertisement. A post-approval change requires a new submission and transaction unless the Guardian is correcting its own error.
The Guardian may correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, and house style without reconfirmation. We will not knowingly change identity, meaning, the connection sought, or a factual claim without your approval. We may reject rather than rewrite a submission.
Headlines are subject to editorial revision within these limits.
6. Editorial review and discretion
Advertisements are usually reviewed within three business days. This is an operational goal, not a guarantee.
The Guardian may accept, reject, hold, classify, edit within the limits above, or remove an advertisement in its editorial judgment. A safety flag is a prompt for review, not a finding that the submitter violated these Terms.
The Guardian may reject material that it reasonably believes is unsafe, unlawful, deceptive, exploitative, inconsistent with these Terms, or unsuitable for publication. We will not reject an otherwise acceptable ad merely because of the advertiser’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or other protected characteristic.
7. Prohibited advertisements and conduct
You may not use Berkshire Heat to:
- involve, target, depict, solicit, or sexualize a minor;
- buy, sell, or arrange sexual services, including through coded offers, gifts, housing, transportation, massage, or other compensation;
- threaten, coerce, blackmail, stalk, harass, intimidate, or encourage violence or self-harm;
- impersonate another person or submit content about a third party without authority;
- expose a street address, private contact information, identifying workplace details, or other information that creates an unreasonable safety or privacy risk;
- include phone numbers, email addresses, social-media handles, external messaging handles, or links intended to bypass the protected reply system;
- discriminate unlawfully or direct dehumanizing abuse at a person or group;
- solicit illegal activity, trafficking, controlled substances, weapons, fraud, or financial schemes;
- transmit malicious code, spam, bulk solicitations, or commercial advertising; or
- make materially false or misleading claims.
This list is not exhaustive. Attempts to evade screening through altered spelling, spacing, symbols, images, or coded language are also prohibited.
8. Protected replies
Public advertisements do not display the advertiser’s email address. Replies are sent through a protected relay. The advertiser may respond through the same system. The relay is intended to reduce unnecessary disclosure; it does not make communications anonymous to the Guardian or guarantee the identity, intentions, or conduct of another participant.
Do not send money, financial credentials, government identification, intimate images, a home address, or other sensitive information to someone you do not know and trust. Participants decide for themselves whether, when, and how to meet. Consider meeting in a public place, telling another person your plans, and arranging your own transportation.
9. Safety screening and human review
Advertisements and replies are screened for possible threats, coercion, sexual commerce, exploitation of minors, harassment, impersonation, privacy risks, and other prohibited conduct. Material that triggers a safety rule may be quarantined for human review rather than delivered immediately. Screening can produce false positives and cannot identify every risk.
Clean replies may be relayed promptly without advance human review. Flagged replies may be delayed, rejected, preserved, or escalated. When practical and safe, a respondent whose message is rejected will receive a brief explanation of the policy category and a way to request reconsideration. We do not disclose internal detection rules.
Participants may report or block another participant. Blocking stops future relay messages associated with the blocked address or record but cannot retract a message already delivered.
10. Serious harm, minors, and legal process
Replies are screened to protect participants. The Guardian does not routinely share private messages or participant information with law enforcement. We may preserve and disclose relevant information when required by law or when we reasonably believe doing so is necessary to address a credible and imminent threat of serious harm or suspected exploitation of a minor.
Nothing in these Terms promises that the Guardian will investigate, intervene in, or resolve a dispute between participants. In an emergency, contact the appropriate emergency service directly.
11. Publication license
You retain ownership of your submission. You grant Puddingstone Media, LLC a nonexclusive, royalty-free license to store, review, format, make the limited editorial changes described above, and publish an approved advertisement in the purchased print issue and during its corresponding web-publication period. The license also permits preservation of the record for the retention periods described in the Privacy and Safety Notice.
This license does not authorize the Guardian to sell your advertisement to another publisher or use it to endorse an unrelated product.
12. Withdrawal, cancellation, and refunds
- Before approval: You may withdraw the advertisement; the payment authorization will be cancelled.
- If rejected: The payment authorization will be cancelled.
- After approval but before print lock: The Guardian may cancel the advertisement and refund a captured payment.
- After print lock or publication: Payments are nonrefundable except when the Guardian makes an error or applicable law requires otherwise.
An authorization release or refund can take additional time to appear, depending on the payment provider and card issuer.
13. Expiration and records
An advertisement is removed from public web display when the following issue appears. Removal from public display does not immediately erase the Guardian’s private editorial, payment, consent, and security records. Retention and deletion practices are described in the Berkshire Heat Privacy and Safety Notice.
14. No background checks or guarantees
The Guardian does not perform background checks and does not verify every factual statement, identity claim, age claim, or representation made by a participant. We do not guarantee that a reply will be received, that another person will respond, or that any interaction will be safe, compatible, accurate, or successful.
Berkshire Heat is provided on an “as available” basis. Nothing in these Terms excludes a right or remedy that cannot lawfully be excluded.
15. Suspension or termination
The Guardian may restrict or terminate access to Berkshire Heat when reasonably necessary to protect participants, enforce these Terms, respond to abuse, comply with law, or protect the service. We may discontinue Berkshire Heat prospectively. Discontinuation does not eliminate obligations arising from an already captured purchase.
16. Changes to these Terms
The terms version you affirmatively accepted governs that submission or reply. If a material change affects an unfinished transaction, we will request new consent rather than treating continued website use as agreement.
17. Governing law and severability
These Terms are governed by the laws of Massachusetts, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. If a provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect to the extent permitted by law.
18. Contact
Questions, reports, deletion requests, and notices concerning Berkshire Heat may be sent to:
Puddingstone Media, LLC / The Greylock Guardian
Email: jvelazquez@puddingstone.media